New Relic, Inc., the SaaS-based application management provider, announced today that software development luminary Ward Cunningham has joined New Relic. As a staff engineer, Cunningham will add his unique talents as a craftsman developer and innovation accelerator to New Relic’s stellar developer team, headquartered in Portland, Oregon. In addition to inventing the Wiki, he is broadly recognized as co-creator of Extreme Programming, the first form of Agile Programming that is widely accepted today as a superior methodology for fast-paced development organizations. In addition, Cunningham is a published author, having written influential titles such as “The Wiki Way” and “Framework for Integrated Tests.”

Most recently, Cunningham held the prestigious position of Code for a Better World fellow In Nike’s sustainable and innovation group. In addition, he was CTO for Citizens Global, AboutUs.org, The Eclipse Foundation and held a senior technical position at Microsoft.

“New Relic has changed the way software gets built by introducing production usage data into agile development processes,” said Cunningham. “Working as a member of New Relic’s outstanding team of engineers who are known for rapid innovation, I hope to help shape the next generation of New Relic products. My first task is to evaluate our product initiatives with an eye to streamlining and accelerating their already speedy processes while maximizing their internal engineering talents.”

“We’ve always referred to Ward as the “accelerator,” one who can see the possibilities beyond the status quo and bring out the very best in the team,” said Bjorn Freeman-Benson, vice president of engineering of New Relic. “With his belief in the valuable role of community contributions toward a collective knowledge, he is a perfect fit for New Relic’s culture. We look forward to sharing the benefits of his work with our customers and the developer community at large.”

Online Resources

• Don’t miss our blog for more information.