Table of Contents

This is the definitive, realistic, actionable guide to starting fast with Scrum and agile—and then succeeding over the long haul. Leading agile consultant and practitioner Mike Cohn presents detailed recommendations, powerful tips, and real-world case studies drawn from his unparalleled experience helping hundreds of software organizations make Scrum and agile work.

Succeeding with Agile is for pragmatic software professionals who want real answers to the most difficult challenges they face in implementing Scrum. Cohn covers every facet of the transition: getting started, helping individuals transition to new roles, structuring teams, scaling up, working with a distributed team,and finally, implementing effective metrics and continuous improvement.

Part One: Getting Started

  1. Why Becoming Agile Is Hard (But Worth It)
  2. ADAPTing to Scrum
  3. Patterns for Adopting Scrum
  4. Iterating Toward Agility
  5. Your First Projects

Part Two: Individuals

  1. Overcoming Resistance
  2. New Roles
  3. Changed Roles
  4. Technical Practices

Part Three: Teams

  1. Team Structure
  2. Teamwork
  3. Leading a Self-Organizing Team
  4. The Product Backlog
  5. Sprints
  6. Planning
  7. Quality

Part Four: The Organization

  1. Scaling Agile
  2. Distributed Teams
  3. Coexisting with Other Approaches
  4. Human Resources, Facilities and the PMO

Part Five: Next Steps

  1. Seeing How Far You’ve Come
  2. You’re Not Done Yet

Appendix

References