This is the definitive, realistic, actionable guide to starting fast with Scrum and agile to succeed over the long run and making Scrum and agile work.
Summary
Title: Succeeding with Agile: Software Development Using Scrum
Author: Mike Cohn
Themes: Agile, Scrum, Cases, Technology, Management, Business
Year: 2010
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
ISBN: 0321579364, 9780321579362
Pages: 475
This is not a book for those who are completely new to Scrum or agile. There are other books, classes, and even websites for that. If you are completely new to Scrum, start with one of those.
Mike Cohn, a leading agile consultant, and practitioner give thorough ideas, compelling tips, and real-world case studies based on his unrivaled expertise in assisting hundreds of software firms in making Scrum and agile work.
This book is intended for pragmatic software professionals looking for real-world solutions to the most difficult difficulties they experience when implementing Scrum.
The book addresses every aspect of the shift, including how to get started, how to help employees transfer to new positions, how to structure teams, scale up, work with a distributed team, and lastly, how to implement effective metrics and continuous improvement.
This book covers crucial subjects such as:
- Practical ways to get started immediately–and “get good” fast
- Overcoming individual resistance to the changes Scrum requires
- Staffing Scrum projects and building effective teams
- Establishing “improvement communities” of people driving change
- Choosing which agile technical practices to use or experiment
- Making the most of Scrum sprints, planning
- Scaling Scrum to distributed, multiteam projects
- Using Scrum on projects with complex sequential processes
- Using Scrum to comply with governance requirements
- Understanding Scrum's impact on HR, facilities, and project management
"... Despite all the reasons why transitioning to Scrum can be particularly difficult, stakeholders in companies that have made the transition are happy they’ve done so. One reason stakeholders are so satisfied is that time-to-market is reduced when using an agile process like Scrum. This faster time-to-market is enabled by the higher productivity of agile teams, which is in turn the result of the higher quality seen in agile projects. Because employees are freed up to do high-quality work and because they see their work delivered sooner into the hands of waiting users, job satisfaction goes up. With higher job satisfaction comes more engaged employees, which leads to more productivity gains, initiating a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement..." - Mike Cohn
This book covers crucial subjects such as:
Agile development is an iterative and incremental approach to software development that emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, and customer satisfaction.
The key principles of Agile development are to deliver working software frequently, to welcome changing requirements, and to work closely with the customer throughout the development process.
One of the key practices of Agile development is the use of Scrum, which is a framework for managing and completing complex projects.
My Book Highlights:
"... One organization I worked with revised its annual review form, removing the individual-oriented criteria, such as job knowledge, time management, and ability to balance multiple priorities. It replaced them with team-oriented criteria, such as makes others better at their jobs, contributes to shared knowledge, willingness to work beyond job title, and met team deliverable and quality goals..."
"... Scrum teams are encouraged not to think in terms of my tasks and your tasks but of our tasks. This forces collaboration among team members to new highs. Working in this way also creates a mindset of shared responsibility that will be new to many team members..."
"... Quality is improved because working at a sustainable pace prevents sloppiness. Quality is also improved through many of the engineering practices such as pair programming, refactoring, and a strong emphasis on early and automated testing..."
"... Like sirens singing to us from the rocks, best practices tempt us to relax and stop the effort of continuous improvement that is essential to Scrum..."
"... The “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality is about as far as can be from an agile “if it ain’t perfect (and it never will be), keep improving” mindset..."
"... Having a chance to change or personalize a process to fit themselves seems to be a critical success factor for a team to adopt a process. It’s the act of creation that seems to bind teams to ‘their own’ process..."
"... Think about your current transition to Scrum. Are you just getting started, in the middle, or feeling like you’re nearing the end of the transition push? No matter where you are, identify the primary obstacle you think may be holding you back from the next level of success..."
"... Getting coworkers to commit to a Scrum transition effort rather than merely comply with it (perhaps waiting for it to blow over) is what we would like to achieve with a successful promotion..."
"... Most successful changes, and especially a change to an agile process like Scrum, must include elements of both top-down and bottom-up change..."
"... One reason stakeholders are so satisfied is that time-to-market is reduced when using an agile process like Scrum. This faster time-to-market is enabled by the higher productivity of agile teams, which is in turn the result of the higher quality seen on agile projects. Because employees are freed up to do high-quality work and because they see their work delivered sooner into the hands of waiting users, job satisfaction goes up. With higher job satisfaction comes more engaged employees, which leads to more productivity gains, initiating a virtuous cycle of continued improvement..."
The Scrum framework includes roles such as the Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Development Team, as well as ceremonies such as Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective.
Another key practice of Agile development is the use of user stories to capture the requirements for a system. User stories are short, simple descriptions of a feature or function that is desired by the customer.
Agile development also emphasizes the importance of continuous testing and integration, to ensure that the software is working correctly and meets the needs of the customer.
Finally, Agile development requires a culture of collaboration and communication, where all team members work together towards a common goal and share information openly and honestly.
Chapters of the Book:
Part I - Getting Started
Chapter 1 - Why Becoming Agile Is Hard (But Worth It)
Chapter 2 - ADAPTing to Scrum
Chapter 3 - Patterns for Adopting Scrum
Chapter 4 - Iterating Toward Agility
Chapter 5 - Your First Projects
Part II - Individuals
Chapter 6 - Overcoming Resistance
Chapter 7 - New Roles
Chapter 8 - Changed Roles
Chapter 9 - Technical Practices
Part III - Teams
Chapter 10 - Team Structure
Chapter 11 - Teamwork
Chapter 12 - Leading a Self-Organizing Team
Chapter 13 - The Product Backlog
Chapter 14 - Sprints
Chapter 15 - Planning
Chapter 16 - Quality
Part IV - The Organization
Chapter 17 - Scaling Scrum
Chapter 18 - Distributed Teams
Chapter 19 - Coexisting with Other Approaches
Chapter 20 - Human Resources, Facilities, and the PMO
Part V - Next Steps
Chapter 21 - Seeing How Far You've Come
Chapter 22 - You're Not Done Yet
The book is aimed at software development teams, project managers, and anyone looking to implement Agile practices in their organization. It provides practical advice and real-world examples to help readers understand and apply Agile concepts in their own projects.
Whether you've completed a few sprints or numerous agile projects, and regardless of your role, this book will help you succeed on your next project.
Then it will assist you in going much further: transforming your entire development organization.
Mike Cohn is the founder of Mountain Goat Software, a process and project management consultancy and training firm. He is the author of User Stories Applied for Agile Software Development and Agile Estimating and Planning, as well as books on Java and C++ programming. With more than 25 years of experience, Mike has previously been a technology executive in companies of various sizes, from start-ups to Fortune 50.
I am incredibly grateful that you have taken the time to read this post.
Your support and engagement mean the world to me, and I truly appreciate your interest in the topics I write about.
I hope that you have found this post informative, educational and engaging.
If you are interested in reading more of my work, please visit other articles here on the website.
I promise to continue providing valuable and high-quality content for your enjoyment and education.
Thank you again for reading and I hope to see you soon!
Here are some related articles you may enjoy:
There are even more good things I've prepared for you!
Subscribe here to receive new posts in your Email!
Do you want to read some book notes and recommendations? Discover more here!
Do you want to have amazing weekly content curation? Discover more here!
Ready to make a positive impact?
Support my work by sharing my content with your network.
Your simple act of kindness can reach new heights and help spread valuable information.
Want to show your support in a tangible way? A virtual coffee is a small but mighty way to show your appreciation and give me the extra energy to keep crafting valuable content!
