Apply the principles of Scrum, one of the most popular agile programming methods, to software project management—and focus your team on delivering real business value. Author Ken Schwaber, a leader in the agile process movement and a co-creator of Scrum, brings his vast expertise to helping you guide the product and software development process more effectively and efficiently. Help eliminate the ambiguity into which so many software projects are borne, where vision and planning documents are essentially thrown over the wall to developers. This high-level reference describes how to use Scrum to manage complex technology projects in detail, combining expert insights with examples and case studies based on Scrum. Emphasizing practice over theory, this book explores every aspect of using Scrum, focusing on driving projects for maximum return on investment.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 48 Ratings

Written for idiots?... - 2009-06-22
Reviewer Rating:
Process defined by "stories"?... Where is the "Scrum process" formally defined? I cannot find. I can find only stories about fictitious companies, level of disorder at these companies, and magical Silver Bullet named (but not defined) "scrum" that automatically, through long meetings, brings the order and happiness. Probably the level and style of presentations fits well to the level of "expertise" and education of average American programmer. And illustrates the trend: departing from rigorous formal methods towards "blah, blah" methods. PLAIN NONSENSE!

Disappointing Read - 2009-08-21
Reviewer Rating:
I purchased the book hoping it would provide real content about the rules and practices of Scrum. Instead, the author appears intent upon using the book to drive business to his Scrum certification business. He touts platitudes about "the rules of Scrum", but provides little substance. Outside of the basics -- that can be learned by simply searching for "Scrum" in a search engine -- the book offers little insight into how Scrum Masters conduct themselves differently than Project Managers. If you're looking for valuable insight into Scrum, skip this book. It was a waste of my money. One last gripe: The author wastes no opportunity to slam traditional Project Managers and projects run under the procedures of non-agile methodologies. Clearly, he has never worked for a good technical Project Manager on a well-run project. Contrary to his opinion, both do exist.

Great Book, although I needed more - 2009-03-30
Reviewer Rating:
This is a great book, and an easy read. It gives examples of problems faced by the company, and how they were resolved using scrum. Personally, I needed a little more than that. I needed more indepth explanation of scrum. In general, this book is good to have.

Great Primer for Understanding Scrum - 2009-10-04
Reviewer Rating:
A great primer for those trying to better understand Scrum and a useful case study based aid for those currently practicing. For the former this book provides a solid foundation for Scrum terminology, practices, and value. Through consistent utilization of real-life case studies in a variety of environments, the author is able to show how Scrum was implemented to reap business and IT value while also showing some stumbles along the way. These case studies will be of particular importance to the latter group mentioned above as the specifics can either help to get your implementation "un-stuck" or at least provide some thought around the differing ways Scrum can be utilized.

As the author of this book is also the co-developer of Scrum, one might think that the case studies and ascribed values might be coming from too biased a source. There is no question that Scrum takes on a bit of an omnipotent air in this text. However, after myself questioning Scrum's potential value in a particular circumstance, I was gratified to find the author admitted (although without strong conviction and in the appendix) that Scrum might not be the best technique to handle this.

Cheerleading aside, this book in an excellent read to better understand the power of Scrum and its place within an organization's project methodology.

Adopting & Adapting with Scrum - 2009-07-12
Reviewer Rating:
Unfortunately just reading about Scrum won't result in a successful transformation of your company; Scrum is a methodology that you have to adopt, actively iterate on and adapt to your environment. For this reason, the format of Ken Schwaber's "Agile Project Management with Scrum" should be very helpful to teams in many stages of this cycle. Instead of reiterating the Agilista dogmas, Ken focuses on the key aspects of Scrum (planning, retrospectives, product owner, etc.) and provides hands-on examples illustrating how Scrum has benefited each company and how it was adapted to fit the culture and sensibilities of each team.

It's a quick and easy read, filled with a lot of insights. Highly recommended it.

Browse Similar Topics

Top Level Categories:
Software Engineering

Sub-Categories:
Software Engineering > Agile Computing