89 Tips From The agile Trenches
89 Tips From The agile Trenches
for scrummasters & agile coaches
About the Book
In 2002 the agile manifesto was published. Since then thousands of people have been trained in scrum & other agile ways of working.
The first sentence of the agile manifesto says: We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. This book is about helping others, and contains tips Yves collected from people in the trenches, eg people who are doing it.
agile working improves with more diversity, this book collects wisdom from 89 agile experts, living in 28 countries and with 27 nationalities.
Today the book contains these tips :
Foreword by Jerry Weinberg.
- We are continuously uncovering (Sander Hoogendoorn)
- RI Mode Sprint Planning (Ivan Darmawan)
- You will never arrive at THE destination (Naresh Jain)
- Become a continuous learner and model that (Diana Larsen)
- Ask for permission (Michael Sahota)
- The scrum police are coming for you (or are they?) (Mike Cohn)
- Manage the shape of your backlog (Shane Hastie)
- Helping team members to solve impediments over solving impediments themselves (Ben Linders)
- Different Ideas for Defect Management (Katrina Clokie)
- Observe (Henrik Kniberg)
- Why and How to Claim Wins For Personal and Team Power(Christopher Avery)
- Know The Work (Johanna Rothman)
- Question your teams intimacy (Karthik Kamal B)
- Love your customer (Ardita Karaj)
- Are You Really Doing It? (Jutta Eckstein)
- Coaching By Listening (Yassal Sundman)
- Learning is fun but can be painful (Aino Corry)
- Facilitate learning (Clare Sudbery)
- Enable growth (Rashina Hoda)
- Create a high-bandwith work environment (Lisette Sutherland)
- Arrive with your whole heart (Samantha Laing &Karen Graeves)
- How to reduce groupthink in remote meetings (Judy Rees)
- Becoming Better through the Community (Allison Pollard)
- The evolutionary path from authority to agility (Linda Rising)
- You are an informal leader - which leadership skills do you need? (Mina Boström Nakicenovic)
- Becoming Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable (Michele Sliger)
- Stop protecting your team (Jenni & Ole Jepsen)
- Care about feedback (Emilie Franchomme)
- Bypassing Binary Thinking for Better Understanding (George Dinwiddie)
- Build Your Netwerk (Siddharta Govindaraj)
- Turn Up the Good (Woody Zuill)
- Be like a good parent (Nicole Belilos)
- Two simple heuristics that will solve (most of) the problems you face as a Scrum Master (Vasco Duarte)
- Processes should enhance people's ability to work, not prevent it. (Angela Riggs)
- Happy Storming (Chris Matts)
- Silent dotvoting (Bart Vermijlen)
- Study the agile manifesto (Yves Hanoulle)
- Retrospectives are the most valuable agile practice (Lisa Crispin)
- Collaboration (Zuzi Sochova)
- Build Systems, not Software (Corey Ladas)
- Never forget that Scrum is just as simple as chess! (Rini Van Solingen)
- Every team needs a Working Agreement (Dana Pylayeva)
- There’s no one-size-fits-all approach (Stacey Ackerman)
- Curiosity Over Judgment (Tim Ottinger)
- Improve quality of meetings (Ivo Peksens)
- Going Viral (Tom Perry)
- Zoom Out (Tobias Fors)
- Eliminate comparison and encourage progress (Hina Popal)
- Stop, Collaborate and listen (Terry Harmer)
- Effective Teams are NOT Efficient (Olaf Lewitz)
- Crafting Quality Interactions (Joanne Perold)
- Letting Go (Stacia Viscardi)
- Support the interactions between individuals (Emily Webber)
- Introverts on Agile teams, and how small changes can make a big difference (Tobias Anderberg)
- Empower team change (Heidi Helfand)
- Coaching teams: A journey of contradictions and context as a crucial driver (Ravi Kumar)
- Study how the work works (Cesario Ramos)
- Things happen in their own time(Corinna Baldauf)
- 9 Rules of thumb to improve your backlog refinement workshops (Jeff Patton)
- Working software over ... almost anything (Ron Jeffries)
- How Act Is More Important Than What You Say You Believe (Tom Cagley)
- Ownership in Agile: Purpose and collaboration (Oana Juncu)
- Since all those companies work Agile, we don’t longer receive any commitment. (Nele Van Beveren)
- Visualize more! (Jimmy Janlén)
- Holding Space for growth (Irene Kuhn)
- Craft Experiences Not Arguments (Michael (Mike) Hill )
- The value of reverie (Ilan Kirschenbaum)
- The gut feeling ordering practice( Jürgen De Smet)
- Building Client Trust (Lanette Creamer)
- Don't forget to mine for conflict (Daria Bagina)
- Where did governance go (Phil Gadzinski)
- Creating Collaborative Connective tissues (Tony Ponton)
- Technical Debt And Product Success (Roman Pichler)
- Self-Organized teams (Madhavi Ledalla)
- Forget about all the practices and focus on what you deliver (Brenda Bao)
- It’s not just the question you ask, but how you ask it! (Tze Chin Tang)
- Slow Down, Then Speed Up. (Selena Delesie)
- Asynchronous management: Simplicity in a digital workplace. (Molood Ceccarelli)
- Agile Coaching Agreement as Creative Partnership (Nadezhda Belousova)
- Love is key (Anke Maerz)
- Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation (Daniel Terhorst-North)
- Fool didn’t know it was impossible, so she did it! (Deepti Jain)
- Let's talk about the p-word (Karen Catlin)
- Mind the short and the long (Tsutomu Yasui)
- Montague Street Bridge (Kanatcha Sakdiset)
- agile =/= Speed (Kevlin Henney)
Bundles that include this book
Reader Testimonials

George Dinwiddie
You're sure to find some tips that are perfect for your situation.
Full disclosure: I wrote one of the tips in this book. There are 88 (or so) other tip authors--one for each key on your piano--organized by snippets of the Agile Manifesto. Plus a meta-tip by Jerry Weinberg in the Foreword. If you or your organization is practicing Agile Software Development, or want to, I think you'll find value in this book.

Diana Larsen
All aspect of agile practice in one book
So happy to receive my copy of Yves Hanoulle 's collected "Tips From The agile Trenches" and to have contributed once again to his continuing efforts to spread good ideas through sharing with agile practitioners worldwide. This book contains wisdom for all aspects of your agile journey. Check it out!

Ardita Karaj
Why learn from 1 when you can learn from 90 agile practitioners!
This book is a pure collection of tips from people that practice agile mindset every day, on everything they do! Yves has done a great job pulling together these gems from many people in this book, all organized in meaningful chapters, knitted together like a beautiful mosaic where everyone can find something that speaks to them, that teaches them and that motivates them.

Lisa Crispin
A great source of quick, daily inspiration!
I love to pick up this book and read a tip or two that makes me think. Often it's a reminder of some good practice I know but have neglected lately. Often it's a new idea that I can apply together with my own team. Such a diverse group of leading practitioners has produced a wonderful range of practical techniques. You won't regret this investment in your learning
Ivo Peksens
A ton of value
Being one of many co-authors of this kind of book feels like never before. At first, I thought this book is for other people, then I started to read it myself. Oh my good! How practical and useful it is! It is a golden collection of many diverse Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches and other kinds of Change Agents who have shared their real life experiences and tips. This book is all about that! No theory whatsoever!
Table of Contents
- 1 Foreword
- 2 Preface
-
3 We are uncovering better ways of developing software
- 3.1 We are continuously uncovering
- 3.2 You will never arrive at THE destination
- 3.3 Become a continuous learner and model that…
- 3.4 Create a high-bandwidth work environment
- 3.5 Becoming Better through the Community
- 3.6 Turn Up the Good
- 3.7 Study the manifesto
- 3.8 Visualize More !
- 3.9 Holding Space for growth
- 3.10 Don’t forget to mine for conflict
- 3.11 Asynchronous management: Simplicity in a digital workplace
-
4 by doing it
- 4.1 Observe
- 4.2 Question your teams intimacy
- 4.3 Are You Really Doing It?
- 4.4 You are an informal leader – which leadership skills do you need?
- 4.5 Be like a good parent
- 4.6 Stop, Collaborate and Listen…
- 4.7 How Act Is More Important Than What You Say You Believe
- 4.8 The value of reverie
- 4.9 Forget about all the practices and focus on what you deliver
- 4.10 Fool didn’t know it was impossible, so she did it!
-
5 and helping others do it.
- 5.1 Ask for permission
- 5.2 Helping team members to solve impediments over solving impediments themselves
- 5.3 Coaching By Listening
- 5.4 Learning is fun but can be painful
- 5.5 Silent Dotvoting
- 5.6 Retrospectives are the most valuable agile practice
- 5.7 Never forget that Scrum is just as simple as chess!
- 5.8 Zoom Out
- 5.9 Support the interactions between individuals
- 5.10 It’s not just the question you ask, but how you ask it!
- 5.11 Let’s talk about the p-word.
-
6 Through this work we have come to value
- 6.1 Why and How to Claim Wins For Personal and Team Power
- 6.2 Know the Work
- 6.3 How To Reduce Groupthink In remote Meetings
- 6.4 Becoming Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
- 6.5 Curiosity Over Judgment
- 6.6 Letting Go
- 6.7 Introverts on Agile teams, and how small changes can make a big difference
- 6.8 Craft Experiences Not Arguments
- 6.9 Slow Down, then Speed up
- 6.10 Mind the short and the long
-
7 Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- 7.1 The scrum police are coming for you (or are they?)
- 7.2 Different Ideas for Defect Management
- 7.3 Facilitate Learning
- 7.4 Arrive with you whole heart
- 7.5 Care about feedback
- 7.6 Build your network
- 7.7 Processes should enhance people’s ability to work, not prevent it.
- 7.8 Happy Storming
- 7.9 Crafting quality interactions
- 7.10 Nine Rules of thumb to improve your backlog refinement workshops
- 7.11 Ownership in Agile: Purpose and collaboration
- 7.12 The gut feeling ordering practice
- 7.13 Creating Collaborative Connective tissues
- 7.14 Self-Organized teams
-
8 Working software over comprehensive documentation
- 8.1 Manage the shape of your backlog.
- 8.2 Build Systems, not Software
- 8.3 Every team needs a Working Agreement
- 8.4 Effective Teams are NOT Efficient
- 8.5 Empower “Team Change”
- 8.6 Study how the work works
- 8.7 Working software over …. almost everything
- 8.8 Technical Debt And Product Success
- 8.9 Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation
- 8.10 Montague Street Bridge
-
9 Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- 9.1 Stop protecting your team
- 9.2 Two simple heuristics that will solve (most of) the problems you face as a Scrum Master
- 9.3 Collaboration
- 9.4 There’s no one-size-fits-all approach
- 9.5 Increase quality of meetings
- 9.6 Coaching teams: A journey of contradictions and context as a crucial driver
- 9.7 Since all those companies work Agile, we don’t longer receive any commitment.
- 9.8 Building Client Trust
- 9.9 Agile Coaching Agreement as Creative Partnership
-
10 Responding to change over following a plan
- 10.1 Love your customer
- 10.2 Enable Growth
- 10.3 The evolutionary path from authority to agility
- 10.4 Bypassing Binary Thinking for Better Understanding
- 10.5 Going Viral
- 10.6 Eliminate comparison and encourage progress
- 10.7 Things happen in their own time
- 10.8 Where did governance go?
- 10.9 “RI” Mode Sprint Planning
- 10.10 Love is key
- 10.11 Agility =/= Speed
- 11 Principles behind the Agile Manifesto
-
12 Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
- 12.1 Norm Kerth
- 12.2 Jean Tabaka
- 12.3 Mike Beedle
- 12.4 Jerry Weinberg
- 12.5 David Hussman
-
13 Paying It Forward
- 13.1 Project Alloy
- 13.2 CoderDojo
- 13.3 Black Girls Code
- 13.4 Women who code
- 13.5 Close the gap
- 13.6 Impala Bride
- 13.7 Exchange vzw
-
14 Contributors
- 14.1 Aino Corry
- 14.2 Allison Pollard
- 14.3 Angela Riggs
- 14.4 Anke Maerz
- 14.5 Ardita Karaj
- 14.6 Bart Vermijlen
- 14.7 Ben Linders
- 14.8 Brenda Bao
- 14.9 Cesario Ramos
- 14.10 Chris Matts
- 14.11 Christopher Avery
- 14.12 Clare Sudbery
- 14.13 Corey Ladas
- 14.14 Corinna Baldauf
- 14.15 Dana Pylayeva
- 14.16 Dan Terhorst-North
- 14.17 Daria Bagina
- 14.18 David (dude) Hussman
- 14.19 Deepti Jain
- 14.20 Diana Larsen
- 14.21 Emilie Franchomme
- 14.22 Emily Webber
- 14.23 George Dinwiddie
- 14.24 Heidi Helfand
- 14.25 Henrik Kniberg
- 14.26 Hina Popal
- 14.27 Ilan Kirschenbaum
- 14.28 Irene Kuhn
- 14.29 Ivan Darmawan
- 14.30 Ivo Peksens
- 14.31 Jeff Patton
- 14.32 Jenni Jepsen
- 14.33 Jerry Weinberg
- 14.34 Jimmy Janlén
- 14.35 Joanne Perold
- 14.36 Johanna Rothman
- 14.37 Judy Rees
- 14.38 Jürgen De Smet
- 14.39 Jutta Eckstein
- 14.40 Kanatcha Sakdiset
- 14.41 Karen Catlin
- 14.42 Karen Graeves
- 14.43 Karthik Kamal Balasubramaniam
- 14.44 Katrina Clokie
- 14.45 Kevlin Henney
- 14.46 Lanette Creamer
- 14.47 Linda Rising
- 14.48 Lisa Crispin
- 14.49 Lisette Sutherland
- 14.50 Madhavi Ledalla
- 14.51 Michael Sahota
- 14.52 Mina Boström Nakicenovic
- 14.53 Michele Sliger
- 14.54 Michael Hill
- 14.55 Mike Cohn
- 14.56 Molood Ceccarelli
- 14.57 Nadezhda Belousova
- 14.58 Naresh Jain, Founder ConfEngine
- 14.59 Nele Van Beveren
- 14.60 Nicole Belilos
- 14.61 Oana Juncu
- 14.62 Olaf Lewitz
- 14.63 Ole Jepsen
- 14.64 Phil Gadzinski
- 14.65 Rashina Hoda
- 14.66 Ravi Kumar
- 14.67 Rini Vansolingen
- 14.68 Roman Pichler
- 14.69 Ron Jeffries
- 14.70 Samantha Laing
- 14.71 Sander Hoogendoorn
- 14.72 Selena Delesie
- 14.73 Shane Hastie
- 14.74 Siddharta Govindaraj
- 14.75 Stacey Ackerman
- 14.76 Stacia Viscardi
- 14.77 Tim Ottinger
- 14.78 Tobias Anderberg
- 14.79 Tobias Fors
- 14.80 Tom Cagley
- 14.81 Tom Perry
- 14.82 Tony Ponton
- 14.83 Terry Harmer
- 14.84 Tsutomu Yasui
- 14.85 Tze Chin Tang
- 14.86 Vasco Duarte
- 14.87 Woody Zuill
- 14.88 Yassal Sundman
- 14.89 Yves Hanoulle
- 14.90 Zuzi Zuzana Sochova
- 15 Resources
- 16 Library
-
17 Versions
- 17.1 The e-book
- 17.2 The audio book addition
- 17.3 The paper version
-
18 Errata
- 18.1 Edition 2021-11-06
- 18.2 Edition 2021-11-13
- 18.3 Edition 2021-11-21
- 19 More from Yves Hanoulle
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