How to Kill the Scrum Monster: Quick Start to Agile Scrum Methodology and the Scrum Master Role

By Ilya Bibik

Implement Scrum or improve how Scrum works in your team or organization using this concise, sharp, and programmatic book. You will quickly learn what you need to know without getting confused with unnecessary details.

What You'll Learn

• Become familiar with Agile concepts and understand the path from Waterfall to the Agile Manifesto
  
• Understand the most commonly used Agile methodology—Scrum—and how it relates to eXtreme Programming and Kanban as well as to Lean principles
  
• Identify the challenges of the Scrum Master role and understand what this role is all about
  
• Know the stages of Scrum team development
• Embrace and solve conflicts in a Scrum team

Who This Book Is For
Anyone looking for a simple way to understand Scrum methodology

• Language: English
• Publisher: Apress
• Release date: Jun 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781484236918

Book preview

Ilya Bibik

How to Kill the Scrum MonsterQuick Start to Agile Scrum Methodology and the Scrum Master Role

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Ilya Bibik

Montreal, Québec, Canada

Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this book is available to readers on GitHub via the book’s product page, located at www.apress.com/9781484236901 . For more detailed information, please visit www.apress.com/source-code .

ISBN 978-1-4842-3690-1e-ISBN 978-1-4842-3691-8

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-3691-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018947389

© Ilya Bibik 2018

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.

Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights.

While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer Science+Business Media New York, 233 Spring Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10013. Phone 1-800-SPRINGER, fax [phone], e-mail [e-mail], or visit www.springeronline.com. Apress Media, LLC is a California LLC and the sole member (owner) is Springer Science + Business Media Finance Inc (SSBM Finance Inc). SSBM Finance Inc is a Delaware corporation.

Introduction

After working seven years as a Scrum Master, I decided to create an easy-to-consume, concise, and programmatic book covering what is necessary. This book is a practical and pragmatic guide to the implementation of Scrum methodology in the team—not only the theory, but the real-life problems of working with real people rather than with the imaginary ideal teams that do not exist. The book focuses on the Scrum Master role because it is key to a successful implementation of the Scrum methodology.

The target audience of this book is anyone who is new to the topic and interested in understanding what the Scrum methodology is all about. The book also will be of use to anyone who is looking for ways to kill the existing Scrum monster if you are struggling to adopt Scrum in your organization. Also, this book will help to get a better understanding of Scrum Master role importance and role challenges.

There are other agile methodologies on the market and I mention some of them in this book—Kanban, Scrumban, eXtreme programming—in the context of Scrum.

I aim to answer the following questions:

What is Agile? (from Waterfall to the Agile Manifesto and how Agile can become a problem instead of a solution)

What is the Scrum Methodology and how does it relate to eXtreme and Kanban?

What are the Scrum Master challenges?

What are the team development stages?

What methods exist to handle conflicts in the team?

Acknowledgments

This book is dedicated to my parents, Yaara and Victor; and to my sister, Anna, to whom I owe everything; and to my kids, Basil, Michael, and Evan, whom I am blessed to have around and watch them grow!

I want to say thank you to all the people who helped me. First, thanks to my great wife, Marianna Levant, for her support of the idea and original editing and feedback when I wrote my first draft during my commute on the train.

Thanks go to my manager, Camille El Gammal, and my colleague, Scrum Master Parinaz Barakhshan, who reviewed the first version and gave me their supportive feedback and comments on the book.

And I am thankful to have worked with the crew from Apress: acquisition editor Shiva Ramachandran, who gave me the opportunity to publish with Apress; coordiating editor Rita Fernando Kim, who made things fast and simple; and development editor, Laura Berendson.

I also want to thank all the people I worked with at SAP Labs Canada at the Montreal location who tolerated me for almost 11 years and allowed me to gain experience on different topics.

Contents

Chapter 1:​ From Waterfall to Agile 1

Chapter 2:​ Overview of Agile Methodologies 7

Chapter 3:​ Agile Scrum Deep Dive 15

Chapter 4:​ Scrum Master:​ What It’s All About 31

Chapter 5:​ Team Dynamics 39

Chapter 6:​ Key Takeaways 51

Appendix A: Case Studies53

Index75

About the Author

Ilya Bibik

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is an experienced Scrum Master with more than 16 years of experience in the software development industry, including seven years in the Scrum Master role. He has a master’s degree in e-commerce and a bachelor’s degree in software engineering, and a teaching diploma. His professional background includes software development, software project management, software quality management, software security, software sales, school teaching, and military experience with electro-optical technologies.

During his career in the software industry, Ilya has used software development methodologies such as Scrum, Kanban, and Waterfall. He has worked on software projects in the areas of retail, wholesale, fashion, e-commerce, e-learning, manufacturing, ISO-9000, and rental property management. For additional content from the author about Scrum methodology and to contact Ilya please refer to http://scrumyes.com/ .

© Ilya Bibik 2018

Ilya BibikHow to Kill the Scrum Monsterhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-3691-8_1

1. From Waterfall to Agile

Ilya Bibik¹ 

(1)

Montreal, Québec, Canada

Before Agile came into the picture, the most common methodology of software development was Waterfall. Waterfall is a model in which the project is planned and executed within a time period that is required to achieve the final goal.

That means, when we are talking about big projects that typically take a few years to complete, we might only be