Preface
I am pleased to present to you these 97 essays about Scrum. This is not a book from which to learn Scrum. Instead, it offers insights into the rules and roles of the Scrum framework and their purpose, as well as tactics, strategies, and patterns to apply with Scrum, stories from the trenches, and some perspectives on Scrum that go beyond...Scrum.
Although Scrum (which debuted in 1995) gradually became the most adopted definition of Agile (which came about in 2001), there remain plenty of important challenges for us Scrum practitioners. Not only do we face the ongoing task of correcting the many misunderstandings that exist regarding Scrum—we also keep looking for the best possible ways and channels to provide information for those who are new to Scrum, and for those who want to improve their understanding of the Scrum framework.
Thanks to the wide adoption of Scrum, with millions of practitioners around the world, there is an enormous wealth of knowledge and real-life expertise available. At the same time, there are countless people and organizations new to Scrum who are looking for insights, advice, and stories, and there are practitioners hoping to get deeper insights. With this book, we aspire to connect the world of seasoned practitioners to the world of seekers.
Scrum is known to be simple, yet not easy. Scrum is a simple framework designed to address complex challenges, with complex product development being an important subset of such challenges. Scrum leaves much room to apply diverse practices and tactics and can wrap many such practices and tactics. What better way than collecting and making available stories from leading Scrum practitioners to depict the many shapes that Scrum can take?
Here, you will learn how seasoned practitioners have dealt with problems and challenges, and what they believe is an important Thing for you to know. Stand on their shoulders. Improve your understanding of Scrum based on their insights. Be inspired to find your own way of Scrum by applying, tuning, and tweaking how these practitioners have used it.
The collective intelligence expressed in these 97 essays represents an immense variety of ideas. You might not like every single one or agree with all of them. You might find contradictions, deviant perspectives, and forms of ambiguity. Welcome to the world of complexity that Scrum helps us navigate: a world where little is black and white. May you find plenty of value to better navigate the complexity of your particular situation.
How This Book Is Organized
Beyond chasing people, collecting and reading essays, and providing authors with editorial suggestions, I enjoyed looking for commonalities and shared themes as essays poured in. This part of my work, ordering the essays, finally resulted in grouping our 97 Things into 10 themes. It was a way to create some flow across the book, although, fortunately, no essay is limited to one theme only, and every essay can be read separately:
- Part I, Start, Adopt, Repeat
In Part I, you will find 11 small and major Things worth considering and reconsidering along your journey of adopting Scrum. Because adopting Scrum is more than just a one-time effort of introducing Scrum; it is a continual exercise of thinking, rethinking, and discovery.
- Part II, Products Deliver Value
In Part II, you will find 11 Things highlighting the focus of Scrum on products and services and why value trumps volume. Because in a complex world of unstable requirements and ever-evolving technologies, “product” provides a minimal form of stability to organize your work with Scrum.
- Part III, Collaboration Is Key
In Part III, you will find 10 Things that explain why Scrum is all about collaborative teamwork, where communication and interaction are crucial. Because creating, sustaining, and evolving complex products and services in complex and changing environments requires collective intelligence, skills, and expertise.
- Part IV, Development Is Multifaceted Work
In Part IV, you will find 12 Things to exemplify how “Development” in Scrum encompasses all work to create tangible, demonstrable working results no later than by the end of a Sprint. Because development of complex products (in often complex circumstances) requires more than technically producing work (like coding or programming only).
- Part V, Events, Not Meetings
In Part V, you will find 10 Things to help you grasp the collaborative intention and nature of the Scrum events and see how they are forward looking and not about the past, reporting, or status updates. Because what are commonly called the Scrum meetings are actually events that provide specific opportunities for inspection and adaptation.
- Part VI, Mastery Does Matter
In Part VI, you will find 12 Things for anyone looking for what mastery in Scrum entails, what to look for, and what to look out for. Because mastery matters not just for Scrum Masters, although they are quite important as masters of ceremony.
- Part VII, People, All Too Human
In Part VII, you will find 8 Things that highlight the human side of work in Scrum, even touching on anthropology and neuroscience. Humans are not resources (robots, cogs, or replaceable pieces of machinery). Because development is done by people, often resulting in work for people. And people are...people.
- Part VIII, Values Drive Behavior
In Part VIII, you will find 6 Things based on the understanding that there is more to Scrum than the rules. Scrum is—by design—an incomplete framework that invites people to engage, interact, and collaborate. Because Scrum is a framework of rules, principles, and...values. And values drive behavior.
- Part IX, Organizational Design
In Part IX, you will find 9 Things with viewpoints, practical cases, and lessons learned about the impact of Scrum on organizational structures. Although this is not necessarily the same as scale, the organizational impact is much more apparent in large organizations. Because introducing Scrum is not possible without impacting the organization and existing organizational structures.
- Part X, Scrum Off Script
In Part X, you will find 8 Things about Scrum, its use, and potential use in ways and domains that are not typically associated with Scrum, including a few grassroots stories that go back to the days before it was called Scrum. Because for Scrum practitioners to help shape the future of Scrum, we need imagination combined with historical awareness.
At the end of the book, you will find a Scrum Glossary, which lists and explains the terms used in this book in the simplest way.
Throughout the book, you’ll find many quotes from the Scrum Guide, all taken from the November 2017 edition.
Acknowledgments
I am fortunate to be part of an amazing family that inspires and motivates me to do what I do, wherever that takes me. Without my wife and our three kids, I would be nowhere.
I am grateful to Martine Devos for getting me in touch with some great contributors, but even more for her silent trust and encouragement. It means a lot to me because Martine has been around in the world of Scrum since the early days, and she keeps relentlessly promoting Scrum.
I have worked with many people and organizations in my years of Scrum. I have seen people come and go. I thank Hans Lindhout for being an exceptional person in whom I met true business reciprocity and the ability to transcend commercial motives. If only there were more like him.
No fewer than 68 practitioners expended the effort to write one or more essays about Scrum for you. We did not invite them for their titles, ranks, or positions. We invited them because they have valuable insights to share with fellow practitioners like you. I thank every single one of them.
I thank you, reader, for buying the book, but even more for employing Scrum and for sharing and spreading how you make use of Scrum in addressing your specific challenges. Keep being an inspiration to other Scrum practitioners.
This book would not exist without the incredible team of O’Reilly Media. A big thanks to all involved, and especially to Chris Guzikowski and Ryan Shaw for initiating this endeavor and to Corbin Collins for sustaining it.
Enjoy reading, and...keep Scrumming.
—Gunther Verheyen, independent Scrum Caretaker
Antwerp, Belgium
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