ThoughtWorks

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ThoughtWorks Inc.
Type Private
Industry IT Consulting
Management Consulting
Founded 1993
Headquarters Chicago, USA
Key people Neville Roy Singham, Chairman
Guo Xiao, President and CEO
Chris Murphy, President and Chief Strategy Officer
Sudhir Tiwari, President and COO
Craig Gorsline, President and COO
Daniel Goodwin, CFO
Martin Fowler, Chief Scientist
Products www.thoughtworks-studios.com
Employees over 2000 (Jul 2012)
Website www.thoughtworks.com

ThoughtWorks is a privately owned global IT consultancy that delivers custom software, software tools, consulting, and transformation services to startups and Global 1000 companies. It has a products division, ThoughtWorks Studios, which creates and markets software development and project management applications. The company is closely associated with the movement for agile methods of software development (see Agile software development).

ThoughtWorks describes itself as “…A social and commercial community whose purpose is to revolutionize software creation and delivery while advocating for positive social change in the world.” [1] Founder and Chairman Roy Singham has said “I believe the world should have access to the best ideas in software for free. My goal is a technically-superior infrastructure to solve the world's problems." [2] The company has contributed to a range of open source products.

As of December 2012 the company had over 2100 employees, with 29 offices in 11 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, the United Kingdom, Singapore, South Africa, Uganda, and the United States.[3]

Contents

History [edit]

In the late 1980s Roy Singham founded Singham Business Services as a management consulting company servicing the equipment leasing industry in a Chicago basement.[4][5]

In 1993 the company was incorporated and the name changed to ThoughtWorks. The focus became building software applications.[6]

ThoughtWorks' technology capabilities have evolved from its use of C++ and Forte 4GL in the mid-1990s to include Java in the late 1990s.[7]

The company began using agile techniques while working on a leasing project[8] Martin Fowler began working with ThoughtWorks in 1999 and was hired in 2000 as Chief Scientist.[9] In 2000 Martin Fowler and Matthew Foemmel first described the use of the technique of Continuous Integration for large-scale software projects. This resulted in the Open Source project CruiseControl created by ThoughtWorks as the first continuous integration server.[10]

The Agile Manifesto was published in 2001, with Chief Scientist Martin Fowler and Executive Consultant Jim Highsmith two of the co-authors.[11][12] This document propounded the core principles that are the basis for agile software development.

ThoughtWorks’ technical expertise expanded with the .NET Framework in 2002,[13] C# in 2004, Ruby and the Rails platform in 2006.[14]

ThoughtWorks Studios was launched as its product division in 2006. The division creates, supports and sells agile project management and software development and deployment tools including Mingle, Twist and Go.

On 2 March 2007, ThoughtWorks announced Trevor Mather as the new CEO.[15]

ThoughtWorks initiated a Social Impact Program in 2009.[16]

Continuous Delivery [edit]

The company is now working with a software practice known as Continuous Delivery. Continuous Delivery aims to make software production-ready throughout its lifecycle, so that potentially every good build can be released into production and run effectively.[17] The goal is to “…Minimise the cycle time from idea to delivery, and allow that cycle to be repeated frequently and reliably.”[18]

Services [edit]

The company’s primary service is the creation of large-scale mission-critical custom software applications for global corporate clients. Projects for North American, European or Australian clients are often delivered from India, China or Brazil, in accordance with client financial and resource constraints.[19] The firm also provides consulting services related to software development, design, architecture, operations, and IT Transformation among others.[20]

Expansion [edit]

Founded and still headquartered in Chicago, the company’s leadership is distributed. Central functions are chiefly performed in Chicago, London and Bangalore.[21]

ThoughtWorks grew and established its first regional office, in San Francisco, in 1997.

The company opened its first office outside the US, in Brisbane, Australia, in 2000. The company continued expanding with new offices opened in London, Bangalore, and Calgary in 2001. The opening of the ThoughtWorks office in Calgary, Canada was the result of the acquisition of Servidium Inc.[22] ThoughtWorks closed the Calgary office in January 2013.[23]

China operations were launched in 2005, followed by offices in Pune in 2006 and Chennai in 2007. Latin American operations were launched in 2009 with the firm's first office in Brazil, in Porto Alegre.

Operations further expanded in India with an office in Gurgaon and a second office in Bangalore in 2010. An office in Germany, situated in Hamburg, also was opened in 2010. The Singapore office was opened in late 2011. In 2012 the company opened their Africa operation in Braamfontein, Johannesburg and expanded inside Brazil to the northeastern city of Recife.

Three pillars [edit]

The firm describes itself as being organised around Three Pillars:

  • Sustainable Business
  • Champion Software Excellence
  • Social Justice

The three are examined and elaborated upon by ThoughtWorks’ founder, Roy Singham in an interview with The Economic Times[24] and in an essay by the firm’s Chief Scientist Martin Fowler.[25]

Social Impact Program [edit]

To support the firm’s core values,[26][27] the company established a Social Impact Program[16] that builds partnerships with social mission organizations that need help with technology.

The firm also has a special staff resourcing model and tools that allow employees to contribute non-billable time and volunteer time to social impact projects. Examples of work include the OpenMRS project,[28] CycleTelTM[29] and an emergency online donation system to help flood victims in Australia.[30]

Open Source Contributions [edit]

A view of ThoughtWorks Bangalore

The company develops and supports Open Source projects. Employees are encouraged to contribute to Open Source Software projects, and the firm often advocates Open Source Software for use in corporate enterprise IT.[31]

With the start of ThoughtWorks Studios, the company has also started producing closed source proprietary software.

Cruise / Go [edit]

On July 28, 2008, ThoughtWorks Studios released a proprietary product continuous integration server called Cruise. Despite the name, this is not a derivative of the open source CruiseControl, but instead a new product written from scratch, which was released under a proprietary license.[39]

On July 10, 2010, ThoughtWorks Studios released a new agile release management platform called Go. Go (release management). Go includes the functionality of Cruise, which is no longer sold.[40]

Mingle [edit]

Mingle is software to facilitate agile project management and collaboration, built by ThoughtWorks Studios. Released in May 2007, Mingle was the first commercial application to be created using JRuby.[41]

Twist [edit]

Twist is software to facilitate the process of agile testing, built by ThoughtWorks Studios.

Controversies [edit]

ThoughtWorks is currently in a legal battle with SV Investment Partners (SVIP).[42] In 2000, SVIP invested approximately US$26.6 million in ThoughtWorks. SVIP invested in Thoughtworks in large part because it was attracted to the possibility of an IPO in the near term. Both parties believed that ThoughtWorks would in the next few years undertake an initial public offering that would allow SVIP to cash out its investment. To guard against the possibility that such a transaction would not occur, the parties negotiated a provision in the ThoughtWorks corporate charter for the mandatory redemption of SVIP’s preferred stock after five years. In effect, on 5 April 2005, five years from the closing date, SVIP claims they should have had a right to put (i.e., have the company redeem) all of its preferred shares for approximately US$43 million.

This case was decided in 2006. [43] The company then began a process to redeem preferred shares on a quarterly basis with what it determined to be the legally available funds for redemption. In 2007 SVIP initiated another suit to force the company to redeem all its shares at once. [44] In 2010 the Delaware court ruled in ThoughtWorks’ favor, [45] and SVIP is appealing the decision to the Delaware Supreme Court.

References [edit]

  1. ^ [1] Our History, accessed 2011-07-15.
  2. ^ [2] Kirkpatrick, David. 2008. The Socialist State of ThoughtWorks. Fortune Magazine. May 17.
  3. ^ [3], About Us, accessed 2011-07-15.
  4. ^ Lundy, Dave. 2003. Ex-activist backs revolution in software. Chicago Sun-Times, October 23. "At the time, I was an independent consultant working in the leasing business, but I realized I didn't want to work on my own. So I recruited a few people, and we built a company called Singham Business Services for two or three years doing consulting and leasing. Then in 1990, I came up with the name ThoughtWorks."
  5. ^ [4], About Us, accessed 2011-07-20.
  6. ^ Gale Directory of Company Histories accessed 2011-7-20 "The fledgling enterprise recruited some of its first technical staff by posting bulletin board notices at the University of Chicago. ThoughtWorks soon grew from an initial staff of 8 people to 30 consultants at the time of its official incorporation in 1993.
  7. ^ ThoughtWorks-How We Work, “The Beginning” accessed 2007-7-20.
  8. ^ Lundy, Dave. 2003. Ex-activist backs revolution in software. Chicago Sun-Times, October 23.
  9. ^ Martin Fowler “About Me” Accessed 2011-7-20
  10. ^ Martin Fowler, Continuous Integration, September 2000
  11. ^ “Manifesto for Agile Software Development”, Agile Manifesto. Accessed 2011-7-20
  12. ^ Dr.Dobbs, 2001. Fowler and Highsmith. The Agile Manifesto (article expanding on the principles). August 1
  13. ^ Martin Fowler books, section: Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture, accessed 7-20-2011
  14. ^ Ruby at ThoughtWorks accessed 2007-7-20.
  15. ^ [5], Business Wire, March 2, 2007.
  16. ^ a b ThoughtWorks Social Impact Program
  17. ^ InfoQ Interview, December 10, 2010
  18. ^ Agile Engineering Practices in Oxford, Chatley, Robert. Posted 2011-7-4
  19. ^ ThoughtWorks Delivery, accessed 2011-7-20
  20. ^ Services, accessed 2011-7-20
  21. ^ ThoughtWorks directory of offices accessed 2011-7-20
  22. ^ [6] "ThoughtWorks acquires Calgary software firm" September 27, 2001.
  23. ^ [7] See list of offices in the Americas. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
  24. ^ Big software packages on last legs 2010. Economic Times of India. March 27.
  25. ^ Fowler discusses the Three Pillars accessed 2001-7-15
  26. ^ ThoughtWorks Mission and Values
  27. ^ [8] Kirkpatrick, David. 2008. The Socialist State of ThoughtWorks. Fortune Magazine. May 17.
  28. ^ Open MRS Project
  29. ^ Case Study
  30. ^ ThoughtWorks Helps Drive Over A$30 Million in Queensland Flood Relief Donations IT Analysis. 6-20-2011.
  31. ^ Open Source, accessed 2011-7-20
  32. ^ CruiseControl Home
  33. ^ [9], Continuous Integration Server Feature Comparison Matrix
  34. ^ Welcome to CruiseControl.NET - CruiseControl.NET - Confluence
  35. ^ CruiseControl.rb
  36. ^ http://opensource.thoughtworks.com/projects/damagecontrol.jsp
  37. ^ Frankenstein: About
  38. ^ Sahi
  39. ^ Cruise - Continuous Integration and Release Management System - From the Creators of CruiseControl
  40. ^ http://www.sdtimes.com/link/34497 ThoughtWorks Studios unveils new release management platform, SD Times, 2010-7-10
  41. ^ [10] Mingle from ThoughtWorks Studios to Be the First Commercial Software in JRuby, Business Wire, 2007-5-8
  42. ^ http://courts.delaware.gov/opinions/(5iwbml55qliqzireoy5eoe45)/download.aspx?ID=79250 ThoughtWorks vs SCHRODER (Delaware) 2006
  43. ^ http://courts.delaware.gov/opinions/download.aspx?ID=146680 Section F: The Working Capital Decision
  44. ^ http://courts.delaware.gov/opinions/download.aspx?ID=146680 Sections G: No Legally Available Funds and H: SVIP Pursues The Current Litigation.
  45. ^ http://courts.delaware.gov/opinions/download.aspx?ID=146680

External links [edit]

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