The Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array has started Early Science operations in 2011 and is now ramping up to Full Science operations. As the third cycle of science oprations is abut to be completed and a record setting 1582 observing proposals for the fourth cycle are under review, a steady stream of new scientific results are constantly  appearing in the literature. “Behind the scenes” new observing modes are being implemented and the first set of major upgrades are being worked on and will become available to the users in the coming cycles. In this talk I will review the scientific motivations, choices and successes of the ALMA construction, the initial results from the first years of Early Science and an outlook on the ALMA development programme.