Recommended Reading

There’s a lot of books out there about Scrum, and I find that after reading a good one it’s often very repetitive to read another Scrum book. Once you got the principles, values, roles, ceremonies & artefacts, there is little to be learned from reading another one.

Yet, there’s more to Scrum than the basics. There are activities, such as Story Mapping, that can transform the way you build products, or books entirely dedicated to Retrospectives. Here are a couple that are worth the read:

Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time

Published in 2014 by Jeff Sutherland

Engaging, persuasive and extremely practical… Scrum provides a simple framework for solving what seem like intractable and complicated work problems.  It’s hard to make forward progress when you can’t see your impediments clearly.  Sutherland offers a lens to remedy that. Amazingly, this book will not only make your life at work and home easier, but also, better and happier.
Shawn Achor, New York Times

 User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story Build the Right Product

Published in 2014 by Jeff Patton

User story mapping is a valuable tool for software development, once you understand why and how to use it. This insightful book examines how this often misunderstood technique can help your team stay focused on users and their needs without getting lost in the enthusiasm for individual product features.
O’Reilly Media

Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great

Published in 2006 by Esther Derby & Diana Larsen

You’ll see how to architect retrospectives in general, how to design them specifically for your team and organization, how to run them effectively, how to make the needed changes, and how to scale these techniques up. You’ll learn how to deal with problems, and implement solutions effectively throughout the project–not just at the end. With regular tune-ups, your team will hum like a precise, world-class orchestra.

 The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

Published in 2002 by Patrick Lencioni

Lencioni outlines a powerful model and actionable steps that can be used to overcome common hurdles and build a cohesive, effective team. Just as with his other books, Lencioni has written a compelling fable with a powerful yet deceptively simple message for all those who strive to be exceptional team leaders.

A few more