Agile Project Management with Scrum

Agile Project Management with Scrum

by Ken Schwaber
Released February 2004
Publisher(s): Microsoft Press
ISBN: 9780735619937

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

The rules and practices for Scrum—a simple process for managing complex projects—are few, straightforward, and easy to learn. But Scrum’s simplicity itself—its lack of prescription—can be disarming, and new practitioners often find themselves reverting to old project management habits and tools and yielding lesser results. In this illuminating series of case studies, Scrum co-creator and evangelist Ken Schwaber identifies the real-world lessons—the successes and failures—culled from his years of experience coaching companies in agile project management. Through them, you’ll understand how to use Scrum to solve complex problems and drive better results—delivering more valuable software faster.
Gain the foundation in Scrum theory—and practice—you need to:

  • Rein in even the most complex, unwieldy projects

  • Effectively manage unknown or changing product requirements

  • Simplify the chain of command with self-managing development teams

  • Receive clearer specifications—and feedback—from customers

  • Greatly reduce project planning time and required tools

  • Build—and release—products in 30-day cycles so clients get deliverables earlier

  • Avoid missteps by regularly inspecting, reporting on, and fine-tuning projects

  • Support multiple teams working on a large-scale project from many geographic locations

  • Maximize return on investment!

    •

    Table of contents

    1. Foreword
    2. Foreword: Why Scrum Works
    3. Acknowledgments
    4. Introduction
    5. 1. Backdrop: The Science of Scrum
      1. Empirical Process Control
      2. Complex Software Development
      3. The Skeleton and Heart of Scrum
      4. Scrum Roles
      5. Scrum Flow
      6. Scrum Artifacts
        1. Product Backlog
        2. Sprint Backlog
        3. Increment of Potentially Shippable Product Functionality
      7. Summary
    6. 2. New Management Responsibilities
      1. The ScrumMaster at MetaEco
        1. The Situation at MetaEco
        2. The ScrumMaster in Action
        3. The ScrumMaster’s Value
      2. The Product Owner at MegaEnergy
        1. The Situation at MegaEnergy
        2. The Product Owner in Action
        3. The Product Owner’s Value
      3. The Team at Service1st
        1. The Situation at Service1st
        2. The Team in Action
        3. The Team’s Value
      4. Conclusions
    7. 3. The ScrumMaster
      1. The Untrained ScrumMaster at Trey Research
        1. What Was Wrong
        2. Lessons Learned
      2. The Untrained ScrumMaster at Litware
        1. What Was Wrong
        2. Lessons Learned
      3. Overzealous at Contoso.com
        1. Being Right Isn’t Everything
        2. Lessons Learned
      4. Wolves at MegaFund
        1. The Wolves Strike
        2. Lessons Learned
      5. Conclusions
    8. 4. Bringing Order from Chaos
      1. The Situation at Service1st
        1. Application of Scrum
        2. Lessons Learned
      2. The Situation at Tree Business Publishing
        1. Application of Scrum
        2. Lessons Learned
      3. The Situation at Lapsec
        1. Application of Scrum
        2. Lessons Learned
      4. Conclusions
    9. 5. The Product Owner
      1. Customer and Team Collaboration
      2. Getting Service1st’s Management Back in Action
        1. Sprint Review Meeting
        2. Lessons Learned
      3. Fixing the Problem of XFlow at MegaFund
        1. Addressing the Problem
        2. Lessons Learned
      4. Company Goals at TechCore
        1. How Scrum Helped TechCore
        2. Lessons Learned
      5. Company Goals at MegaBank Funds Transfer System
        1. How Scrum Helped FTS
        2. Lessons Learned
      6. Conclusions
    10. 6. Planning a Scrum Project
      1. Managing Cash at MegaBank
        1. The Two-Day Sprint Planning Meeting
          1. Estimating the Product Backlog
          2. What Does “Done” Mean?
          3. How Hard It Is to Change
        2. Lessons Learned
      2. Certified ScrumMasters Take on Return on Investment (ROI)
        1. MLBTix
          1. Project Plan
            1. Project Background
            2. Product Backlog
          2. The Project
          3. Uh-Oh!
          4. What Advice Should You Provide?
        2. How the Teams Respond to This Exercise
          1. Team 1’s Advice
          2. Team 2’s Advice
          3. Team 3’s Advice
          4. Team 4’s Advice
        3. Lessons Learned
      3. Conclusions
    11. 7. Project Reporting—Keeping Everything Visible
      1. New Project Reporting at the MegaEnergy Title Project
        1. Solving the Problem
        2. Lessons Learned
      2. Getting More Information at MegaBank
        1. Solving the Problem
        2. Lessons Learned
      3. Not Everything Is Visible at Service1st
        1. The Reality
        2. Lessons Learned
      4. Conclusions
    12. 8. The Team
      1. Team Formation at Service1st
        1. Learning Who’s the Boss: The Transition
          1. Lessons Learned
        2. Learning to Engineer Better: The Transition
          1. Lessons Learned
        3. Learning to Self-Organize: The Transition
          1. Lessons Learned
        4. Estimating Workload: The Transition
          1. How Estimates Improve with Scrum
          2. What Happens If Actuals Are Compared to Estimates
          3. Lessons Learned
        5. Learning to Have Fun While Working: The Transition
          1. Lessons Learned
      2. Giving the Team a Chance at WebNewSite
        1. Background
        2. Lessons Learned
      3. Conclusions
    13. 9. Scaling Projects Using Scrum
      1. Scaling at MegaFund
        1. Approach
        2. Lessons Learned
      2. Scrum Scaling
      3. Scaling at Medcinsoft
        1. Approach
        2. Bug Fixing
        3. Lessons Learned
      4. Conclusions
    14. A. Rules
      1. Sprint Planning Meeting
      2. Daily Scrum Meeting
      3. Sprint
      4. Sprint Review Meeting
      5. Sprint Retrospective Meeting
    15. B. Definitions
    16. C. Resources
    17. D. Fixed-Price, Fixed-Date Contracts
      1. How to Gain Competitive Advantage
      2. How to Ignore Competitive Advantage
    18. E. Capability Maturity Model (CMM)
      1. CMM at MegaFund
      2. SEI, CMM, and Scrum
    19. Ken Schwaber
    20. Index
    21. About the Author
    22. Copyright

    Product information

    • Title: Agile Project Management with Scrum
    • Author(s): Ken Schwaber
    • Release date: February 2004
    • Publisher(s): Microsoft Press
    • ISBN: 9780735619937