Do we need yet another book about implementing Scrum? Actually, if the book is The Enterprise and Scrum then the answer is yes! We know that small and large teams have been successful with Scrum at the project level. But so many organizations seem to stumble when they try to scale Scrum up to the enterprise level. Why? What should they do differently? In this book, Ken Schwaber, the industry leader with by far the richest Scrum experiences, shares his insights and offers suggestions for those trying to use Scrum across the enterprise.
As is his usual style, Ken is able to explain the most complex ideas with clear and simple language. The book assumes that the reader is familiar with Scrum and has likely implemented it on discrete projects.[i] In Part I, Adopting Scrum, Ken discusses how to determine if Scrum is a good fit for your environment, how to go about adopting it for an enterprise, and what you should expect to experience during your first year of Scrum implementations. It also focuses on the struggles to implement change in an enterprise, or what he calls fighting "muscle memory."
In Part II, Start Using Scrum for Enterprise Work, readers will be able to draw upon a range of organizational practices (e.g., creating an enterprise Product Backlog), engineering practices (e.g., integrating the work of multiple teams into a Sprint), and people-oriented practices (e.g., managing distributed teams) that other companies have successfully implemented. Ken asserts that none of these practices are new, but rather they are "just different from the way work is currently done." Don't be fooled: the differences can be profound. No one should assume that implementing these practices will be at all easy or straightforward. But the benefits will likely be significant.
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Part III (which is actually one-third of the book) is a series of appendices that (1) bring Scrum newcomers up to speed, (2) provide additional examples of specific activities, such as running a Scrum Kickoff Meeting, and (3) offer some Scrum musings on additional topics.
Because Ken has worked with many companies, he is able to sprinkle specific customer stories (with hypothetical names) throughout the book. These stories provide context and concrete examples, and thus make the best practices easy to understand. Of course, each organization will need to tailor Ken's guidance to fit its specific constraints. But even those that are not yet ready for enterprise-wide Scrum can benefit from this guidance and begin to reap the quality, productivity, and agility benefits that Scrum promises.
About the Author Liz Barnett is the Editor in Chief of the Agile Journal and
Principal Analyst at EZ Insight Inc. Previously Liz spent 10 years as a
Vice President and Research Analyst at Forrester Research, joining
Forrester as a result of its acquisition of Giga Information Group. Liz
held management positions at Accenture, PepsiCo, and Atelier Research.
She also was the Research Director for the advanced software
development and advanced network computing research services at New
Science Associates, prior to its acquisition by Gartner Group. Liz
holds a patent for developing a distributed application
development/CASE tool. Liz earned her B.S. in operations research and
industrial engineering at Cornell University.
[i] For a complete introduction to Scrum, consider Ken's earlier books: Agile Software Development with Scrum and Agile Project Management with Scrum.
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Do we need yet another book about implementing Scrum? Actually, if the book is 
