Essential Scrum is the complete guide and reference to use Scrum to develop innovative products and services that delight your customers.
Summary
Title: Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process
Author: Kenneth S. Rubin
Themes: Agile, Career, Cases, Technology, Management, Business
Year: 2012
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
ISBN: 0321700376, 9780321700377
Pages: 504
Whether you are new to Scrum or years into your use, this book will introduce, clarify, and deepen your Scrum knowledge at the team, product, and portfolio levels.
Drawing from Rubin’s experience helping hundreds of organizations succeed with Scrum, this book provides easy-to-digest descriptions enhanced by more than two hundred illustrations based on an entirely new visual icon language for describing Scrum’s roles, artifacts, and activities.
Essential Scrum will provide every team member, manager, and executive with a common understanding of Scrum, a shared vocabulary they can use in applying it, and practical knowledge for deriving maximum value from it.
A very helpful aspect of the book is the detailed "visual language," Kenny created while writing the book. He created icons for every possible aspect of Scrum and these are used to make up dozens and dozens of figures to illustrate all the work and knowledge flows of a Scrum project.
His diagrams definitely go well beyond the typical double-loop depiction of Scrum.
This book offers a bypass to many of the pitfalls and will accelerate a team’s ability to produce business value and become successful with Scrum.
My Book Highlights:
"... Plan-driven development works well if you are applying it to problems that are well-defined, predictable, and unlikely to undergo any significant change..."
"... The product owner is responsible for what will be developed and in what order. The ScrumMaster is responsible for guiding the team in creating and following its own process based on the broader Scrum framework. The development team is responsible for determining how to deliver what the product owner has asked for..."
"... Grooming refers to a set of three principal activities: creating and refining (adding details to) PBIs, estimating PBIs, and prioritizing PBIs..."
"... A product backlog item can be considered done only when both the item-specific acceptance criteria (for example, “works with all of the credit cards”) and the sprint-level definition-of-done (for example, “live on the production server”) items have been met..."
"... In product development, however, the goal is to create a unique single instance of the product, not to manufacture the product..."
"... Whereas the sprint review is a time to inspect and adapt the product, the sprint retrospective is an opportunity to inspect and adapt the process..."
"... As a general rule, the development team should allocate up to 10% of its time each sprint to assisting the product owner with grooming activities..."
"... The fact is, when developing innovative products, you can’t create complete requirements or designs upfront by simply working longer and harder. Some requirements and designs will always emerge once product development is underway; no amount of comprehensive up-front work will prevent that..."
"... Scrum is a refreshingly simple, people-centric framework based on the values of honesty, openness, courage, respect, focus, trust, empowerment, and collaboration..."
"... Each day during sprint execution, the team members help manage the flow of work by conducting a synchronization, inspection, and adaptive planning activity known as the daily scrum..."
"... Scrum embraces the fact that in product development, some level of variability is required in order to build something new..."
"... Scrum can be used for new product development and Kanban for interrupt-driven support and maintenance..."
"... Iterative development acknowledges that we will probably get things wrong before we get them right and that we will do things poorly before we do them well..."
"... Incremental development is based on the age-old principle of “Build some of it before you build all of it..."
"... With an agile approach, you begin by creating a product backlog — a prioritized list of the features and other capabilities needed to develop a successful product. Guided by the product backlog, you always work on the most important or highest-priority items first. When you run out of resources (such as time), any work that didn’t get completed will be of lower priority than the completed work..."
"... The work itself is performed in short, timeboxed iterations, which usually range from a week to a calendar month in length. During each iteration, a self-organizing, cross-functional team does all of the work — such as designing, building, and testing — required to produce complete, working features that could be put into production..."
"... Typically the amount of work in the product backlog is much greater than can be completed by a team in one short-duration iteration. So, at the start of each iteration, the team plans which high-priority subset of the product backlog to create in the upcoming iteration..."
"... At the end of the iteration, the team reviews the complete features with the stakeholders to get their feedback. Based on the feedback, the product owner and team can alter both what they plan to work on next and how the team plans to do the work..."
"... At the end of each iteration, the team should have a potentially shippable product (or increment of the product), one that can be released if appropriate..."
"... Though Scrum is an excellent solution for many situations, it is not the proper solution in all circumstances. The Cynefin framework (Snowden and Boone 2007) is a sense-making framework that helps us understand the situation in which we have to operate and decide on a situation-appropriate approach..."
"... Scrum is not a silver bullet or a magic cure. Scrum can, however, enable you to embrace the changes that accompany all complex product development efforts..."
"... Although the Scrum framework is simple, it would be a mistake to assume that Scrum is easy and painless to apply. Scrum doesn’t prescriptively answer your process questions; instead, it empowers teams to ask and answer their own great questions. Scrum doesn’t give individuals a cookbook solution to all of their organizational maladies; instead, Scrum makes visible the dysfunctions and waste that prevent organizations from reaching their true potential..."
"... Plan-driven processes (waterfall, traditional, sequential, anticipatory, predictive, or prescriptive development processes )are so named because they attempt to plan for and anticipate upfront all of the features a user might want in the end product and to determine how best to build those features. The idea here is that the better the planning, the better the understanding, and therefore the better the execution..."
"... Plan-driven development works well if you are applying it to problems that are well-defined, predictable, and unlikely to undergo any significant change. The problem is that most product development efforts are anything but predictable, especially at the beginning. So, while a plan-driven process gives the impression of an orderly, accountable, and measurable approach, that impression can lead to a false sense of security. After all, developing a product rarely goes as planned. [P]lan-driven development approaches are based on a set of beliefs that do not match the uncertainty inherent in most product development efforts..."
"... Scrum, on the other hand, is based on a different set of beliefs — ones that do map well to problems with enough uncertainty to make high levels or predictability difficult..."
It is a comprehensive overview of Scrum. It goes from the principles of agile through the mechanics of sprints to the roles on a Scrum team and all the way up to topics like technical debt and portfolio management with Scrum.
Some key insights and learnings from the book include:
- Scrum is a lightweight framework for managing complex projects and products. It is based on the Agile principles of flexibility, collaboration, and customer satisfaction.
- The three roles in Scrum are the Product Owner, ScrumMaster, and Development Team. Each role has specific responsibilities and works together to deliver a potentially releasable product increment at the end of each Sprint.
- The Scrum events are Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective. These events provide a structure for the Development Team to plan, execute, inspect, and adapt their work.
- The Scrum artifacts are the Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, and Increment. These artifacts provide visibility into the work being done and the progress being made.
- Empirical process control is used in Scrum to allow the team to inspect and adapt their work based on actual results, rather than relying on detailed upfront planning.
- Scrum is highly adaptable and can be used in a wide variety of contexts, including software development, product development, and even non-technical projects.
The book also covers important topics such as how to scale Scrum, how to measure and improve performance, and how to overcome common challenges.
Chapters of the Book:
Chapter 1: Introduction
What Is Scrum?
Scrum Origins
Why Scrum?
Genomica Results
Can Scrum Help You?
Complex Domain
Complicated Domain
Simple Domain
Chaotic Domain
Disorder
Interrupt-Driven Work
Closing
Chapter 2: Scrum Framework
Overview
Scrum Roles
Product Owner
ScrumMaster
Development Team
Scrum Activities and Artifacts
Product Backlog
Sprints
Sprint Planning
Sprint Execution
Daily Scrum
Done
Sprint Review
Sprint Retrospective
Closing
Chapter 3: Agile Principles
Overview
Variability and Uncertainty
Embrace Helpful Variability
Employ Iterative and Incremental Development
Leverage Variability through Inspection, Adaptation, and Transparency
Reduce All Forms of Uncertainty Simultaneously
Prediction and Adaptation
Keep Options Open
Accept That You Can’t Get It Right Up Front
Favor an Adaptive, Exploratory Approach
Embrace Change in an Economically Sensible Way
Balance Predictive Up-Front Work with Adaptive Just-in-Time Work
Validated Learning
Validate Important Assumptions Fast
Leverage Multiple Concurrent Learning Loops
Organize Workflow for Fast Feedback
Work in Process (WIP)
Use Economically Sensible Batch Sizes
Recognize Inventory and Manage It for Good Flow
Focus on Idle Work, Not Idle Workers
Consider Cost of Delay
Progress
Adapt to Real-Time Information and Replan
Measure Progress by Validating Working Assets
Focus on Value-Centric Delivery
Performance
Go Fast but Never Hurry
Build In Quality
Employ Minimally Sufficient Ceremony
Closing
Chapter 4: Sprints
Overview
Timeboxed
Establishes a WIP Limit
Forces Prioritization
Demonstrates Progress
Avoids Unnecessary Perfectionism
Motivates Closure
Improves Predictability
Short Duration
Ease of Planning
Fast Feedback
Improved Return on Investment
Bounded Error
Rejuvenated Excitement
Frequent Checkpoints
Consistent Duration
Cadence Benefits
Simplifies Planning
No Goal-Altering Changes
What Is a Sprint Goal?
Mutual Commitment
Change versus Clarification
Consequences of Change
Being Pragmatic
Abnormal Termination
Definition of Done
What Is the Definition of Done?
Definition of Done Can Evolve Over Time
Definition of Done versus Acceptance Criteria
Done versus Done-Done
Closing
Chapter 5: Requirements and User Stories
Overview
Using Conversations
Progressive Refinement
What Are User Stories?
Card
Conversation
Confirmation
Level of Detail
INVEST in Good Stories
Independent
Negotiable
Valuable
Estimatable
Sized Appropriately (Small)
Testable
Nonfunctional Requirements
Knowledge-Acquisition Stories
Gathering Stories
User-Story-Writing Workshop
Story Mapping
Closing
Chapter 6: Product Backlog
Overview
Product Backlog Items
Good Product Backlog Characteristics
Detailed Appropriately
Emergent
Estimated
Prioritized
Grooming
What Is Grooming?
Who Does the Grooming?
When Does Grooming Take Place?
Definition of Ready
Flow Management
Release Flow Management
Sprint Flow Management
Which and How Many Product Backlogs?
What Is a Product?
Large Products—Hierarchical Backlogs
Multiple Teams—One Product Backlog
One Team—Multiple Products
Closing
Chapter 7: Estimation and Velocity
Overview
What and When We Estimate
Portfolio Backlog Item Estimates
Product Backlog Estimates
Task Estimates
PBI Estimation Concepts
Estimate as a Team
Estimates Are Not Commitments
Accuracy versus Precision
Relative Size Estimation
PBI Estimation Units
Story Points
Ideal Days
Planning Poker
Estimation Scale
How to Play
Benefits
What Is Velocity?
Calculate a Velocity Range
Forecasting Velocity
Affecting Velocity
Misusing Velocity
Closing
Chapter 8: Technical Debt
Overview
Consequences of Technical Debt
Unpredictable Tipping Point
Increased Time to Delivery
Significant Number of Defects
Rising Development and Support Costs
Product Atrophy
Decreased Predictability
Underperformance
Universal Frustration
Decreased Customer Satisfaction
Causes of Technical Debt
Pressure to Meet a Deadline
Attempting to Falsely Accelerate Velocity
Myth: Less Testing Can Accelerate Velocity
Debt Builds on Debt
Technical Debt Must Be Managed
Managing the Accrual of Technical Debt
Use Good Technical Practices
Use a Strong Definition of Done
Properly Understand Technical Debt Economics
Making Technical Debt Visible
Make Technical Debt Visible at the Business Level
Make Technical Debt Visible at the Technical Level
Servicing the Technical Debt
Not All Technical Debt Should Be Repaid
Apply the Boy Scout Rule (Service Debt When You Happen Upon It)
Repay Technical Debt Incrementally
Repay the High-Interest Technical Debt First
Repay Technical Debt While Performing Customer-Valuable Work
Closing
Chapter 9: Product Owner
Overview
Principal Responsibilities
Manage Economics
Participate in Planning
Groom the Product Backlog
Define Acceptance Criteria and Verify That They Are Met
Collaborate with the Development Team
Collaborate with the Stakeholders
Characteristics/Skills
Domain Skills
People Skills
Decision Making
Accountability
A Day in the Life
Who Should Be a Product Owner?
Internal Development
Commercial Development
Outsourced Development Project
Component Development
Product Owner Combined with Other Roles
Product Owner Team
Product Owner Proxy
Chief Product Owner
Closing
Chapter 10: ScrumMaster
Overview
Principal Responsibilities
Coach
Servant Leader
Process Authority
Interference Shield
Impediment Remover
Change Agent
Characteristics/Skills
Knowledgeable
Questioning
Patient
Collaborative
Protective
Transparent
A Day in the Life
Fulfilling the Role
Who Should Be a ScrumMaster?
Is ScrumMaster a Full-Time Job?
ScrumMaster Combined with Other Roles
Closing
Chapter 11: Development Team
Overview
Role-Specific Teams
Principal Responsibilities
Perform Sprint Execution
Inspect and Adapt Each Day
Groom the Product Backlog
Plan the Sprint
Inspect and Adapt the Product and Process
Characteristics/Skills
Self-Organizing
Cross-Functionally Diverse and Sufficient
T-Shaped Skills
Musketeer Attitude
High-Bandwidth Communications
Transparent Communication
Right-Sized
Focused and Committed
Working at a Sustainable Pace
Long-Lived
Closing
Chapter 12: Scrum Team Structures
Overview
Feature Teams versus Component Teams
Multiple-Team Coordination
Scrum of Scrums
Release Train
Closing
Chapter 13: Managers
Overview
Fashioning Teams
Define Boundaries
Provide a Clear Elevating Goal
Form Teams
Change Team Composition
Empower Teams
Nurturing Teams
Energize People
Develop Competence
Provide Functional-Area Leadership
Maintain Team Integrity
Aligning and Adapting the Environment
Promote Agile Values
Remove Organizational Impediments
Align Internal Groups
Align Partners
Managing Value-Creation Flow
Take a Systems Perspective
Manage Economics
Monitor Measures and Reports
Project Managers
Project Management Responsibilities on a Scrum Team
Retaining a Separate Project Manager Role
Closing
Chapter 14: Scrum Planning Principles
Overview
Don’t Assume We Can Get the Plans Right Up Front
Up-Front Planning Should Be Helpful without Being Excessive
Keep Planning Options Open Until the Last Responsible Moment
Focus More on Adapting and Replanning Than on Conforming to a Plan
Correctly Manage the Planning Inventory
Favor Smaller and More Frequent Releases
Plan to Learn Fast and Pivot When Necessary
Closing
Chapter 15: Multilevel Planning
Overview
Portfolio Planning
Product Planning (Envisioning)
Vision
High-Level Product Backlog
Product Roadmap
Release Planning
Sprint Planning
Daily Planning
Closing
Chapter 16: Portfolio Planning
Overview
Timing
Participants
Process
Scheduling Strategies
Optimize for Lifecycle Profits
Calculate Cost of Delay
Estimate for Accuracy, Not Precision
Inflow Strategies
Apply the Economic Filter
Balance the Arrival Rate with the Departure Rate
Quickly Embrace Emergent Opportunities
Plan for Smaller, More Frequent Releases
Outflow Strategies
Focus on Idle Work, Not Idle Workers
Establish a WIP Limit
Wait for a Complete Team
In-Process Strategies
Use Marginal Economics
Closing
Chapter 17: Envisioning (Product Planning)
Overview
Timing
Participants
Process
SR4U Example
Visioning
High-Level Product Backlog Creation
Product Roadmap Definition
Other Activities
Economically Sensible Envisioning
Target a Realistic Confidence Threshold
Focus on a Short Horizon
Act Quickly
Pay for Validated Learning
Use Incremental/Provisional Funding
Learn Fast and Pivot (aka Fail Fast)
Closing
Chapter 18: Release Planning (Longer-Term Planning)
Overview
Timing
Participants
Process
Release Constraints
Fixed Everything
Fixed Scope and Date
Fixed Scope
Fixed Date
Variable Quality
Updating Constraints
Grooming the Product Backlog
Refine Minimum Releasable Features (MRFs)
Sprint Mapping (PBI Slotting)
Fixed-Date Release Planning
Fixed-Scope Release Planning
Calculating Cost
Communicating
Communicating Progress on a Fixed-Scope Release
Communicating Progress on a Fixed-Date Release
Closing
Chapter 19: Sprint Planning
Overview
Timing
Participants
Process
Approaches to Sprint Planning
Two-Part Sprint Planning
One-Part Sprint Planning
Determining Capacity
What Is Capacity?
Capacity in Story Points
Capacity in Effort-Hours
Selecting Product Backlog Items
Acquiring Confidence
Refine the Sprint Goal
Finalize the Commitment
Closing
Chapter 20: Sprint Execution
Overview
Timing
Participants
Process
Sprint Execution Planning
Flow Management
Parallel Work and Swarming
Which Work to Start
How to Organize Task Work
What Work Needs to Be Done?
Who Does the Work?
Daily Scrum
Task Performance—Technical Practices
Communicating
Task Board
Sprint Burndown Chart
Sprint Burnup Chart
Closing
Chapter 21: Sprint Review
Overview
Participants
Prework
Determine Whom to Invite
Schedule the Activity
Confirm That the Sprint Work Is Done
Prepare for the Demonstration
Determine Who Does What
Approach
Summarize
Demonstrate
Discuss
Adapt
Sprint Review Issues
Sign-offs
Sporadic Attendance
Large Development Efforts
Closing
Chapter 22: Sprint Retrospective
Overview
Participants
Prework
Define the Retrospective Focus
Select the Exercises
Gather Objective Data
Structure the Retrospective
Approach
Set the Atmosphere
Share Context
Identify Insight
Determine Actions
Close the Retrospective
Follow Through
Sprint Retrospective Issues
Closing
Chapter 23: The Path Forward
There Is No End State
Discover Your Own Path
Sharing Best Practices
Using Scrum to Discover the Path Forward
Get Going!
Glossary
References
With Essential Scrum, Kenny brings us back to the heart of Scrum. And the teams can begin to make the decisions necessary to implement Scrum, making it their own.
This book serves as an indispensable guide, helping teams choose among the billions of possible ways of implementing Scrum and finding one that leads to success.
Kenneth S. Rubin provides Scrum and Agile training and coaching to help companies develop products more effectively and economically. A Certified Scrum Trainer, he has trained more than eighteen thousand people in Agile and Scrum, Smalltalk development, managing object-oriented projects, and transition management. He has coached hundreds of companies, ranging from startups to the Fortune 10. Rubin was the first Managing Director of the worldwide Scrum Alliance, a nonprofit organization focused on successful Scrum adoption. His diverse development roles have included successful stints as Scrum product owner, ScrumMaster, and developer. Rubin’s executive management roles have included CEO, COO, VP of Engineering, VP of Product Management, and VP of Professional Services.
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