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Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems
A Scrum Master's work is never done. The Development team needs your support, the Product Owner is often lost in the complexities of agile product management, and your managers and stakeholders need to know what will be done, by when, and for how much. Learn how experienced Scrum Masters balance the demands of these three levels of servant leadership while removing organizational impediments and helping Scrum Teams deliver real world value. Discover how to visualize your work, resolve impediments, and empower your teams to self-organize and deliver using the Scrum Values, Agile Principles, and advanced coaching and facilitation techniques.
A Scrum Master needs to know when their team is in trouble and understand how to help them get back on the path to delivery. Become a better Scrum master so you can find the problems holding your teams back. Has your Daily Scrum turned in to a meeting? Does your team struggle with creating user stories? Are stakeholders disengaged during Sprint Review? These issues are common. Learn to use empiricism as your guide and help your teams create great products.
Scrum is so much more than a checklist of practices to follow, yet that's exactly how many organizations practice it. Bring life back to your Scrum events by using advanced facilitation techniques to leverage the full intelligence of your team. Improve your retrospectives with new formats and exercises. Ask powerful questions that spark introspection and improvement. Get support and buy-in from management. Use Scrum as a competitive advantage for your organization. Create a definition of done that improves quality and fix failing sprints.
Take the next step on your journey as a Scrum master. Transform your Scrum practices to help your teams enjoy their work again as they deliver high quality products that bring value to the world.
What You Need:
A moderate level of experience using the Scrum Framework.
A Scrum Master needs to know when their team is in trouble and understand how to help them get back on the path to delivery. Become a better Scrum master so you can find the problems holding your teams back. Has your Daily Scrum turned in to a meeting? Does your team struggle with creating user stories? Are stakeholders disengaged during Sprint Review? These issues are common. Learn to use empiricism as your guide and help your teams create great products.
Scrum is so much more than a checklist of practices to follow, yet that's exactly how many organizations practice it. Bring life back to your Scrum events by using advanced facilitation techniques to leverage the full intelligence of your team. Improve your retrospectives with new formats and exercises. Ask powerful questions that spark introspection and improvement. Get support and buy-in from management. Use Scrum as a competitive advantage for your organization. Create a definition of done that improves quality and fix failing sprints.
Take the next step on your journey as a Scrum master. Transform your Scrum practices to help your teams enjoy their work again as they deliver high quality products that bring value to the world.
What You Need:
A moderate level of experience using the Scrum Framework.
242 pages, ebook
Published January 7, 2020
46 people are currently reading
323 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 14, 2019
I proof-read an early alpha version and provided my feedback as a trainer. The book contains a lot of common issues experienced by many teams. Many of the issues are somehow related and a lot boil down to the true underlying issues of playing by the rules, but not the spirit.
Ryan and Todd capture the examples graphically and provide clear and actionable options to take a step towards fixing your scrum.
Can't wait for the final version, I'm sure I'll be able to up it to 5 stars by then. Ryan and Todd are approaching the delivery in an agile fashion with lots of feedback along the way. The book will surely dot its I's and cross the T's in the coming weeks
Ryan and Todd capture the examples graphically and provide clear and actionable options to take a step towards fixing your scrum.
Can't wait for the final version, I'm sure I'll be able to up it to 5 stars by then. Ryan and Todd are approaching the delivery in an agile fashion with lots of feedback along the way. The book will surely dot its I's and cross the T's in the coming weeks
October 1, 2021
Great book if you are new to Scrum and the role of Scrum Master! For someone that has been in a Scrum Master role for a while, it's a good refresher book and gives some new ideas and additional resources for Sprint Retrospective ideas, Daily Scrum meetings, etc. Would suggest any Scrum Master have this book in their library. Encourage the entire Scrum Team to read it, too.
June 1, 2020
Very good book full of ideas how to overcome scrum antipatterns! Recommend especially for scrum masters (staring the journey and experienced )
September 22, 2020
Great and comprehensive overview of Scrum, its common dysfunctions and especially great ideas on how to solve them.
March 19, 2021
Must-Read for all Scrum Masters
Excellent examples of dysfunctions in a scrum team that any SM must know and be able to handle. Go read.
Excellent examples of dysfunctions in a scrum team that any SM must know and be able to handle. Go read.
July 17, 2021
I'm working in the office and one of my colleagues asked if I could bring home two books for her since we leave nearby. One of them was titled “Fixing Your Scrum – Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems.” I had to read it! I'll consider that my commission for bringing it home.
The book starts out with a review of the Scrum framework. I like that it heavily emphasizes the values of Scrum. They show up in many chapters to show how different parts of Scrum relate. I also like the distinction between the framework itself and complementing practices. This shows what can be customized. For example, you need to have a standup. You don't need to have a burndown chart. Each chapter ends with “coach's corner” and ideas to try.
The book is filled with anti-patterns, stories and examples. Some I learned the hard way. I wish my team had read “why a rotating Scrum Master” is bad before starting Scrum. We stopped rotating it but could have spared us the trouble of experiencing firsthand why it isn't a good idea. And it was nice seeing what some teams consider gospel that isn't necessary. For example, they say you can decide who should come to each product backlog refinement session. (My team does this – we have smaller ones with different people depending on the topic. Then we use the first 20 minutes or so of sprint planning to review/change anything that got missed/etc).
One of my favorite anti-patterns was the various roles you shouldn't have: Scrum Lord, Scrum Secretary, janitor, etc. Very memorable! I particularly liked the message that there is no such thing as a failed sprint just an undesirable outcome that we clan learn from with the stakeholders.
The book encourages reading the Scrum Guide monthly. While that feels too often, I like the idea of reading it regularly to reflect and am going to start doing that.
The book starts out with a review of the Scrum framework. I like that it heavily emphasizes the values of Scrum. They show up in many chapters to show how different parts of Scrum relate. I also like the distinction between the framework itself and complementing practices. This shows what can be customized. For example, you need to have a standup. You don't need to have a burndown chart. Each chapter ends with “coach's corner” and ideas to try.
The book is filled with anti-patterns, stories and examples. Some I learned the hard way. I wish my team had read “why a rotating Scrum Master” is bad before starting Scrum. We stopped rotating it but could have spared us the trouble of experiencing firsthand why it isn't a good idea. And it was nice seeing what some teams consider gospel that isn't necessary. For example, they say you can decide who should come to each product backlog refinement session. (My team does this – we have smaller ones with different people depending on the topic. Then we use the first 20 minutes or so of sprint planning to review/change anything that got missed/etc).
One of my favorite anti-patterns was the various roles you shouldn't have: Scrum Lord, Scrum Secretary, janitor, etc. Very memorable! I particularly liked the message that there is no such thing as a failed sprint just an undesirable outcome that we clan learn from with the stakeholders.
The book encourages reading the Scrum Guide monthly. While that feels too often, I like the idea of reading it regularly to reflect and am going to start doing that.
July 8, 2022
Such an amazing book. I wish I had read it before starting my career as a Scrum Master. This is a must read for those who are just starting out as SM or wishing to become one.
September 21, 2020
Best Features
· Dedicated chapters about 3-5-3 (roles, ceremonies, artifacts)
· Directness to talk about anti-patterns
· Scenario based references to Liberating Structures exercise.
What more I wanted?
· Different personality types within a Scrum Team (identify & exercises)
· Some more references to the Scrum Values- Scrum values in action & few exercises to do with the team.
"Fixing Your Scrum" was a great opportunity to "varnish" my Scrum perspective. It is a must read for those who are in pursuit of being truly self-organized and cross-functional. It walks us through 3-5-3 of Scrum with dedicated chapters, each chapter targets & has examples of "real Scrum world problems". Popularized with the term "anti-patterns", these have been discussed in a direct manner and suggests practical solutions. It details out underlying causes and tries to cure the problem and not just cure the symptom #unlikeCOVID19. Throughout the book, Ryan & Todd, talk about an anti-pattern, suggest ways to look at it while backing it up with the Scrum Value associated with it. These small bits reassure that no situation is unique or random. Coaches Corner provides valuable feedback and insightful tips to guide the reader further. The chapter about Sprint Retrospective is a real thought provoker.
Some more learnings and highlights:
· No time for Retro? A quick retro with available team members. A quick question round about what was wrong, how can we make sure it does not happen again & voila improvements for next sprint are ready to be added to product backlog. This can help meet the purpose of retro and in the shortest pocket of time.
· "Clean the plate" mentality during Sprint Planning - this anti-pattern struck a chord with me. In reality, it affects so many other areas- the reviews, backlog prioritization, feedback from stakeholders, etc.
· Exercise to identify Stakeholders. Based on our past discussions to involve stakeholders in our reviews is our next focal point. I am going to reread this chapter along with the Product Owners, work with & do the exercise together.
· Delete anything that’s older than six months, as you likely won’t ever do the work for those features. And if that work is important, it will reappear via feedback from customers and stake holders. This is a courageous move suggested in the book. The target areas in this theory are product backlog, feedback from stakeholders. It is a very strong idea to implement that will also lessen the degrees of distance between stakeholders and development team.
· Dedicated chapters about 3-5-3 (roles, ceremonies, artifacts)
· Directness to talk about anti-patterns
· Scenario based references to Liberating Structures exercise.
What more I wanted?
· Different personality types within a Scrum Team (identify & exercises)
· Some more references to the Scrum Values- Scrum values in action & few exercises to do with the team.
"Fixing Your Scrum" was a great opportunity to "varnish" my Scrum perspective. It is a must read for those who are in pursuit of being truly self-organized and cross-functional. It walks us through 3-5-3 of Scrum with dedicated chapters, each chapter targets & has examples of "real Scrum world problems". Popularized with the term "anti-patterns", these have been discussed in a direct manner and suggests practical solutions. It details out underlying causes and tries to cure the problem and not just cure the symptom #unlikeCOVID19. Throughout the book, Ryan & Todd, talk about an anti-pattern, suggest ways to look at it while backing it up with the Scrum Value associated with it. These small bits reassure that no situation is unique or random. Coaches Corner provides valuable feedback and insightful tips to guide the reader further. The chapter about Sprint Retrospective is a real thought provoker.
Some more learnings and highlights:
· No time for Retro? A quick retro with available team members. A quick question round about what was wrong, how can we make sure it does not happen again & voila improvements for next sprint are ready to be added to product backlog. This can help meet the purpose of retro and in the shortest pocket of time.
· "Clean the plate" mentality during Sprint Planning - this anti-pattern struck a chord with me. In reality, it affects so many other areas- the reviews, backlog prioritization, feedback from stakeholders, etc.
· Exercise to identify Stakeholders. Based on our past discussions to involve stakeholders in our reviews is our next focal point. I am going to reread this chapter along with the Product Owners, work with & do the exercise together.
· Delete anything that’s older than six months, as you likely won’t ever do the work for those features. And if that work is important, it will reappear via feedback from customers and stake holders. This is a courageous move suggested in the book. The target areas in this theory are product backlog, feedback from stakeholders. It is a very strong idea to implement that will also lessen the degrees of distance between stakeholders and development team.
October 7, 2020
Een boek waarin de auteurs op een zeer open manier heel wat praktische cases delen die je in een scrum omgeving kan tegenkomen. Heel wat cases zijn dan ook zeer herkenbaar. Het doet deugd dat iemand ze durft neerschrijven en zeer praktisch advies geeft hoe een bepaald anti-pattern aan te pakken. Een feest van herkenning, dit boek. Een must read voor ieder scrum team.
August 31, 2020
A well-written book with a lot of great anti-patterns to watch out for when following the Scrum framework. A perfect book for a book club too.
January 14, 2021
Highly recommend!
December 10, 2021
If you are in any way involved in a scrum team or are working with a scrum team as a stakeholder you should read this book.
I've written a thorough review: https://softwarepassion.eu/fixing-you...
I've written a thorough review: https://softwarepassion.eu/fixing-you...
December 15, 2024
Fixing Your Scrum by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller is a practical, no-nonsense guide for addressing common problems in Scrum teams. The authors bring real-world experience and offer straightforward solutions without overcomplicating things. While it doesn't break new ground, it does provide solid, actionable advice for Scrum Masters and Agile practitioners. If your team struggles with Scrum, this book offers a good reset to get back on track.
November 25, 2022
Lots of useful advice, but it’s only average compared to all the other Scrum books I’ve read
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews