Inventor of the wiki and pioneer of pattern languages in programming. He created the first wiki to facilitate collaborative programming knowledge sharing. His contributions to extreme programming, especially the concept of technical debt, remain influential today.
Ward Cunningham is an American computer programmer who invented the first wiki (WikiWikiWeb) in 1995 at his company Cunningham & Cunningham.
This pioneering work fundamentally changed how people collaborate online and influenced major platforms like Wikipedia. The name "wiki" came from the Hawaiian word for "quick."
He made significant contributions to the software development community as one of the pioneers of pattern languages in programming, extreme programming, and Agile software development. His work with Kent Beck led to the development of CRC cards (Class-Responsibility-Collaboration), an important technique in object-oriented design.
Cunningham coined what became known as "Cunningham's Law": the best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question but to post the wrong answer.
He also developed the concept of technical debt in software development, providing a metaphor that helps explain the long-term costs of quick-fix solutions.
His professional career included notable positions at Microsoft patterns & practices group, Eclipse Foundation, and AboutUs.org.
He has been a program chair for various Agile conferences and continues to influence the software development community through his work on federated wiki and other projects.
The "New New Product Development Game" by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka introduced the concept of a faster, flexible approach to product development. Emphasising teamwork, self-organisation, and overlapping phases, it likens the process to a rugby match, where teams pass the ball seamlessly. This method, foundational to Agile, encourages innovation and adaptability in competitive markets.
