Where can I read about Agile and Scrum?

One of the frequently asked questions from my clients and courses' participants are "can you recommend me something about Scrum / Agile / User Stories / Retrospective / Planning / Estimating / put your question here?". There is so much materials on-line, that the main challenge is to choose best ones. Below you can find these: a) I like, b) are available for free, c) I recommend to my friends. I'm updating the list from time to time.

What is Agile?

If you want to know what is Agile, please read Agile Manifesto and 12 Principles of Agile Software Development.

What is Scrum?

If you want to know what is Scrum, start with What is Scrum overview video on Scrum Alliance webpage. Then go to Michael James' Scrum training series. After that carefully read Scrum Guide. You can also listen to audio version, created by Michael Vizdos. Finaly have a look at Scrum Values.

Robin Dymond's animation is also a good introduction to Scrum.

You can also read about Scrum Principles.

If you want to learn origin of Scrum name then please read The New New Product Development Game article by Takeuchi and Nonaka from 1986.

What are common Agile practices supporting Scrum?

Almost every team which works in Scrum employs common Agile practices. You can read about them at  Scrum Primer by Pete Deemer, Gabrielle Benefield, Craig Larman and Bas Vodde and in Scrum and XP from the Trenches  by Henrik Kniberg.

Scrum PLoP contains huge number of Agile patterns, which can help your team.

Another book I can recommend is Do Better Scrum by Peter Hundermark.

Agile Engineering Practices used in Software Develpment are well described in article by Chet Hendrickson.

What is Kanban?

Read Kanban and Scrum - Making the Most of Both book by Henrik Kniberg.

What does Scrum Master do?

Read and use ScrumMaster Checklist. You can learn more about Coaching Role of ScrumMaster

What does Product Owner does?

Watch Agile Product Ownership in a Nutshell movie by Henrik Kniberg .

How to scale Agile?

First advice - don't scale. In most cases you don't have to. It's very difficult and requires effective Scrum teams practicing Agile engineering practices. If you have to do this, watch Henrik Kniberg's movies about Spotify culture (Part 1 and Part 2).

Craig Larman and Bas Vodde collected lot of information about LeSS (Large Scaled Scrum) framework.

Ken Schwaber ideas about scaling are available in 11-page Nexus Guide.

How to change organization?

Did you already notice that Agile transformation does not limit to your team, nor event to software development? That's great. To really create Agile business, you need to change whole organization. And that's not easy. Start with reading Steve Denning article from Forbes - How to make the whole organization Agile. Finally, Larman's Laws of Organizational Behavior will show you challenges you'll meet while transforming your organization.

How to work together?

Effective collaboration can address a significant number of problems many companies struggle with. Therefore it's worth looking at approaches to communicate and work together. Start with Core Protocols by Jim and Michele McCarthy. Then review Sociocracy 3.0 patterns. Facilitator Checklist will also be useful during your meetings.

How to motivate my team?

Don't event try that. Instead watch Drive movie by Daniel Pink. Have also a look at Frederick Herzberg article from 1968 One More Time, How Do You Motivate Employees?.

Where can I find more information?

If you liked this article, then you might also look at Videos that every Scrum Master should see.

Our Agile handouts database containg guides, cheat sheets and brochures.