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The Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide: Challenges Every Scrum Team Faces and How to Overcome Them

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Description

  • Copyright 2024
  • Edition: 1st
  • eBook
  • ISBN-10: 0-13-797789-1
  • ISBN-13: 978-0-13-797789-5

Unlock Scrum success for beginners and experts alike with The Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide, your key to understanding and elevating Scrum practices.

Scrum is simple to understand but difficult to master. As a framework, Scrum is particularly challenging as there is no formal education tailored to these roles and no comprehensive set of practices readily available to those interested in applying it. The Scrum Guide 2020 describes its underlying principles only in the broadest strokes--from applying Scrum to complex adaptive problems to embracing self-management--but the Scrum Guide is not at all prescriptive about how Scrum Teams work.

The Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide compiles the most common challenges that every Scrum Team faces and how to remedy them. Stefan Wolpers uses the Scrum Guide as a template to structure the content, thus supporting the junior practitioners Scrum discovery journey (categorized by roles, events, artifacts, and commitments) while allowing the more experienced reader to use the book to reference individual problems or situations.

  • Addresses Scrum anti-patterns for both novices and experienced practitioners
  • Offers actionable insights into why Scrum implementations fall short and how to improve
  • Covers real-time course corrections and improvements in Scrum practice

Maximize Scrum success with this quick reference to the most common Scrum anti-patterns and how to resolve them.

"Stefan Wolpers has a remarkable ability to highlight underlying traps and issues for stakeholders, teams, and process. Wolpers documents sources of waste and frustration, an amazing compendium of typical ways progress becomes blocked. Depressing! He doesnt leave us there though. He also recommends insightful remedies. Uplifting!" 

--Diana Larsen, speaker, advisor, author, and co-developer of the Agile Fluency® Model

Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.

Sample Content

Table of Contents

Foreword by Dave West xv

Foreword by Janna Bastow xvii

Preface xix

Introduction xxv

  

Chapter 1. Scrum Master Anti-Patterns 1

Introduction 1

The Scrum Master According to the Scrum Guide 2

      Possible Reasons Why Scrum Masters Leave the Path 2

      Anti-Patterns from Acting as an Agile (Line) Manager 5

Scrum Master Anti-Patterns by Scrum Events 15

      The Sprint Planning 15

      The Sprint 17

      The Daily Scrum 20

      The Retrospective 22

Food for Thought 26

Conclusion 26

  

Chapter 2. Product Owner Anti-Patterns 29

Introduction 29

The Role of the Product Owner According to the Scrum Guide 30

      Product Backlog and Refinement Anti-Patterns 31

      Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns 40

      Sprint Anti-Patterns 42

      Product Owner Anti-Patterns during the Daily Scrum 46

      Sprint Review Anti-Patterns 50

Food for Thought 52

Conclusion 52

  

Chapter 3. Scrum Developer Anti-Patterns 55

Introduction 55

The Role of the Developers in Scrum 56

Developer Anti-Patterns by Scrum Events 56

      Sprint Anti-Patterns 56

      Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns of the Developers 66

      Anti-Patterns during the Daily Scrum 68

      Developer Anti-Patterns Concerning the Sprint Review 75

      Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns of Developers 76

      Anti-Patterns at the Product Backlog Level 77

Food for Thought 81

Conclusion 81

  

Chapter 4. Scrum Stakeholder Anti-Patterns 83

Introduction 83

Common Scrum Stakeholder Anti-Patterns 84

      Scrum Stakeholder Anti-Patterns at the Organizational Level 84

      Sprint Anti-Patterns of the IT Management 96

      Incentivized Scrum Stakeholder Anti-Patterns 98

      Stakeholder Anti-Patterns at Scrum Event Level 104

      Product Backlog and Refinement Anti-Patterns 105

      The Daily Scrum 105

      Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns of Stakeholders 106

      The Sprint Review 106

      The Sprint Retrospective 107

Food for Thought 108

Conclusion 108

  

Chapter 5. Sprint Anti-Patterns 109

Introduction 109

The Purpose of the Sprint 109

Sprint Anti-Patterns 111

      Sprint Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 111

      Sprint Anti-Patterns of the Developers 112

      Sprint Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Master 113

      Sprint Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 113

      Sprint Anti-Patterns of the IT Management 118

      Sprint Review Anti-Patterns of Stakeholders 121

Food for Thought 123

Conclusion 124

  

Chapter 6. Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns 125

Introduction 125

Preparing the Sprint Planning 127

Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns 127

      Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns of the Developers 127

      Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 132

      Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 134

      Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Master 138

Food for Thought 139

Conclusion 140

  

Chapter 7. Daily Scrum Anti-Patterns 141

Introduction 141

The Purpose of the Daily Scrum According to the Scrum Guide 142

      Daily Scrum Anti-Patterns 143

      Daily Scrum Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 143

      Daily Scrum Anti-Patterns of the Developers 146

      Daily Scrum Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 150

      Daily Scrum Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Master 150

      Daily Scrum Anti-Patterns of the Stakeholders 151

Food for Thought 154

Conclusion 155

  

Chapter 8. Sprint Review Anti-Patterns 157

Introduction 157

The Scrum Guide on the Sprint Review 158

Sprint Review Anti-Patterns 159

      Sprint Review Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 159

      Sprint Review Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 162

      Sprint Review Anti-Patterns of the Developers 165

      Sprint Review Anti-Patterns of the Stakeholders 167

Food for Thought 174

Conclusion 175

  

Chapter 9. Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns 177

Introduction 177

The Scrum Guide on the Sprint Retrospective 178

Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns 179

      Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 179

      Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Master 187

      Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns of the Organization 191

Food for Thought 194

Conclusion 195

  

Chapter 10. Product Backlog and Refinement Anti-Patterns 197

Introduction 197

The Product Backlog According to the Scrum Guide 198

Common Product Backlog Anti-Patterns 200

      General Product Backlog Anti-Patterns 200

      Product Backlog Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 207

      Product Backlog Anti-Patterns of the Developers 209

      Product Backlog Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 211

Food for Thought 212

Conclusion 213

  

Chapter 11. Sprint Backlog Anti-Patterns 215

Introduction 215

Sprint Backlog Anti-Patterns 216

      Sprint Backlog Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 217

      Sprint Backlog Anti-Patterns of the Developers 220

      Sprint Backlog Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 225

Food for Thought 228

Conclusion 228

  

Chapter 12. Increment Anti-Patterns 229

Introduction 229

      The Purpose of the Increment According to the Scrum Guide 230

Increment Anti-Patterns 231

      Increment Anti-Patterns by the Scrum Team 231

      Increment Anti-Patterns of the Stakeholders or the Organization 240

Food for Thought 242

Conclusion 242

  

Chapter 13. Product Goal Anti-Patterns 245

Introduction 245

The Purpose of the Product Goal According to the Scrum Guide 246

Product Goal Anti-Patterns 247

      Product Goal Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 247

      Product Goal Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 251

      Product Goal Anti-Patterns of the Organization 254

Food for Thought 257

Conclusion 257

  

Chapter 14. Sprint Goal Anti-Patterns 259

Introduction 259

How to Create Sprint Goals 260

Sprint Goal Anti-Patterns 261

      Sprint Goal Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 262

      Sprint Goal Anti-Patterns Induced by the Organization 267

      Sprint Goal Anti-Patterns by the Developers 269

      Sprint Goal Anti-Patterns by the Product Owner 271

Food for Thought 272

Conclusion 272

  

Chapter 15. Definition of Done Anti-Patterns 273

Introduction 273

Creating a Successful Definition of Done 275

Definition of Done Anti-Patterns 277

Definition of Done Anti-Patterns of the Developers 278

Definition of Done Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 281

Definition of Done Anti-Patterns of the Organization 289

Definition of Done Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 290

Food for Thought 291

Conclusion 291

  

Appendix A. How to Sabotage Scrum Masters and Product Owners at an Organizational Level 293

  

Appendix B. Toolbox 305

  

Index 369

Updates

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