How to Read This Book

Pick Your Reading Style

The format of this book is like a box of chocolates. You don’t have to eat the whole box all at once. While astute readers will find themes and core principles that run through the whole book, each chapter focuses on a single problem or set of circumstances that may apply to your situation.

Flipping through the index to find situations close to yours, and then reviewing the associated recommendations, is a great way to start. It’s like having an agile coach in your pocket who can offer you advice on how others have solved similar problems.

Reading the book cover-to-cover is a good option, too. If you read the book this way, look for common themes and principles that you can add to your agile toolbox. Thematic items are called out as tips throughout the book, but a more thorough reading will reward you with a broader agile perspective.

Regardless of how you approach the book, the primary goal is to frame-shift from “Scrum as a set of arbitrary practices” to a process-oriented view that leverages the agile values and principles built into the Scrum framework to continuously improve your organization’s processes.

There’s no silver bullet. However, you’re likely to discover that reframing Scrum implementation problems as process improvement opportunities is the next best thing.

Chapter Navigation

This book is split into two main sections to help readers find the material they need most.

1. Anti-Patterns

   Each chapter in this section corresponds to a Scrum anti-pattern where practices are actively working against the success of the Scrum Team and the product development process.

2. Implementation Questions

   The chapters in this section address common questions about how Scrum works, and how to leverage the framework to best advantage.

Within each chapter, you will find a number of tips, ideas, and warnings. These are indicated as follows:

You will also encounter footnotes, endnotes, and reference links throughout each chapter, formatted appropriately for your ebook reading device. These items are supporting information or clarifications that aren’t important enough to disrupt the narrative flow, but that are often interesting enough to click on. Endnotes are also used to cite sources.