Title overview
Succeeding with Agile is for pragmatic software professionals who want real answers to the most difficult challenges they face in implementing Scrum. Cohn covers every facet of the transition: getting started, helping individuals transition to new roles, structuring teams, scaling up, working with a distributed team, and finally, implementing effective metrics and continuous improvement.
Throughout, Cohn presents “Things to Try Now” sections based on his most successful advice. Complementary “Objection” sections reproduce typical conversations with those resisting change and offer practical guidance for addressing their concerns. Coverage includes
- 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 who are passionate about driving change
- Choosing which agile technical practices to use or experiment with
- Leading self-organising teams
- Making the most of Scrum sprints, planning, and quality techniques
- Scaling Scrum to distributed, multiteam projects
- Using Scrum on projects with complex sequential processes or challenging compliance and governance requirements
- Understanding Scrum’s impact on HR, facilities, and project management
Table of contents
Foreword xvii
Introduction xix
Part I: Getting Started 1
Chapter 1: Why Becoming Agile Is Hard (But Worth It) 3
Chapter 2: ADAPTing to Scrum 21
Chapter 3: Patterns for Adopting Scrum 43
Chapter 4: Iterating Toward Agility 61
Chapter 5: Your First Projects 81
Part II: Individuals 95
Chapter 6: Overcoming Resistance 97
Chapter 7: New Roles 117
Chapter 8: Changed Roles 137
Chapter 9: Technical Practices 155
Part III: Teams 175
Chapter 10: Team Structure 177
Chapter 11: Teamwork 201
Chapter 12: Leading a Self-Organizing Team 219
Chapter 13: The Product Backlog 235
Chapter 14: Sprints 257
Chapter 15: Planning 285
Chapter 16: Quality 307
Part IV: The Organization 325
Chapter 17: Scaling Scrum 327
Chapter 18: Distributed Teams 355
Chapter 19: Coexisting with Other Approaches 389
Chapter 20: Human Resources, Facilities, and the PMO 405
Part V: Next Steps 427
Chapter 21: Seeing How Far You’ve Come 429
Chapter 22: You’re Not Done Yet 447
Reference List 449
Index 465
Author bios
Mike Cohn is the founder of Mountain Goat Software, through which he provides training and consulting on Scrum and agile software development. Mike specializes in helping companies adopt Scrum and become more agile as a way of building extremely high performance development organizations. In addition to this book, he is the author of User Stories Applied for Agile Software Development, Agile Estimating and Planning, and 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-up to Fortune 40. He has also written articles for Better Software, IEEE Computer, Cutter IT Journal, Software Test and Quality Engineering, Agile Times, and the C/C++ Users Journal. Mike is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and is a founding member of the Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance. He is also a Certified Scrum Trainer, having cotaught the first Certified ScrumMaster class with Ken Schwaber in May 2003.
For more information, visit www.mountaingoatsoftware.com.