Customer Rating:  
Summary: Good description of Scrum, from the master
Comment: Nobody knows Scrum better than Ken Schwaber. This is a good read for launching new Scrum projects.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Handbook with Case Studies
Comment: There's plenty of books on SCRUM - and finding the right one is a tough job.
This book is what you're looking for if you want a basic introduction and examples of applications - because there's plenty of case studies. SCRUM techniques are described and then discussed by resort to case studies, helping the lessons become more applicable to you.
The end result is a good SCRUM Manual for a more experienced Project Manager or IT professional. It's not a book that's pick-up-and-learn basics - its a book on theory, philosophy, and applications for people who have been there.
If you need a first SCRUM book, and want to get the most out of one book as possible, this is definitely a good choice. It's also an excellent book to have to bone up on theory and real-life applications. Finally, it's a definite "lender" that you'll pass around the office.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It's a good overview of Agile, but feels a bit contrived
Comment: I generally like this book, and find it's content helpful. However, the examples chosen for the book focus on "broken" situations that seem to go beyond just project management and development methodology, and demonstrate that somehow magically, Scrum saves the day.
While I like the optimism and positive-thinking these examples encourage, it doesn't match reality. When I walk into a messy, complex situation, apply Scrum, and the world doesn't turn to pink roses, I'm left wondering if I did something wrong...I'm frustrated...I'm angry...I'm confused. The examples setup an expectation of outcomes that is too high to be reached generally, and I think some examples of failures and lessons learned would have rounded out this book much better.
In the real-world, "perfection is the enemy of success" and I think that's what I find missing from this book. All of the outcomes represent a perfect implementation of Scrum to solve the problem in the example.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good intro to Scrum
Comment: Great introduction to Scrum, what situations are ripe for Scrum and examples of where it has been successful - I heartly recommend.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Our new project really benefited from this book
Comment: I've been doing .NET programming for 5 and a half years now, and have practiced Agile in various degrees - all well short of what I believe Agile methodologies recommend. I have wanted to implement many more Agile methodologies, but not yet been in a manager/CTO position to ensure that these practices would be implemented.
Recently, I have been hired to do just that with a startup company. I turned to this book to help me understand the roles, meetings and project artifacts that I need to introduce to truly have an agile development environment (Scrum in particular) as our team grows.
This book really helped me to do just that, and also did it in a way that I found to be very intuitive. By relating past experiences, Ken showed me how using Scrum - in the various positions and responsibilites - moved projects forward in positive and very visible ways. I am still reading the later chapters, and still loving it.
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