Jurgen Appelo has a lot of things going on besides coming to Malmö in May to speak at Øresund Agile 2010. We managed to slip four quick questions to him and got an immediate response. Enjoy!

Jurgen, how did you get into the field of business you are in right now?

I have always wanted to write a book. And after two failed attempts of starting to write one, I sat down and thought how to approach such a project. Then I decided to first start blogging and speaking at conferences. Because that would allow me to a) get valuable feedback from people; b) become better known in the business; c) improve my chances of finding a publisher. So I’ve been blogging since January 2008 and I was able to find a publisher and start writing my book 1,5 year later, in August 2009.

What, in your opinion,  are the biggest problems to address regarding software development of today?

I believe that changing management culture is the biggest problem. Again and again research shows that (middle) management is the biggest obstacle in agile adoption. Cultural change, education, contracts, etc. are all management responsibilities. It is the management system that needs to change, or else agile adoption will fail.

What should the audience expect from your talk on self organization at the conference?

To understand what self-organization is, and what it can do for us. There is often talk about “self-organization of teams” in agile literature, but only very few people actually know what it really is, from a scientific viewpoint. And what needs to be done to make it really work for you (because it can also work against you).

When you are not working, writing, blogging, tweeting or speaking at conferences, what do you enjoy doing?

I love researching books, buying books, reading books, shelving books. And I like looking at my huge book case.