Thousands of IT professionals are being asked to make Scrum succeed in their organizations–including many who weren’t involved in the decision to adopt it. If you’re one of them, The Scrum Field Guide will give you skills and confidence to adopt Scrum more rapidly, more successfully, and with far less pain and fear. Long-time Scrum practitioner Mitch Lacey identifies major challenges associated with early-stage Scrum adoption, as well as deeper issues that emerge after companies have adopted Scrum, and describes how other organizations have overcome them. You’ll learn how to gain “quick wins” that build support, and then use the flexibility of Scrum to maximize value creation across the entire process.


In 30 brief, engaging chapters, Lacey guides you through everything from defining roles to setting priorities to determining team velocity, choosing a sprint length, and conducting customer reviews. Along the way, he explains why Scrum can seem counterintuitive, offers a solid grounding in the core agile concepts that make it work, and shows where it can (and shouldn’t) be modified. Coverage includes



Getting teams on board, and bringing new team members aboard after you’ve started
Creating a “definition of done” for the team and organization
Implementing the strong technical practices that are indispensable for agile success
Balancing predictability and adaptability in release planning
Keeping defects in check
Running productive daily standup meetings
Keeping people engaged with pair programming
Managing culture clashes on Scrum teams
Performing “emergency procedures” to get sprints back on track
Establishing a pace your team can truly sustain
Accurately costing projects, and measuring the value they deliver
Documenting Scrum projects effectively
Prioritizing and estimating large backlogs
Integrating outsourced and offshored components


Packed with real-world examples from Lacey’s own experience, this book is invaluable to everyone transitioning to agile: developers, architects, testers, managers, and project owners alike.