Chapters 1 and 2 provide fascinating insights into the history of Scrum which has been strongly influenced by the Japanese manufacturing and, perhaps surprisingly, the work of W. Edwards Deming who was instrumental in helping rebuild the Japanese manufacturing sector after WWII. This section of the book also includes an interesting account of the infamous attempt to redesign the FBI’s central computer system which Jeff explains was finally accomplished using Scrum ..read more

This part of the book contains numerous examples and anecdotes drawn from Jeff’s considerable professional experience which explain the source for some of the most important concepts that underpin Scrum. Jeff explains the importance of vision and motivation, the reasons why small teams a better than large teams and the power of assembling a cross-functional team ..read more

Including topics like team happiness (and why measuring it is important) and lessons drawn from combat aviation the final part of the book provides many fascinating examples and references to research that ‘bring to life’ concepts that are often not properly understood ..read more

Here the focus turns to the various planning activities that are part of Scrum. We learn when relative sizing is easier than absolute sizing, how planning poker works (and also the Delphi Method, which is what it is based on) and how the correct use of team velocity allows completion dates to be broadly predicted ..read more

Perhaps the core of the book, Chapters 4 and 4 deal with the core roles within Scrum, the importance of always seeking ways to improve and the reasons why Scrum Is not limited to software development ..read more

The final part of the book explains what to do in order to conduct an excellent Sprint Review, while also describing the many pitfalls. Also included in a set of excellent recommendations on how to run an effective Sprint retrospective meeting. The book concludes with some guidance on how to get started with Scrum in a way that is pragmatic yet true to the essence of Scrum ..read more

Continuing with planning, the book now covers release planning – using the ‘release train’ approach – and also takes a deep dive into what happens inside a Sprint where we learn about burndown charts, burnup charts, task boards and how to actually plan a Sprint ..read more

After opening remarks by Ron Jefferies and Mike Cohn, this part of the book explains the Scrum framework in overall terms, the principles of Agile, the concept of a 'Sprint' and the do's and don'ts of requirements and user stories. Be sure to look out for how Ken uses the Cynefin (‘ka-nay-vin’) sensemaking framework to help distinguish between the situations where Scrum is naturally applicable, and situations where it’s not.  ..read more

The book now turns to the to team set-up, the role of managers and planning. Ken explains the five different levels of planning in some detail and also clearly explains the considerable volume of planning that should be performed by a Scrum team – at least in theory ..read more

This section of the book covers the main roles in Scrum – the Product Owner, Scrum Master and Development Team and also the contentious topics of estimation and velocity. Also included is a very good discussion about Technical Debt ..read more