The Agile Pocket Guide explains how to develop products, services, and software quickly and efficiently, without losing the main components of the framework so effective in streamlining the creating of these products and for making positive change within a company. It includes The basic tennets of the Scrum framework How to apply the processes and steps required to become agile The dynamics of a successful agile environment The very basics of Scrum and how to employ them quickly Practical questions to ask the Team Leader as well as the Team How to build an environment of communication and collaboration for the entire organization
Find your company's unique innovation style, and nurture it into a powerful competitive advantage Praised by business leaders worldwide, Agile Innovation is the authoritative guide to survival and success in today's "innovate-or-die" business world. This revolutionary approach combines the best of Agile with the world's leading methods of Innovation to present a crisp, articulate, and proven system for developing the breakthrough capabilities every organization must master to thrive today and tomorrow. You already know that effective innovation doesn't happen by accident—it is achieved by careful design. Agile Innovation addresses the three critical drivers of innovation success: accelerating the innovation process; reducing the risks inherent in innovation; and engaging your entire organization and your broader ecosystem in the innovation effort. The key frameworks described here build on the proven success of Agile to provide a comprehensive and customizable Innovation Master Plan approach to sustained innovation improvement in the five critical performance areas: strategy, portfolio, process, culture and infrastructure. Major topics include: the power of Agile in the innovation process, how to overcome innovation risk, the best tools to evoke engagement and collaboration, branding as an integral element of innovation, and the best leadership skills and practices that create the special environment that enables transformative growth. Readers will learn specifically how to create better ideas, develop them more efficiently, and work together more profitably and effectively to achieve breakthroughs. The insights offered in this book are highlighted in 11 detailed case studies illustrating the world's best innovation practices at Wells Fargo, Nike, Volvo, Netflix, Southwest Airlines, NASA,The New York Times, and others, in dozens of specific business examples, in two dozen powerful and unique techniques and methods, and a full set of implementation guidelines to put these insights into practice. Key Insights: Understand how to implement the many ways that innovation efforts can be accelerated to achieve even greater competitive advantage Learn to create a culture of innovation, greater engagement, and rich collaboration throughout your organization Discover how to reduce risk and accelerate learning Implement your own unique plan to enhance collaborative innovation, from leadership through operations Integrate key agility principles into your strategic planning decisions for sustained improvement Explore dramatic new approaches to open innovation that optimize large scale innovation Apply the latest and best technology tools to enhance innovation, reduce risk, and promote broad participation. This is a must read book, a practical guide for fostering a culture of innovation, nurturing creativity, and efficiently developing the ideas that drive strategic growth. And since innovation is not imitation, you know that copying the ideas and strategies of other successful organizations will not produce the desired outcomes. Hence, all leaders must develop their own way of innovating and nurture the right style of collaborating for their own organization. This book will guide you to find your own unique pathways to success. Blaze your own trail to the high levels of innovativeness and organizational agility by learning from the expert guidance and practical, actionable advice offered throughout this important book.
Designing Gamified Systems is a fundamental guide for building essential skills in game and interaction design to revitalize and reimagine real world systems – from cities and corporations to schools and the military. Author Sari Gilbert develops a set of core principles and tools for using game thinking and interactive design to build motivation, explain hard concepts, broaden audiences, deepen commitments and enhance human relationships. Designing Gamified Systems includes: Topics such as gamified system design, behavioral psychology, marketing, business strategy, learning theory and instructional design Interviews with leaders and practitioners in this emerging field who explain how the job of the game designer is being redefined Exercises designed to both encourage big-picture thinking about gamified systems and help you experience and understand the challenges and nuances involved in designing them A companion website (www.gamifiedsystems.com) with additional materials to supplement learning and practice
Is the traditional library business model a victim of disruptive digital technologies? Library Management in Disruptive Times identifies the key skills and attitudes needed by the library leaders of today and tomorrow and delivers a balanced view of the future of the profession. Contributed to by expert professional library leaders and educators from across the globe, this edited collection offers thought-provoking perspectives on the challenge of the current operating environment across a range of library sectors, library professional associations and geographic regions. Each author brings their own particular area of expertise and perspective on to consider the effects of disruptive change in libraries globally. Key topics covered include: - Leading change - Management fads and their impact on libraries - User engagement - The value of collaboration and consortia - Library management and the global economic crisis - Agile management techniques - The role of professional associations in redefining the profession - Developing management skills on the job - Planning for the future. This dynamic collection helps readers to envision the purpose and value of future libraries and to see change as a rare opportunity to create truly new roles for librarians. Readership: This will be essential reading for library managers, directors and aspiring leaders throughout the world.
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!
Thousands of organizations are adopting Scrum to transform the way they execute complex projects, in software and beyond. This guide will give you the skills and confidence needed to deploy Scrum, resulting in high-performing teams and satisfied customers. Drawing on years of hands-on experience helping companies succeed, Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) Mitch Lacey helps you overcome the major challenges of Scrum adoption and the deeper issues that emerge later. Extensively revised to reflect improved Scrum practices and tools, this edition adds an all-new section of tips from the field. Lacey covers many new topics, including immersive interviewing, collaborative estimation, and deepening business alignment. In 35 engaging chapters, you’ll learn how to build support and maximize value across your company. Now part of the renowned Mike Cohn Signature Series on agile development, this pragmatic guide addresses everything from establishing roles and priorities to determining team velocity, setting sprint length, and conducting customer reviews. Coverage includes Bringing teams and new team members on board Creating a workable definition of “done” Planning for short-term wins, and removing impediments to success Balancing predictability and adaptability in release planning Running productive daily scrums Fixing failing sprints Accurately costing projects, and measuring the value they deliver Managing risks in dynamic Scrum projects Prioritizing and estimating backlogs Working with distributed and offshore teams Institutionalizing improvements, and extending agility throughout the organization Packed with real-world examples straight from Lacey’s experience, this book will be invaluable to anyone transitioning to Scrum, seeking to improve their early results, or trying to get back on track.
Proven, 100% Practical Guidance for Making Scrum and Agile Work in Any Organization This is the definitive, realistic, actionable guide to starting fast with Scrum and agile-and then succeeding over the long haul. Leading agile consultant and practitioner Mike Cohn presents detailed recommendations, powerful tips, and real-world case studies drawn from his unparalleled experience helping hundreds of software organizations make Scrum and agile work. Succeeding with Agile is for pragmatic software professionals who want real answers to the most difficult challenges they face in implementing Scrum. Cohn covers every facet of the transition: getting started, helping individuals transition to new roles, structuring teams, scaling up, working with a distributed team, and finally, implementing effective metrics and continuous improvement. Throughout, Cohn presents "Things to Try Now" sections based on his most successful advice. Complementary "Objection" sections reproduce typical conversations with those resisting change and offer practical guidance for addressing their concerns. Coverage includes Practical ways to get started immediately-and "get good" fast Overcoming individual resistance to the changes Scrum requires Staffing Scrum projects and building effective teams Establishing "improvement communities" of people who are passionate about driving change Choosing which agile technical practices to use or experiment with Leading self-organizing teams Making the most of Scrum sprints, planning, and quality techniques Scaling Scrum to distributed, multiteam projects Using Scrum on projects with complex sequential processes or challenging compliance and governance requirements Understanding Scrum's impact on HR, facilities, and project management Whether you've completed a few sprints or multiple agile projects and whatever your role-manager, developer, coach, ScrumMaster, product owner, analyst, team lead, or project lead-this book will help you succeed with your very next project. Then, it will help you go much further: It will help you transform your entire development organization.
This pocket guide is the one book to read for everyone who wants to learn about Scrum. The book covers all roles, rules and the main principles underpinning Scrum, and is based on the Scrum Guide Edition 2013. A broader context to this fundamental description of Scrum is given by describing the past and the future of Scrum. The author, Gunther Verheyen, has created a concise, yet complete and passionate reference about Scrum. The book demonstrates his core view that Scrum is about a journey, a journey of discovery and fun. He designed the book to be a helpful guide on that journey. Ken Schwaber, Scrum co-creator says that this book currently is the best available description of Scrum around. The book combines some rare characteristics: • It describes Scrum in its entirety, yet places it in a broader context (of past and future). • The author focuses on the subject, Scrum, in a way that it truly supports the reader. The book has a language and style in line with the philosophy of Scrum. • The book shows the playfulness of Scrum. David Starr and Ralph Jocham, Professional Scrum trainers and early agile adopters, say that this is the ultimate book to be advised as follow-up book to the students they teach Scrum to and to teams and managers of organizations that they coach Scrum to.
This is today's definitive guide to making Scrum work at all levels of the enterprise, both in software development and in any other knowledge-intensive business process. Legendary agile pioneer Mike Beedle draws on his experience helping thousands of teams and individuals succeed with Scrum in projects of all types, from single-team assignments to those cutting across complex processes or the entire organization. Beedle begins with a uniquely clear and practical explanation of Scrum: its roles, benefits, interactions, and how it reflects modern insights into complexity science. You'll master these crucial essentials with the help of clear organizational and process diagrams, as well as exceptionally relevant case studies in software development and beyond. Building on this understanding, Beedle introduces proven enterprise-level Scrum processes for introducing, growing, and managing operations -- including Scrum's role in the Project Management Office (PMO) and in support of executive activities. He concludes with detailed case studies from multiple domains where Enterprise Scrum has delivered superior results. Throughout, Beedle helps you understand the paradigm shift required to succeed with Scrum in any knowledge-intensive business process -- and how to gain Scrum's proven benefits of productivity, transparency, and performance.
This pocket guide to Scrum is the one book for everyone who wants to learn or re-learn about Scrum. The book describes the framework as it was designed and intended, with a strong focus on the purpose to the rules and adding an historical perspective to Scrum and the Agile movement. Several elements that were described in the first edition of Scrum - A Pocket Guide (2013) were later added to the official Scrum Guide. The most noticeable ones are the Scrum Values (2016) and the description of the 3 questions of the Daily Scrum as a good, yet optional practice (2017). As the balance of society keeps shifting from industrial labor to digital work, complexity and unpredictability keep increasing. The need for agility through Scrum increases equally, in and beyond software and product development. This 2nd edition of Scrum - A Pocket Guide offers the clarity and insights on Scrum that many organizations need, today and in the foreseeable future. Scrum – A Pocket Guide is an extraordinarily competent book. It flows with insight, understanding, and perception. This should be the de facto standard handout for all looking for a complete, yet clear overview of Scrum without being bothered by irrelevancies. (Ken Schwaber, Scrum co-creator) The author, Gunther Verheyen, is a seasoned Scrum practitioner (2003). Throughout his standing career as a consultant, Gunther has employed Scrum in diverse circumstances. He was partner to Ken Schwaber and Director of the Professional Scrum series at Scrum.org. He is the founder of Ullizee-Inc and engages with people and organizations as an independent Scrum Caretaker.
