Thoughtworks

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Thoughtworks
TypePublic
Nasdaq: TWKS
IndustrySoftware industry
Founded1993
FounderNeville Roy Singham
Headquarters
Chicago, Illinois
,
United States
Number of locations
48[1]
Key people
Martin Fowler, Jim Highsmith
ServicesCustom software, applications
DivisionsThoughtworks Studios
Websitethoughtworks.com

Thoughtworks is a publicly owned ($TWKS on NASDAQ), global technology company with 48 offices in 17 countries.[2] It provides software design and delivery, and tools and consulting services. The company is closely associated with the movement for agile software development, and has contributed to a content of open source products. Thoughtworks' business includes Digital Product Development Services,[3] Digital Experience[4] and Distributed Agile software development.[5]

History[]

1980s to 1990s[]

In the late 1980s, Roy Singham founded Singham Business Services as a management consulting company servicing the equipment leasing industry in a Chicago basement. According to Singham, after two-to-three years, Singham started recruiting additional staff and came up with the name Thoughtworks in 1990.[6] The company was incorporated under the new name in 1993 and focused on building software applications.[7] Over time, Thoughtworks' technology shifted from C++ and Forte 4GL in the mid-1990s to include Java in the late 1990s.

1990s to 2010s[]

Martin Fowler joined the company in 1999 and became its chief scientist in 2000.[8]

In 2001, Thoughtworks agreed to settle a lawsuit by Microsoft for $480,000 for deploying unlicensed copies of office productivity software to employees.[9]

Also in 2001, Fowler, Jim Highsmith, and other key software figures authored the Agile Manifesto.[10] The company began using agile techniques while working on a leasing project.[11] Thoughtworks' technical expertise expanded with the .NET Framework in 2002,[12] C# in 2004, Ruby and the Rails platform in 2006.[13] In 2002, Thoughtworks chief scientist Martin Fowler wrote "Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture" with contributions by ThoughtWorkers David Rice and Matthew Foemmel, as well as outside contributors Edward Hieatt, Robert Mee, and Randy Stafford.[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,[15] Gauge(formerly Twist), Snap CI[16] and GoCD.[17] On 2 March 2007, Thoughtworks announced Trevor Mather as the new CEO.[18] Singham became Executive chairman. Also in March 2007, Rebecca Parsons joined Thoughtworks as Chief Technical Officer.[19][20]

2010s to present[]

In 2010, Jim Highsmith joined Thoughtworks.[21]

In April 2013, Thoughtworks announced a collective leadership structure and appointed four co-Presidents of the global organization.[22][23] The appointments followed the announcement that the then current CEO, Trevor Mather, was leaving Thoughtworks to take up the role of CEO for the used car sales business Trader Media Group.[24]

In May 2013, Dr. David Walton was hired as Director of Global Health.[25] Walton has done work in Haiti since 1999, including helping establish a 300-room, solar-powered hospital and the establishment of a noncommunicable disease clinic.[26]

In 2015, Guo Xiao, who started as a developer in Thoughtworks China in 1999, became the chief executive officer and President. Also in 2015, Chinese marketing data company AdMaster acquired Chinese online form automation platform JinShuJu from Thoughtworks.[27][28]

In early 2016, Thoughtworks closed their Toronto offices, the last remaining Canadian office after the closure of their Calgary offices in 2013. They have since reopened the Toronto office.[29]

In August 2017 funds advised by Apax Partners acquired Thoughtworks.[30]

Thoughtworks announced that it acquired Gemini Solutions Inc. in January 2021. Gemini is a privately held software development consulting services firm, and it is based in Romania.[31] At the end of January 2021, Thoughtworks raised $720 million in funding according to data compiled by Chicago Inno.[32] The following month, Thoughtworks acquired Fourkind, a machine learning and data science consulting company based in Finland.[33] In March 2021, Thoughtworks worked with the Veterans Affairs Department to deploy a centralized mechanism for delivering updates via 'VANotify'.[34]

On September 15th, 2021, Thoughtworks IPO’d on the NASDAQ and is listed as $TWKS

Corporate philosophy[]

Thoughtworks launched its Social Impact Program in 2009.[35] This program provided pro-bono or other developmental help for non-profits and organizations with socially-driven missions. Clients included Democracy Now! (mobile content delivery site), Human Network International (mobile data collection), and the Institute for Reproductive Health (SMS-based fertility planner).[36][37] In 2010, Thoughtworks provided software engineering services for Grameen Foundation's Mifos platform.[38]

Translation Cards is an open source Android app that helps field workers and refugees communicate more effectively and confidently. With the help of Google volunteers, Mercy Corps partnered with Thoughtworks and UNHCR to create the app.[39][40]

Books by Thoughtworks employees[]

An abbreviated list of books written by Thoughtworks employees

  • 1999 - Refactoring, by Martin Fowler. Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 978-0201485677[41]
  • 2002 - Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture, by Martin Fowler. Addison-Wesley Longman, Inc. ISBN 9780321127426[42]
  • 2010 - Continuous Delivery, by Jez Humble and David Farley. Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 978-0321601919[43]
  • 2014 - Lean Enterprise: How High Performance Organizations Innovate at Scale, by Jez Humble, Joanne Molesky, Barry O'Reilly. O'Reilly. ISBN 978-1449368425[44]
  • 2015 - Building Microservices, by Sam Newman. O'Reilly. ISBN 978-1491950357[45]
  • 2015 - Agile IT Organization Design, by Sriram Narayan. Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 978-0133903355[46]
  • 2016 - Infrastructure as Code, by Kief Morris. O'Reilly. ISBN 978-1491924358[47]
  • 2017 - Building Evolutionary Architectures, by Neal Ford, Rebecca Parsons and Patrick Kua. O'Reilly. ISBN 978-1491986363[48]
  • 2017 - Understanding Design Thinking Lean, and Agile, by Jonny Schneider[49]
  • 2018 - Enterprise Agility: Being Agile in a Changing World, by Sunil Mundra. Packt Publishing. ISBN 1788990641[50]
  • 2018 - EDGE: Leading your digital transformation with value-driven portfolio management, by Jim Highsmith, David Robinson, and Linda Luu.[51]
  • 2019 - Digital Transformation Game Plan, by Mike Mason, Guo Xiao, Gary O'Brien[52]
  • 2020 - Fundamentals of Software Architecture, by Mark Richards and Neal Ford[53]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "About the company". Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  2. ^ "About us| ThoughtWorks". www.thoughtworks.com. Retrieved 2021-03-05.
  3. ^ "Now Tech: Digital Product Development Services, Q1 2020". www.forrester.com. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  4. ^ "The Forrester Wave: Digital Experience Agencies In Asia Pacific, Q1 2019". www.forrester.com. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  5. ^ "Case Study: ThoughtWorks Makes Distributed Agile Work". www.forrester.com. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  6. ^ 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."
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ Jones, Capers (2013). The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering. Pearson Education. p. 234. ISBN 9780321903426. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  9. ^ Simpson, Glen (January 31, 2001). "ThoughtWorks Will Pay $480,000 To Settle Software Copyright Case". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  10. ^ "Agile Manifesto history". Agile Manifesto.
  11. ^ Lundy, Dave. 2003. Ex-activist backs revolution in software. Chicago Sun-Times, October 23.
  12. ^ Martin Fowler books, section: Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture, accessed 7-20-2011
  13. ^ Ruby at ThoughtWorks accessed 2007-7-20.
  14. ^ Fowler, Martin (2002). Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture. Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 0321127420.
  15. ^ Mingle
  16. ^ Snap CI
  17. ^ GoCD
  18. ^ "ThoughtWorks, Global IT Services Firm, Names Trevor Mather CEO". Business Wire. Brookshire Hathaway. 2007-03-01. Retrieved 2016-01-02.
  19. ^ Hastie, Shane (June 19, 2012). "An Interview with Rebecca Parsons - ThoughtWorks CTO". InfoQ. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  20. ^ "Executive Profile: Rebecca Parsons". Bloomberg.
  21. ^ "Jim Highsmith Joins ThoughtWorks". Information Technology Newsweekly. 28 September 2010.
  22. ^ Smith, Fiona (August 1, 2013). "Thoughtworks: Where Four Heads Are Better Than One". Financial Review. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  23. ^ "ThoughtWorks Announces New CEO and Collective Leadership Structure". PR Newswire. April 10, 2013.
  24. ^ Cookson, Robert (April 3, 2013). "Trader Media Resolves Search for Chief". Financial Times. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  25. ^ "ThoughtWorks Announces the Hiring of Dr. David Walton". Health & Medicine Weekly. May 24, 2013.
  26. ^ "Bringing the Best of Modern Medicine to Those Who Need It Most" (PDF). National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. NFID. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  27. ^ "AdMaster Acquires Chinese Online Forms Firm JinShuJu from ThoughtWorks". M&A Navigator. November 10, 2015.
  28. ^ "More M&A/IPO News for Nov. 3". Dow Jones. Private Equity & Venture Capital. November 3, 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  29. ^ "Contact Us". www.thoughtworks.com. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
  30. ^ "Funds advised by Apax Partners to acquire ThoughtWorks". www.thoughtworks.com. Retrieved 2017-09-02.
  31. ^ Visconti, Ambrogio. "ThoughtWorks' Acquisition Of Gemini Solutions". Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  32. ^ Davis, Katherine. "Chicago tech raises $1.7B in January amid 2 mega-funding rounds". Bizjournals. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  33. ^ Davis, Katherine. "ThoughtWorks acquires Finland startup to expand its European footprint". BizJournals. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  34. ^ "VA Launches New Platform to Send Veterans Personalized Notifications". Nextgov.com. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  35. ^ Vishy (Aug 29, 2012). "Your Vision. Our Software. World-changing. Introducing ThoughtWorks Social Impact Program". TechSangram. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  36. ^ "CycleTel overview" (PDF). US AID - African Strategies for Health. US AID. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  37. ^ "Welcome to the Team ThoughtWorks University!". Human Network International. Human Network International. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  38. ^ N, Abhay (July 29, 2010). "ThoughtWorks to help scale up Grameen's Mifos Software Platform". India Microfinance. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  39. ^ "Making sure refugees aren't lost in translation - with one simple app". UNHCR Innovation. 2016-04-19. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
  40. ^ "Mercy Corps". Google.org. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
  41. ^ Fowler, Martin (1999). Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code. Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 0201485672.
  42. ^ Fowler, Martin (2003). Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture. Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 0321127420.
  43. ^ Jez Humble, David Farley (2010). Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation. Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 978-0321601919.
  44. ^ Humble, Jez (2015-01-03). Lean Enterprise: How High Performance Organizations Innovate at Scale. O'Reilly Media. ISBN 978-1449368425.
  45. ^ Newman, Sam (2015-02-20). Building Microservices. O'Reilly Media. ISBN 978-1491950357.
  46. ^ Narayan, Sriram (2015). Agile IT Organization Design: For Digital Transformation and Continuous Delivery. Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 978-0133903355.
  47. ^ Morris, Kief (2016). Infrastructure as Code: Managing Servers in the Cloud. O'Reilly. O'Reilly Media. ISBN 9781491924358. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  48. ^ Ford, Neil (2017). Building Evolutionary Architectures: Support Constant Change. O'Reilly. O'Reilly Media. ISBN 9781491986363. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  49. ^ Schneider, Jonny, author. (2017). Understanding Design Thinking, Lean, and Agile. ISBN 9781491998410. OCLC 1019734384.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  50. ^ Mundra, Sunil. "Enterprise Agility: Being Agile in a Changing World". Packt Publishing. Packt Publishing. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  51. ^ HIGHSMITH, JIM ROBERT. LUU, LINDA. ROBINSON, DAVID ROBERT. (2019). EDGE : leading your digital transformation with value driven portfolio management. ADDISON-WESLEY. ISBN 978-0135263075. OCLC 1061305356.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  52. ^ "Digital Transformation Game Plan [Book]". www.oreilly.com. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  53. ^ Richards, Mark (11 February 2020). Fundamentals of software architecture : an engineering approach. Ford, Neal (First ed.). Sebastopol, CA. ISBN 978-1492043454. OCLC 1141018084.

External links[]

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