The Scrum Field Guide: Practical Advice for Your First Year

Thousands of IT professionals are being asked to make Scrum succeed in their organizations–including many who weren’t involved in the decision to adopt it. If you’re one of them, The Scrum Field Guide will give you skills and confidence to adopt Scrum more rapidly, more successfully, and with far less pain and fear. Long-time Scrum practitioner Mitch Lacey identifies major challenges associated with early-stage Scrum adoption, as well as deeper issues that emerge after companies have adopted Scrum, and describes how other organizations have overcome them. You’ll learn how to gain “quick wins” that build support, and then use the flexibility of Scrum to maximize value creation across the entire process.In 30 brief, engaging chapters, Lacey guides you through everything from defining roles to setting priorities to determining team velocity, choosing a sprint length, and conducting customer reviews. Along the way, he explains why Scrum can seem counterintuitive, offers a solid grounding in the core agile concepts that make it work, and shows where it can (and shouldn’t) be modified. Coverage includesGetting teams on board, and bringing new team members aboard after you’ve startedCreating a “definition of done” for the team and organizationImplementing the strong technical practices that are indispensable for agile successBalancing predictability and adaptability in release planningKeeping defects in checkRunning productive daily standup meetingsKeeping people engaged with pair programmingManaging culture clashes on Scrum teamsPerforming “emergency procedures” to get sprints back on trackEstablishing a pace your team can truly sustainAccurately costing projects, and measuring the value they deliverDocumenting Scrum projects effectivelyPrioritizing and estimating large backlogsIntegrating outsourced and offshored componentsPacked with real-world examples from Lacey’s own experience, this book is invaluable to everyone transitioning to agile: developers, architects, testers, managers, and project owners alike.