Scott Ambler
“…have the courage to assume that you can solve tomorrow’s problems tomorrow” (Agile Modeling, p21, Ambler, S. W.)
“Nobody had ever successfully stood up to this group. People on my team were worried, but the priority was to build our system on time, so we fought it out. We had the courage to do the right thing, to stand up to a clearly dysfunctional group, and show everyone involved that there was a better way to do things. It was hard, but in the long run, not only did our project benefit but the whole organization did because it gave other teams the courage to stand up to the data group as well…” (Agile Modeling, p24, Ambler, S. W.).
“…all the members of an effective XP development team must have courage in their requirements, design, code, and testing procedures It is only through courage and confidence in these areas that the team is able to quickly and effectively respond to deviations during the development cycle” (A Practical Guide to Enterprise Architecture, p115, McGovern, J., Ambler S.W., Stevens M. E., Linn J., Sharan V.)
“Have the courage to make and stick to your decisions. Humility. Have the humility to admit that you may not know everything, that others have value to add to your project efforts” (Agile Database Techniques, p.159 Ambler S. W.).
Alastair Cockburn
“Personal safety gives people the personal courage to share whatever they discover”(Crystal Clear p.43, Alistair Cockburn, A.).
Jim Highsmith
Offering new ideas, proposing alternate approaches can lead to better policies, practices: decision-making.
“New markets, new technologies, new ideas aren’t forged from moderation,but from radically different ideas and the courage to challenge the status quo” (Agile Software Development Ecosystems, p.53, Highsmith, J., Highsmith J. A., Eastlake, D., Niles, K.).
“’People are not afraid to make mistakes [as they can quickly be undone] so they make decisions more rapidly’” (Agile Software Development Ecosystems, p.254, Highsmith, J., Highsmith J. A., Eastlake, D., Niles, K.).
“Many might define courage as doing what’s right, even when pressured to do something else. However, the deeper issues can concern legitimate differences of opinion as to what is right” (Agile Software Development Ecosystems, p.305, Highsmith, J., Highsmith J. A., Eastlake, D., Niles, K.).
Craig Larman
“Courage — Management has the courage to plan and guide adaptively and to trust individuals and the team by avoiding telling them how to get the iteration done. The team has the courage to take the responsibility for self direction and self management” (Agile and Iterative Development, p.127 Larman, C.).
“Courage — The courage to develop fast, and make changes fast emerges from the support of the other values and practices, and modern technologies” (Agile and Iterative Development, p.156, Larman, C.)
James Shore
“It’s about delivering value — and having the courage to do the right thing at the right time” (The Art of Agile Development, p.XIII, Shore, James, Warden, S., Shore, Jim).
“The sooner your stakeholders know about a problem… the more time they have to work around it. It can take a lot of courage to have this discussion — but addressing a problem successfully can build trust like nothing else” (The Art of Agile Development, p.106, Shore, James, Warden, S., Shore, Jim).
“Any intelligent fool can bake things bigger, more complex, and more violet.. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. — Albert Einstein” (The Art of Agile Development, p.314, Shore, James, Warden, S., Shore, Jim).
“Courage: To make the right decisions, even when they’re difficult, and to tell stakeholders the truth when they need to hear it” (The Art of Agile Development, p.354, Shore, James, Warden, S., Shore, Jim).
James Surowiecki
When people give in to their conformist tendencies, and are afraid to stick their necks out, the quality of decisions suffers. (Surowiecki, “The Wisdom of Crowds,” 2005)
Identifying and addressing an issue are two different things, the harder part in the process is mustering the courage to bring up the issues. (Surowiecki, “The Wisdom of Crowds,” 2005)
Others
“How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults or resolution enough to mend them. –Benjamin Franklin” (Enterprise service oriented architectures. P357, McGovern, J., Sims, O., Jain, A., Little, M.)
Increased control does not automatically decrease uncertainty and increase order and value; they approach management with courage by accepting that they cannot know everything in advance, and relinquish some control to achieve greater control and order” (Managing Agile Projects, p29, Augustine, S.)
“Courage: This means having the courage not to engage in non-value added activities or artifacts” (Extreme programming and agile methods, p80 Williams, L.).
“Courage — all important decisions and changes in the direction of the project need to be made with courage. Change is part of any realistic information technology project. Dealing with the consequences of change or discarding the outcome when the decision is proven inadequate requires courage” (The Story of Managing Projects, p331 Carayannis, E. G., Kwak, Y-H, Anbari, F., T.).
“The project manger should have the courage not to perform a task or produce an artifact that is not clearly stated in the retirements” (The Story of Managing Projects, p331 Carayannis, E. G., Kwak, Y-H, Anbari, F., T.).
“The value of courage encourages the team to experiment in order to reach their goals rapidly, or perhaps in a novel way. If courage is embraced, team members trust one another to work continuously to improve project quality.” (Measuring Information Systems Delivery Quality, p.214 Duggan, E. W., Reichgelt, H.).
“Choosing Agile Modeling requires courage; you’re forced to rely more on your own judgment and experience, rather than blind adherence to the book. It takes courage to admit your model is weak or wrong and accept another direction” (Sams Teach Yourself Extreme Programming in 24 Hours, p.369, Baird, S.).
“Courage — The team will quickly learn to respect you as you display courage, fighting for the rights of the team. If your customer or management is new to XP, they might be skeptical or even negative. Expect pressure to come to you to “bend the rules” as the new comes into conflict with the old” (Sams Teach Yourself Extreme Programming in 24 Hours, p.104, Baird, S.).
“Leaders with the courage to stand by their values, even when the going gets tough” (Sams Teach Yourself Extreme Programming in 24 Hours, p.112, Baird, S.).
Opening My Masters 