A Practical Guide to Distributed Scrum [Paperback]

Elizabeth Woodward (Author), Steffan Surdek (Author), Matthew Ganis (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0137041136 | ISBN-13: 978-0137041138 | Publication Date: July 1, 2010 | Edition: 1

Succeed with Scrum in Even the Largest, Most Complex Distributed Development Projects

 

Forewords by Ken Schwaber, Scott Ambler, Roman Pichler, and Matthew Wang

 

This is the first comprehensive, practical guide for Scrum practitioners working in large-scale distributed environments. Written by three of IBM’s leading Scrum practitioners—in close collaboration with the IBM QSE Scrum Community of more than 1000 members worldwide—this book offers specific, actionable guidance for everyone who wants to succeed with Scrum in the enterprise.

 

Readers will follow a journey through the lifecycle of a distributed Scrum project, from envisioning products and setting up teams to preparing for Sprint planning and running retrospectives. Each chapter presents a baseline drawn from “conventional” Scrum, then discusses additional issues faced by distributed teams, and presents specific best-practice solutions, alternatives, and tips the authors have identified through hard, empirical experience.

 

Using real-world examples, the book demonstrates how to apply key Scrum practices, such as look-ahead planning in geographically distributed environments. Readers will also gain valuable new insights into the agile management of complex problem and technical domains.

 

Coverage includes

• Developing user stories and working with Product Owners as a distributed team
• Recognizing and fixing the flaws Scrum may reveal in existing processes
• Engaging in more efficient Release and Sprint planning
• Conducting intense, brief daily Scrum meetings in distributed environments
• Managing cultural and language differences
• Resolving dependencies, performing frequent integration, and maintaining transparency in geographically distributed environments
• Successfully running remote software reviews and demos
• Brainstorming what worked and what didn’t, to improve future Sprints

This book will be an indispensable resource for every team leader, member, product owner, or manager working with Scrum or other agile methods in any distributed software development organization.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Elizabeth Woodward is a Senior Software Consultant with IBM Quality Software Engineering under the Corporate Headquarters Office of Innovation and Technology. She has served as the project manager or development leader on more than 100 globally distributed projects for IBM and other development companies. Elizabeth coaches distributed software development teams to improve efficiency and effectiveness of their development practices. She has co-chaired the IBM Academy of Technology Conference on Agile Methods, teaches courses on Disciplined Agile Development, and co-leads the IBM Agile Community.

 

Steffan Surdek is a User Experience Lead and Agile Champion in IBM. He has worked in the software development industry for over fifteen years as a software developer, architect, project manager, and team leader. Steffan has managed and coordinated large-scale projects with teams distributed in as many as five countries--India, Egypt, Israel, China, and Canada. He coaches distributed agile teams, is a co-leader of the IBM Agile Community, and teaches Disciplined Agile Development workshops. He is an active member of the Montreal Agile Community and has written on agile methods and globally distributed development for developerWorks and Dr. Dobbs Journal. In his spare time, he does some writing on his website at www.surdek.ca.

 

Matthew Ganis is an IBM Senior Technical Staff Member and ibm.com site architect. Matt was was co-founder of the Agile@IBM Community and was an early adopter of agile within IBM. He currently teaches Disciplined Agile Development and has published numerous articles and papers on the use of agile methods within ibm.com--both within its traditional web development and the development/support of their Second Life Island. Matt has been the co-chair and chair of the Academy of Technology’s Agile Conferences for the past two years and is a Certified Scrum- Master and Practitioner. Outside of IBM, Matt serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Agile and Extreme Software Development and is a steering committee member of New York City’s Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN) chapter.

 

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: IBM Press; 1 edition (July 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0137041136
• ISBN-13: 978-0137041138
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #548,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, March 4, 2011

By 

Michael C - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Practical Guide to Distributed Scrum (Kindle Edition)

If you have no Agile background, then this book covers some of the basics. If you are a actually after information on Agile in large Distributed and complex integrated environments (as claimed by the authors) then you will be very much disappointed. However, you will learn that you need to be aware that other countries are in fact in different time zones - this seems to be a key issue for IBM (the author) as the time zone issue is repeated ad nauseam throughout this book. In fact many of the key points (which are mostly around telephone conferencing issues to India) are repeated over and over.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's how they really do it!, June 28, 2010

By 

Linda Rising (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Practical Guide to Distributed Scrum (Paperback)

There are a lot of books about agile software development. There are a lot of books about scrum. Most of them are pretty general. Of course, they have examples and case studies. What I like about this book is that it is a real reflection of how things are done at IBM. Whether you like IBM or not, you have a chance to peek inside the big blue box and see how they make things tick. I really, really appreciate that chance, so I applaud the work of the authors, who have not only collaborated to write the book but also invited their colleagues at IBM to contribute. I was also impressed by their decision to donate all royalties to charity. Well done!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very effective experience-based guidance, November 30, 2010

By 

Gregory Tutunjian "ISOIA" (Newton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Practical Guide to Distributed Scrum (Paperback)

In less than 200-pages, the authors present experienced-based guidance for Distributed Scrum. They do a great job: Their points are clear, practical and proven. There's a wealth of re-usable information that's easily accessible.

This is a valuable tool for those new to Scrum as well as for those with several years of Scrum, distributed or not. The points made and the examples shared serve as excellent reminders for the experienced and as key insights and tips for those new to Scrum.

If you're a Scrum Master, you need to read this book whether you're using Distributed Scrum or not.