The Enterprise and Scrum

This book contains useful information on how to apply Scrum in large organizations. It provides real world examples of how Scrum was implemented, the problems that were uncovered and the lessons learned. If you are looking for an intro book on Scrum, this is not it. If you are familiar with Scrum, you will devour the information in this book. If you are a seasoned project manager, many of the scenarios will resonate with you. It is a short book (under 150 pages) but it is chock full of valuable information that you can apply to your practice. I recommend that you read it at least twice to derive full benefit.

An add-on to the existing two SCRUM books by Schwaber. This book discusses how to evolve an enterprise collectively rather than just parts of it at a time. You'll likely have no context for this book unless having first read the others. Note: this book is, like the others, descriptive in nature and definitively not prescriptive. So if you're looking for someone to tell you exactly `how' to do something, this isn't it.

I've been involved with the introduction of Agile methods and other process improvements in several large enterprises, and I have learned -that there are no cookbooks -that there is no process or set of practices that will work for everyone -that as hard as it is to influence people to take on new practices, it is even harder to get the rest of the organization to accept the implications of these changes This book does not prescribe a solution to all problems. The author I expect knows well that there is no such prescriptive solution (in his own words, "We want rules to follow, but life and product development are too complex for a single set of rules to suffice in all circumstances."). The book also does not delve into the depths of systems dynamics and org change- areas that are important in the change effort, but are explored by countless other sources. I believe that this is a strength, as it allows the book to be a focused, easy read without distraction. This book does provide an implementation framework, plain and simple - a basic, repeatable, evolutionary framework for the introduction of Scrum to an enterprise, including feedback loops that will ensure that the right people know of challenges, and techniques to repeatably adjust the plan so that the effort is continuously improving. Following this, progress is very likely, and if the effort ends, it will be either due to success or to the conscious choice of those involved to stop further improvement. I've seen many process improvement efforts flounder in large companies- often due to the process that was followed to run them. An approach such as that recommended in this book will at least ensure that the process to effect the improvement is not in the way itself, and is in fact an enabler.

The book is divided into three parts: * Part I is titled "Adopting Scrum" and provides an excellent outline of a scalable process for transitioning to Scrum along with description of some of the likely challenges (most of which is relevant to small-medium sized organizations as well as large ones). This includes a month-by-month activity description and some examples in the form of stories about "hypothetical" companies. * Part II goes into more detail by outlining several specific practices addressing Organizational, Engineering, People, and Product Owner - Team Relationship issues. Each practice answers a question that might well be asked by someone involved in a transition project. * Part III provides an extremely concise and authoritative overview of the Scrum process, terminology, related reading and an example Scrum Kickoff Meeting Agenda. This is followed by "Scrum Musings" - a series of 1-2 page essays on important concepts behind Scrum. Generally, I found that this book flows better than the first two books and is no less as inspiring a read. It also reflects the current maturity of Scrum in a number of subtle ways including the terminology used. One example that happens to be topical to a colleague of mine is that this book repeatably uses the terms Product Manager/Customer together so as to be explicitly inclusive of both product development and bespoke/internal application development projects. In this way, it comes across as clearer and more inclusive that the earlier literature. Judging by how much I got out of it, I would say that you certainly don't have to be doing an Enterprise-wide Scrum rollout to make this book well worth reading. You could expect though to get even more out of it once you go beyond one Scrum team and/or project to the challenges of co-ordinating multiple. Keep in mind that this is a short book at 145 pages and coverage is concise and not exhaustive. The brevity does make it quick to read though. Whilst I would not say that "The Enterprise and Scrum" is essential for all ScrumMasters concerned with only a single team and project, it could be considered essential reading for anyone dealing with multiple projects or pursuing wider adoption of Scrum within an organization. For some, the introductory material on the challenges and steps to transition to Scrum and the Appendices may be worth the purchase price on their own as it constitutes perhaps the most usable, definitive and up-to-date short reference currently available on the Scrum process and terminology.

The two best things about this book are that it: (1) provides a framework for adopting Scrum across an enterprise, and (2) describes some techniques for surmounting some of the problems you will likely face as you try. Although the book is about the "enterprise and Scrum" most of the contents will be applicable to any group of teams transitioning to Scrum. A set of five teams working together on a single project would benefit from this book even if they are not the whole enterprise. Too many agile books suffer from being targeted at a single team working on a deserted island--that is, a seven-person team with no issues outside their one team. This book does not suffer from that problem. Want to know how to organize work on a project that is partitioned by architectural layer? How to structure a product backlog for the entire organization? Or how to organize teams across a large project? Or what are the proper reporting relationships on a large Scrum project? This book provides sage advice on these enterprise adoption issues and more. The book is chock-full of real-life anecdotes (in which only the name of the company and key players have been changed). Each anecdote illustrates how one real company dealt with a real problem. Their problem, their context, and their solution won't exactly be yours, but seeing how others have addressed challenges can be illuminating in thinking how to address yours. This is probably not your best choice as a first book on Scrum. For that start with the author's other two books. This book picks up where they left off, providing a wealth of information for enterprises and even workgroups adopting Scrum. If you're already familiar with the basics of Scrum, and especially if you are starting to hit the hard points of adopting it and spreading it through your organization then this book is for you.