Application Performance Management (APM) is the name given to the use of technology to initiate, deploy, monitor, fix, update and/or optimize systems within an organization. Application management software employs measurements of response times, and other component and resource interactions, to help manage the overall stability and usability of the software within its purview. This book, presented in three parts, is intended to take you from the first discussions about planning and assessing your monitoring needs, through the details and considerations of an APM technology implementation, and onto the types of skills, processes and competencies that you will need to be completely successful in the utilization of APM. And it is not simply a discussion of ideas for you to consider. The approach used is largely metrics-based. I have included the appropriate artifacts so that you may conduct these activities exactly the same as I would if I were working with you. My role as an APM practitioner is to guide stakeholders through every phase of the journey to APM excellence and the discussions in this book are taken directly from my presentations, engagement artifacts and training materials. In particular, I lead client teams through a comprehensive program of best practices that allow them to establish and staff an APM discipline.