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Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time
by
We live in a world that is broken. For those who believe that there must be a more efficient way for people to get things done, here from Scrum pioneer Jeff Sutherland is a brilliantly discursive, thought-provoking book about the management process that is changing the way we live.
In the future, historians may look back on human progress and draw a sharp line designatin ...more
In the future, historians may look back on human progress and draw a sharp line designatin ...more
Audible Audio
Published
September 30th 2014
by Random House Audio
(first published 2014)
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Start your review of Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time
Apr 01, 2015
Romantical Skeptic
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
improve-thyself
Once I got over the extremely self-aggrandizing tone of the author, I found some of the points quite useful. Basically this is a way of operationalizing the 80/20 rule. Here are the things I took away from it:
1. Good team size. 4-6 is optimal, 20 is way too many.
2. Multitasking is a myth - people who think they’re good at it, actually are the worst. The truth is people are serial processing, not parallel, and it takes the brain longer to switch gears so all you’re doing is slowing yourself down. ...more
1. Good team size. 4-6 is optimal, 20 is way too many.
2. Multitasking is a myth - people who think they’re good at it, actually are the worst. The truth is people are serial processing, not parallel, and it takes the brain longer to switch gears so all you’re doing is slowing yourself down. ...more
Jun 23, 2014
Jeff Sutherland
rated it
it was amazing
· (Review from the author)
·
review of another edition
After Ken Schwaber and I wrote "Software in 30 Days" I felt we didn't have enough stories about Scrum outside of software development. This book is for the general business reader in any domain. It also tells the personal story of how my 11 years as a fighter pilot and another 11 years as a medical school professor affected the development of Scrum and the writing of the Agile Manifesto.
...more
I was trying to decide what to give this book as a rating. It wasn't what I was hoping for. I really don't want to hear how smart the creator is or how much better what he is doing is compared to other methodologies - what I want to hear is the nuts and bolts of how to make this idea work and what separates it from the rest of the herd. Frankly, nothing presented showed me any of what I was looking for. So it was going to be either a 3 (more or less neutral) or just pass by not giving any rating
...more
If you are interested in the historical context of scrum and want to read "around and about" it, this looks like a good book for you. But if you want to learn scrum this is not the book for you.
...more
I had high expectations for this book, but it left me feeling kinda blah about it.
Maybe I have business self-help book overload, I just wasn't blown away by this.
The majority of the book got skimmed as I wasn't sucked into reading each word and looking for the gold nuggets, the magic bullet. ...more
Maybe I have business self-help book overload, I just wasn't blown away by this.
The majority of the book got skimmed as I wasn't sucked into reading each word and looking for the gold nuggets, the magic bullet. ...more
This is the original book on Scrum-way of project management.
It was amazing.
All the components of the scrum framework are deeply rooted in well-established productivity principles e.g. feedback loop, focusing on one thing, the one thing has to bring the most value, accountability, etc.
It was amazing.
All the components of the scrum framework are deeply rooted in well-established productivity principles e.g. feedback loop, focusing on one thing, the one thing has to bring the most value, accountability, etc.
Although there are kernels of wisdom and good advice on how to be productive, I found it difficult and tedious to wade through the author's biographical background and the data supporting his theory. This would have made a really good magazine article; a book wasn't necessary.
...more
The book is basic for someone who already studies and practices Agile Methodologies for a long time. But the book deserves five stars because goes on the Why of Scrum, Why Scrum works and how it is adapted to the new realities of work in the 21st century.
Some of the interesting topics: The origins of Scrum, Team principles, Waste management, The importance of priorities and time management and how this fits with 'estimation' and how to begin implementing Scrum in your team or org.
So it's strong ...more
Some of the interesting topics: The origins of Scrum, Team principles, Waste management, The importance of priorities and time management and how this fits with 'estimation' and how to begin implementing Scrum in your team or org.
So it's strong ...more
This isn't a guide to Scrum per-se. Which is probably good, since there are lots of guides to scrum at the practices at varying levels of details. What this book does is talk help you understand the value of scrum through stories. There is an appendix of scrum practices at the end. The book is full of war stories (both literally and figuratively), and Sutherland is clearly proud of how he, his family, and organizations he has worked with, have applied scrum. Reading this book will help energize
...more
This is not a Scrum how-to book. Rather, the story of its making and its philosophy. The concepts are highly adaptable to not just software, business, but everyday life as well. He talks of how to increase productivity of teams by improving communication, eliminating waste, and continuous improvement. I especially liked the idea is that team happiness is the greatest predictor of success. I enjoyed the conversational style and the positive, inclusive attitude.
Essential.
A must read for people and teams who cares about their productivity. Key takeaways for me:
1. Great teams are: transcendent (alignment with a higher purpose), cross-functional (have all skills to complete the project), autonomous (influence planning and decision-making process, freedom to decide "how" to deliver). Optimal size 7 (+-2)
2. Iterate fast. Plan => Do => Check => Act. Week or two for each iteration (Sprint). At the end of the iteration have some version of the product/feature that you c ...more
1. Great teams are: transcendent (alignment with a higher purpose), cross-functional (have all skills to complete the project), autonomous (influence planning and decision-making process, freedom to decide "how" to deliver). Optimal size 7 (+-2)
2. Iterate fast. Plan => Do => Check => Act. Week or two for each iteration (Sprint). At the end of the iteration have some version of the product/feature that you c ...more
May 25, 2015
Femina Ernest
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
tasted-papers
I can say , this is a "Myth & Rule Breaker" book. It is a revolution-creating , trend setting , thought-provoking , boldly truth spreading , Modern SDLC patterned , long - awaited successful-system-for-work telling Book. Jeff's metaphor for Scrum " Careful alignment, unity of purpose, and clarity of goal come together" proves that, he really spent worth-time to interrogate , analyse our present organisational system by "looking at how people ACTUALLY work, rather than how they SAY they work" :)
...more
Five enthusiastic stars for Scrum. I wish I had read this book a long time ago. While a large part of this book is the "why" of Scrum, there is enough "how" in here to get you started, even though it does just scratch the surface. I dare you to read this book and not want to look for more resources online to help you implement Scrum. Whether you are managing a team of engineers, writing a book, or planning a wedding, Scrum can have a profound impact on your ability to complete a project on time
...more
Most valuable book in a long time! Besides that it is an easy and quick read. Don't see any reason not to read it ;)
...more
One of the most useful books I read, it explores the foundations and principles that make scrum work so successfully, and how it applies not only to the purpose it was created but to most fields.
This is one of the worst book I've read lately. It is packed full of my personal most hated characteristic: self-righteousness. It is also poorly translated, and it presents the Scrum as the best thing that happened since the decalog... I hate this narration, and I am sick of reading how Jeff single handedly invented Scrum, MVP and probably entire IT industry. Seriously, I can't recall any occurrence of Ken Schwaber in the entire book. Seriously, after reading this book I would be convinced that
...more
Well, a book about Scrum from the father of Scrum.
It is not a book for beginners and it is not a book for experts (are there any books for experts at all?)
If you are in the HA state of using/implementing agile, you or team members tend to ask things like "Can we skip this?" or "Can we change this to that?".
This book explains the answer to these questions by stating why something is defined like it it is now.
All in all a great and amusing audio book which I highly recommend. ...more
It is not a book for beginners and it is not a book for experts (are there any books for experts at all?)
If you are in the HA state of using/implementing agile, you or team members tend to ask things like "Can we skip this?" or "Can we change this to that?".
This book explains the answer to these questions by stating why something is defined like it it is now.
All in all a great and amusing audio book which I highly recommend. ...more
Jan 12, 2018
Romans Karpelcevs
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
tech
I already knew quite a lot about Scrum, but it was an interesting short read nonetheless. I forgot some things I learned years ago, and this book served both as reminder and gave me a few new ideas to try. I was surprised to learn Scrum was inspired by Lean, including waste elimination, reducing WIP, all that.
The book is a bit overpromising, though, and doesn't mention challenges or overcoming them. It's mostly about selling the idea than about any advanced implementation. ...more
The book is a bit overpromising, though, and doesn't mention challenges or overcoming them. It's mostly about selling the idea than about any advanced implementation. ...more
very useful, it's about planning and continuously changing and adapting your plan to the new variables and problems you face as you go along instead of planning and working in a linear way and sticking to the same solution no matter how the different variables may change, the former way is probably our best option and offers a life that's more organic and coherent.
...more
I was familiar with the basics of SCRUM and some of the terminology but to read about the origins and the ideas behind it is very impressive. I'm definitely going to use the theory in my daily life!
...more
Jan 05, 2020
Michael Burnam-Fink
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2020,
non-fiction
Good management is good management. Cargo cult gibberish is cargo cult gibberish. And the intersection of the two is Scrum, a management philosophy that promises orders of magnitude improvements everywhere.
Some parts of scrum are obvious. Spend time doing things that are valuable to the customer. Delivery that value quickly and incrementally. Don't get bogged down in monumental efforts tied to thousands of pages of documentation that no one has actually read, or actually understands. The basic u ...more
Some parts of scrum are obvious. Spend time doing things that are valuable to the customer. Delivery that value quickly and incrementally. Don't get bogged down in monumental efforts tied to thousands of pages of documentation that no one has actually read, or actually understands. The basic u ...more
Get ‘er Done!
I LOVED THIS BOOK! Once again, I did the audio / kindle split. However, this time, I utilized Overdrive, the free online public library app - it is AMAZING. I signed up for 3 local libraries online; got my library cards and was off to the races. If you have not tried Overdrive, check it out.
There were so many take aways in this book that I absolutely loved. I should probably go back through the book before writing this, but historically, if I do not write now, it won’t get done.
By ...more
I LOVED THIS BOOK! Once again, I did the audio / kindle split. However, this time, I utilized Overdrive, the free online public library app - it is AMAZING. I signed up for 3 local libraries online; got my library cards and was off to the races. If you have not tried Overdrive, check it out.
There were so many take aways in this book that I absolutely loved. I should probably go back through the book before writing this, but historically, if I do not write now, it won’t get done.
By ...more
You could learn a lot from this book. The positive point is that the author is the actual person who made the SCRUM system. So he knows the core principles and explains them in a very understandable way.
The premise of SCRUM is to share everything with your coworkers. Secrecy is the model that will lead to the downfall of companies. As long as people work together and try to make the "team" win instead of "I", the company and people within it will prosper. I found lots of similarities between Lea ...more
The premise of SCRUM is to share everything with your coworkers. Secrecy is the model that will lead to the downfall of companies. As long as people work together and try to make the "team" win instead of "I", the company and people within it will prosper. I found lots of similarities between Lea ...more
Very well written and engaging! For those who already know about scrum, this book would be a delight. It elaborates the intention behind the processes followed in Scrum rather than just the technique for the sake. If you follow scrum or intend to, this should be your first book to understand the idea. You can drill down on the details later. A must read for managers and CEOs!
Shared at my office that i liked the concepts (they are applicable not only at my work but also my personal projects, great) and was asked to prepare a presentation (mid January) so decided to listen to the book for the second time. Will also check an ebook version of it just before the presentation. If i had to present on all the books i went through, my rate of material retention would have been much MUCH higher :)
Good introduction to Scrum but lacked ideas for practical application. Ideas were useful and borrow a lot from Toyota and their Lean Production System. The author was also completely full of himself which didn't take away from the value of the information but did get annoying sometimes.
...more
This had lots of good, practical advice.
Work in small teams (max 17).
Sprint: demo/build something that works in a small timeframe.
Let the experts choose the way the problem will be solved.
This almost opposite from the waterfall model.
Daily standup: quick tasks and blocks of the day.
Do one thing at a time.
Don't do half of something, complete it and release it.
User stories: define briefly the "what". INVEST criteria.
Epic: collection of small stories.
Planning poker not hours.
Quantify/measure happiness.
Visibility in everything.
Keep impro ...more
Sprint: demo/build something that works in a small timeframe.
Let the experts choose the way the problem will be solved.
This almost opposite from the waterfall model.
Daily standup: quick tasks and blocks of the day.
Do one thing at a time.
Don't do half of something, complete it and release it.
User stories: define briefly the "what". INVEST criteria.
Epic: collection of small stories.
Planning poker not hours.
Quantify/measure happiness.
Visibility in everything.
Keep impro ...more
Scrum isn't just for developers. This book really made me think about how I try to multitask- and why I really can't-- and how I can work more efficiently to get more done, faster.
...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HCS Book Club - Scrum Discussion | 2 | 9 | Sep 10, 2020 08:39PM |
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Sutherland is a Graduate of the United States Military Academy, a Top Gun of his USAF RF-4C Aircraft Commander class[citation needed]. He flew more than one hundred missions over North Vietnam[citation needed]. After 11 years in the military, he became a doctor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine[citation needed]. Here he got involved in data collection and IT systems development.
Dr. ...more
Dr. ...more
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“Multitasking Makes You Stupid. Doing more than one thing at a time makes you slower and worse at both tasks. Don’t do it. If you think this doesn’t apply to you, you’re wrong—it does.”
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