The Elements of Scrum

A readable, engrossing view of how scrum actually works, including supporting practices. Read an excerpt here.

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Also available on the Kindle.

This book is the result of thousands of hours spent training, coaching, thinking, writing and learning about scrum. In our training courses we teach scrum interactively, because we find that experience is the best teacher. So when we set out to write a book to serve as a companion to our work in the field, we didn’t want to produce just another technical training manual that explains the rules of scrum in an officious, business-y tone that is as dry as day old toast and just as easy to swallow. We wanted instead to write the kind of book people would consider a good read.

But how to translate our experiential style into a book? We knocked around a lot of ideas, but circled back to the technique humans have been using to pass on information in the most accessible, meaningful, retainable form, and that is storytelling. So you won’t find a lot of bullet points in The Elements of Scrum. What you will find instead are lots and lots of anecdotal explanations, historical examples, and frank opinions couched in terms of our own and others’ real-life experiences in the field. As co-authors, Chris brought the subject matter expertise, and Hillary brought the novelist’s engaging writing style.

About the Authors

Chris Sims is a Certified Scrum Trainer and agile coach who has been helping teams improve their happiness and productivity since the turn of the century. He has made a living in roles such as: scrum master, product owner, engineering manager, C++ developer, musician, and auto mechanic. Chris is the founder of Agile Learning Labs and a frequent presenter at agile conferences.

Hillary Louise Johnson is an author and former business journalist who has written on innovation, technology and pop culture for Inc Magazine and the Los Angeles Times. As an intellectual property consultant she has drafted numerous technology patents. She has been editor-in-chief of several print and online publications and now runs Dymaxicon.

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