Continuous Improvement
“Agile Scrum" Guide Nabs Silver Medal from Readers' Favorite International Book Awards
31 August 2018
Scott M. Graffius, Founder and CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, had consulting engagements with a division of a global entertainment business. A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with that client was the inspiration for Scott's book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. This is an update on the book.
Agile Scrum won the silver medal in the Business/Finance category at the 2018 Readers' Favorite International Book Awards. A press release from Scott is located here and the news is presented below as well.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions by Scott M. Graffius helps technical and non-technical teams develop and deliver products at astounding speed with rapid adaptation to change and continuous improvement which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage. Reactions to the book have been incredibly positive. The latest accolade comes from the 2018 Readers' Favorite International Book Awards (https://readersfavorite.com/2018-award-contest-winners.htm), which awarded Agile Scrum with the silver medal in the Business/Finance category. With thousands of entries ranging from New York Times bestsellers to works from first-time self-published authors, the program is one of the largest book competitions. Graffius will be presented with the silver medal on stage at a gala in Miami, Florida on Saturday, November 17, 2018.
About the Author
Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP, CSM, CSPO, ITIL, LSSGB is a project management expert, consultant, author, and international speaker. He is the Founder and CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, a management consulting firm. Scott is a former vice president of project management with a publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. For more information on Scott, visit http://Exceptional-PMO.com/who_we_are/bio.
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
- Title: Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
- Author: Scott M. Graffius
- Technical Editors: Chris Hare and Colin Giffen
- Formats: Paperback and ebook, both in full color
- Pub Date: April 5, 2016 (paperback), May 20, 2016 (ebook)
- Publisher: CreateSpace (paperback), Amazon Digital Services (ebook)
- Price: Paperback $34.99 US, ebook $19.99 US
- Pages: 156
- ISBN-13: 978-1533370242 (paperback)
- ASIN: B01FZ0JIIY (ebook)
Available in 41 Countries (And Counting!)
Agile Scrum is offered in ebook/Kindle format (ASIN: B01FZ0JIIY) in:
- 🇦🇺 Australia from Amazon.com.au
- 🇦🇹 Austria from Amazon.de
- 🇧🇪 Belgium from Amazon.fr
- 🇧🇷 Brazil from Amazon.com.br
- 🇨🇦 Canada from Amazon.ca
- 🇫🇷 France from Amazon.fr
- 🇩🇪 Germany from Amazon.de
- 🇮🇳 India from Amazon.in
- 🇮🇪 Ireland from Amazon.co.uk
- 🇮🇹 Italy from Amazon.it
- 🇯🇵 Japan from Amazon.co.jp
- 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein from Amazon.de
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg from Amazon.de
- 🇲🇽 Mexico from Amazon.com.mx
- 🇲🇨 Monaco from Amazon.fr
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands from Amazon.nl
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand from Amazon.com.au
- 🇸🇲 San Marino from Amazon.it
- 🇪🇸 Spain from Amazon.es
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland from Amazon.de
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom from Amazon.co.uk
- 🇺🇸 United States of America from Amazon.com
- 🇻🇦 Vatican City from Amazon.it
Agile Scrum is sold in paperback (ISBN-13: 9781533370242) in:
- 🇦🇼 Aruba from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇦🇺 Australia from Amazon.com.au
- 🇦🇹 Austria from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇧🇸 Bahamas from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇧🇪 Belgium from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇨🇦 Canada from Amazon.ca
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇩🇰 Denmark from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇫🇯 Fiji from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇫🇮 Finland from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇫🇷 France from Amazon.fr
- 🇩🇪 Germany from Amazon.de
- 🇬🇷 Greece from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇭🇺 Hungary from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇮🇸 Iceland from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇮🇳 India from Amazon.in
- 🇮🇪 Ireland from Amazon.co.uk
- 🇮🇱 Israel from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇮🇹 Italy from Amazon.it
- 🇯🇲 Jamaica from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇯🇵 Japan from Amazon.co.jp
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇲🇽 Mexico from Amazon.com.mx
- 🇲🇨 Monaco from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands from bol.com
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand from Fishpond.co.nz, Amazon.com (via USA), and Booktopia.com.au (via Australia)
- 🇳🇴 Norway from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇵🇪 Peru from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
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- 🇪🇸 Spain from Amazon.es
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- 🇨🇭 Switzerland from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates from Amazon.ae
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom from Amazon.co.uk, Blackwell's, and The Book Depository
- 🇺🇸 United States of America from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, AbeBooks, Books-a-Million, Diesel Bookstore (Santa Monica, California), Laguna Beach Books (Laguna Beach, California), Warwick’s (La Jolla, California), The Booksmith (San Francisco, California), University Press Books (Berkeley, California), Compass Books at SFO/Books Inc. (San Francisco, California), University of Arizona Bookstore (Tucson, Arizona), Strand Books (New York, New York), Hudson Booksellers (New York, New York), Harvard Book Store (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Savoy Bookshop & Café (Westerly, Rhode Island), Books & Books (Miami, Florida), and others
- 🇻🇳 Vietnam from U-buy.vn
Get your copy today!
About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions
Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ (http://Exceptional-PMO.com) helps organizations achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives via world-class project management. The firm provides expert advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management in agile, traditional, and hybrid development and delivery frameworks.
Let's Connect
Connect with AgileScrumGuide.com on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.
And connect with agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker Scott M. Graffius on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
© Copyright 2018 Scott M. Graffius, AgileScrumGuide.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/AgileScrumGuide.com.
Talk by Scott M. Graffius at Project Management Institute - California Central Valley Chapter on September 13, 2018
14 September 2018
This is an update from Scott M. Graffius, author of Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions.
I had the honor of speaking on agile project management at a dinner meeting of the Project Management Institute - California Central Valley Chapter (PMI-CCVC) in Bakersfield last night. The presentation provided a highly visual overview of Scrum — including the roles, responsibilities, tools, and techniques unique to the framework — with a focus on best practices and top factors typical in successful implementations.
Thank you to Fred Valenzano for the invitation and thank you to all of the PMI-CCVC members who attended the session. I enjoyed meeting and talking with everyone.
The feedback was fantastic. For those not at the event: an example of a sticky note used to collect comments at the end of the meeting is shown (the example is a blank one — not filled out — for privacy). It's excellent to know "What Went Well?" Potential improvements, however, typically come from the other question: "What Would You Change?" (Additionally, attendees can provide feedback via an online survey.) All of the feedback is important, appreciated, and valued.
Let's Connect
Connect with AgileScrumGuide.com on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.
And connect with agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker Scott M. Graffius on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
© Copyright 2018 Scott M. Graffius, AgileScrumGuide.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/AgileScrumGuide.com.
Quick Tip: Sprint Retrospective Meeting
25 January 2019
This is an experimental new type of article: a quick tip.
At the retrospective meeting—where the Development Team reflects on the just-concluded sprint and identifies ways to improve—participants may find it beneficial to ask themselves:
- “How can we make a bigger positive impact?” and
- “How can we achieve greater ease of work?”
This tip is from the book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions.
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps technical and non-technical teams develop and deliver products at astounding speed with rapid adaptation to change and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage. The book has garnered 17 first place awards.
- Title and subtitle: Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
- Author: Scott M. Graffius
- Technical Editors: Chris Hare and Colin Giffen
- Formats: Paperback and ebook, both in full color
- Pub Date: April 5, 2016 (paperback), May 20, 2016 (ebook)
- Publisher: CreateSpace (paperback), Amazon Digital Services (ebook)
- Price: Paperback $34.99 US, ebook $19.99 US
- Pages: 156
- ISBN-13: 978-1533370242 (paperback)
- ASIN: B01FZ0JIIY (ebook)
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions by Scott M. Graffius is offered in digital and print formats around the world.
Agile Scrum in ebook format (ASIN: B01FZ0JIIY) is available in:
- Australia from Amazon
- Brazil from Amazon
- Canada from Amazon
- France from Amazon
- Germany from Amazon
- India from Amazon
- Italy from Amazon
- Japan from Amazon
- Mexico from Amazon
- Netherlands from Amazon
- Spain from Amazon
- United Kingdom from Amazon
- United States from Amazon
Agile Scrum in paperback (ISBN-13: 9781533370242) is for sale in:
- France from Amazon
- Germany from Amazon
- Italy from Amazon
- Japan from Amazon
- Spain from Amazon
- United Kingdom from Amazon and The Book Depository
- United States from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, AbeBooks, Strand Books, Harvard Book Store, Books-a-Million, The Booksmith, Hudson Booksellers, Savoy Bookshop & Café, Compass Books at SFO/Books Inc., Books & Books - Miami, Laguna Beach Books, Diesel Bookstore, and University Press Books - Berkeley.
- and from other retailers, distributors, and partners around the world
Scott and Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions have been featured in Yahoo Finance, the Boston Herald, NBC WRAL, the Dallas Business Journal, the PM World Journal, BookLife by Publisher’s Weekly, Innovation Management, and additional media outlets.
Let's Connect
Connect with AgileScrumGuide.com on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.
And connect with agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker Scott M. Graffius on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, AgileScrumGuide.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/AgileScrumGuide.com.
NHD Podcast Included Content from "Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions"
14 July 2019
The NHD Podcast included an excerpt on metrics from Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. The quote is “If you don’t collect any metrics, you’re flying blind. If you collect and focus on too many, they may be obstructing your field of view.” It appears at 46:40 in Episode 17 of the podcast.
The episode features:
- Cathy Jones, executive at Healthscope
- Cathy Balding, Director of Qualityworks PL, and Adjunct Professor at La Trobe University
- David Balding, Professor of Statistical Genetics at the University of Melbourne, and Director of Melbourne Integrative Genomics
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:
- Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
- Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
- Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.
Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”
Winner of 17 first place awards.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇧🇪 Belgium
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇭🇺 Hungary
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇱 Israel
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇳🇴 Norway
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 UAE
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
- 🌏 More countries
About Author Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius is a project management expert, consultant, international speaker, and award-winning author. He is a Principal Consultant and the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, a professional services firm, where he helps clients strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private companies with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. Scott's first book on agile project management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions, garnered 17 first place awards. Scott and his book have been featured in Yahoo Finance, Computer Weekly, the Boston Herald, Learning Solutions, Informa, Innovation Management, and additional media publications. His second title, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change, was published in April 2019. BookAuthority named it one of the best new books on Scrum. Scott regularly speaks at conferences and other events around the world. For additional information on Scott, see his bio.
About the No Harm Done Podcast
The No Harm Done (NHD) Podcast is a podcast about improving, exploring, understanding, and getting on with healthcare safety and quality. For more information on the show — and to listen to or download content — visit the program's website and iTunes.
Let's Connect
Connect with AgileScrumGuide.com on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.
And connect with agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker Scott M. Graffius on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, AgileScrumGuide.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/AgileScrumGuide.com.
Content from Scott M. Graffius's "Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions" Included in Kromatic's "Innovation Ecosystem Metrics"
14 July 2019
Content from Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions was included in Kromatic’s “Innovation Ecosystem Metrics.” Thank you to Tristan Kromer.
“Innovation Ecosystem Metrics” is available at http://bit.ly/asg-krmtc. The quote – located on slide 5 of the presentation, and shown in the accompanying image – is “If you don’t collect any metrics, you’re flying blind. If you collect and focus on too many, they may be obstructing your field of view.”
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:
- Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
- Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
- Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.
Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”
Winner of 17 first place awards.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇧🇪 Belgium
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇭🇺 Hungary
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇱 Israel
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇳🇴 Norway
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 UAE
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
- 🌏 More countries
About Author Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius is a project management expert, consultant, international speaker, and award-winning author. He is a Principal Consultant and the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, a professional services firm, where he helps clients strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private companies with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. Scott's first book on agile project management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions, garnered 17 first place awards. Scott and his book have been featured in Yahoo Finance, Computer Weekly, the Boston Herald, Learning Solutions, Informa, Innovation Management, and additional media publications. His second title, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change, was published in April 2019. BookAuthority named it one of the best new books on Scrum. Scott regularly speaks at conferences and other events around the world. For additional information on Scott, see his bio.
About Kromatic
Kromatic is a professional training and coaching firm. It helps companies get to market fast and reduce the cost of innovation. For more information, visit the company's website.
Let's Connect
Connect with AgileScrumGuide.com on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.
And connect with agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker Scott M. Graffius on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, AgileScrumGuide.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/AgileScrumGuide.com.
"Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions" on Two Best Seller Lists at Bucher World
20 July 2019
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions – originally published in 2016, and subsequently EXPANDED and UPDATED – has made several appearances on best seller lists. We're thrilled that the book currently appears on two best seller lists (Management and Project Management) at Bücher World (in English: Book World).
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:
- Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
- Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
- Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.
Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”
Winner of 17 first place awards.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇧🇪 Belgium
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇭🇺 Hungary
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇱 Israel
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇳🇴 Norway
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 UAE
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
- 🌏 More countries
About Author Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius is a project management expert, consultant, international speaker, and award-winning author. He is a Principal Consultant and the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, a professional services firm, where he helps clients strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private companies with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. Scott's first book on agile project management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions, garnered 17 first place awards. Scott and his book have been featured in Yahoo Finance, Computer Weekly, the Boston Herald, Learning Solutions, Informa, Innovation Management, and additional media publications. His second title, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change, was published in April 2019. BookAuthority named it one of the best new books on Scrum. Scott regularly speaks at conferences and other events around the world. For additional information on Scott, see his bio.
Let's Connect
Connect with AgileScrumGuide.com on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.
And connect with agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker Scott M. Graffius on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, AgileScrumGuide.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/AgileScrumGuide.com.
2020 Updates to the Scrum Guide: 7 Key Changes, and Why There's No Impact to the Award-Winning Book Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
24 November 2020
Countless organizations and resources are vanguards of agile including Scrum. Many take guidance from the Scrum Guide, which is periodically revised. An updated version was released on November 18, 2020. This article highlights the key changes in the Scrum Guide. And it covers what impact — if any — those updates have on the award-winning publication, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions.
The update to the Scrum Guide includes seven key changes. They are:
- The update is less prescriptive. For example, it removed the implied requirement of questions during the Daily Scrum.
- Before, the Scrum Team was comprised of the Development Team (the people doing the work), Scrum Master, and Product Owner. Now, the Scrum Team is composed of developers (the people doing the work), the Scrum Master, and the Product Owner.
- The update introduces the Product Goal.
- More information on the Definition of Done, and the Sprint Goal. (The Product Goal is covered above.)
- Before, the Development Team was referred to as self-organizing. The update uses the term self-managing and it notes that developers should choose who, how, and what to work on.
- “Why?” was added to the sprint planning topics. So, there are now three: what, how, and why.
- Unnecessarily complex information was removed.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions notes: “This guide incorporates the values and principles of agile along with information on typical successful Scrum implementations and best practices.” With a bibliography referencing 116 sources, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions was deliberately based on a large and diverse range of sources for the better. Here's just one example among many. While the Scrum Guide was silent on velocity, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions covers the topic: “For example, velocity — the most popular metrics — is not used by some people. However, this guide covers velocity and other leading practices.”
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is definitively not a restatement of a solitary source such as the Scrum Guide. Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions was thoughtfully designed to be “a refreshingly clear and easy to follow guide” based on typical successful implementations and best practices from a multitude of sources.
So, what is the impact — if any — of changes to the Scrum Guide on Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions? That’s covered next. The scale of 0-10 is used, where 0 represents no impact and 10 indicates a significant impact.
Item 1: Less Prescriptive
- Scrum Guide: The update to the Scrum Guide is less prescriptive. For example, it removed the implied requirement of questions during the Daily Scrum.
- Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions: The book was already non-prescriptive. While it is centered on leading practices, it notes: “Every aspect does not need to be followed to the letter. Just as a value of agile is ‘individuals and interactions over processes and tools’ and a principle is ‘inspect and adapt,’ whatever approach you decide to use should be adjusted as appropriate to your unique circumstances.” That’s just one example.
- Impact: 0.
Item 2: The Team
- Scrum Guide: Before, the Scrum Team was comprised of the Development Team (the people doing the work), Scrum Master, and Product Owner. Now, the Scrum Team is comprised of developers (the people doing the work), the Scrum Master, and the Product Owner. Simply put, “Development Team” was changed to “developers.”
- Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions: This label change should not impact how a Scrum Team works together. (Note: while the change may have been an attempt to simplify matters, calling them something other than developers may have been even better. In Scrum, developers are defined as those who do the work. However, for many people, a technology developer/engineer immediately comes to mind.)
- Impact: Between 0 and 1.
Item 3: Product Goal
- Scrum Guide: The update introduces the Product Goal.
- Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions: The book already covers the Product Goal.
- Impact: 0.
Item 4: Definition of Done, and the Sprint Goal
- Scrum Guide: More information on the Definition of Done, and the Sprint Goal. (The Product Goal is covered above.)
- Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions: The book already suitably covers the Definition of Done (including seven examples, and more) and the Sprint Goal.
- Impact: 0.
Item 5: Self-Managing
- Scrum Guide: Before, the Development Team was referred to as self-organizing. The update uses the term “self-managing” and it notes that developers should choose who, how, and what to work on.
- Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions: The book already covers the who, how, and what to work on.
- Impact: 0.
Item 6: Added “Why?” to Sprint Planning
- Scrum Guide: “Why?” was added to the sprint planning topics. So, there are now three: what, how, and why.
- Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions: The book already covers the “why” via the sprint goal during sprint planning.
- Impact: 0.
7. Unnecessary complexities
- Scrum Guide: Unnecessarily complex information was removed.
- Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions: The book was conscientiously built to be “a refreshingly clear and easy to follow guide.” Unnecessary complexities were never included, so they don’t need to be removed.
- Impact: 0.
The updates to the Scrum Guide are helpful. However, as delineated above, they have no impact on the award-winning book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions.
Hailed as “a must-have” and “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully” and “a superbly written and presented guide that is applicable across a broad range of businesses from consumer products to high-tech,” award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions by author Scott M. Graffius is a refreshingly clear and easy to follow guide based on typical successful implementations and best practices from a multitude of sources. The 2020 updates to the Scrum Guide have no impact on Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. Several updates to the Scrum Guide involved adding information that was already provided by Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions.
About Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and international speaker. Content from his books, speaking engagements, and more has been used by businesses, governments, and universities, including: Gartner, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a Top 20 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Agile. His full-length bio is available at: https://bit.ly/bio-smg.
Follow @scottgraffius
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:
- Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
- Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
- Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.
Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”
Winner of 17 first place awards.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.
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About Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change
Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Based on actual events, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.
The award-winning book by Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
- 🌏 More countries
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