Succeed with Scrum in Even the Largest, Most Complex Distributed Development Projects   Forewords by Ken Schwaber, Scott Ambler, Roman Pichler, and Matthew Wang   This is the first comprehensive, practical guide for Scrum practitioners working in large-scale distributed environments. Written by three of IBM’s leading Scrum practitioners—in close collaboration with the IBM QSE Scrum Community of more than 1000 members worldwide—this book offers specific, actionable guidance for everyone who wants to succeed with Scrum in the enterprise.   Readers will follow a journey through the lifecycle of a distributed Scrum project, from envisioning products and setting up teams to preparing for Sprint planning and running retrospectives. Each chapter presents a baseline drawn from “conventional” Scrum, then discusses additional issues faced by distributed teams, and presents specific best-practice solutions, alternatives, and tips the authors have identified through hard, empirical experience.   Using real-world examples, the book demonstrates how to apply key Scrum practices, such as look-ahead planning in geographically distributed environments. Readers will also gain valuable new insights into the agile management of complex problem and technical domains.   Coverage includes Developing user stories and working with Product Owners as a distributed team Recognizing and fixing the flaws Scrum may reveal in existing processes Engaging in more efficient Release and Sprint planning Conducting intense, brief daily Scrum meetings in distributed environments Managing cultural and language differences Resolving dependencies, performing frequent integration, and maintaining transparency in geographically distributed environments Successfully running remote software reviews and demos Brainstorming what worked and what didn’t, to improve future Sprints This book will be an indispensable resource for every team leader, member, product owner, or manager working with Scrum or other agile methods in any distributed software development organization.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Ken Schwaber     xvii Foreword by Scott Ambler     xix Foreword by Roman Pichler     xxiii Foreword by Matthew Wang     xxv Preface     xxvii   Chapter 1  The Evolution of Scrum     1 Core Principles of Scrum     2     An Agile Project Management Framework     2     Scrum Roles     2     Scrum Artifacts     3     The Sprint     4 The Shift to Distributed Development Teams    5     Globally Distributed Teams to Reduce Costs     6     Reaching Market More Quickly with the “Follow the Sun” Model     6     Distributed Teams Expand Access to New Markets     6     Acquisitions     7     Expanding for Innovation and Thought Leadership    7     Telecommuting     7     Improvements in Distributed Collaboration Tools     7 Types of Distributed Teams That Have Emerged     8     Collocated     8     Collocated Part-Time     9     Distributed with Overlapping Work Hours     10     Distributed with No Overlapping Work Hours     11 Ways of Handling Distributed Teams     12     Isolated Scrums     12     Distributed Scrum of Scrums     12     Totally Integrated Scrums     13 IBM’s Experience in Distributed Scrum     14 History of Agile in IBM     15 Summary     17   Chapter 2  Challenges Faced by Distributed Teams     19 Communicating with Distributed Team Members     20 Time Zones and Working Hours     20 Cultural Differences     21 Language Differences     23     Keeping Language Simple     23     Giving Everyone a Chance to Speak     24     Using Group Chat During Meetings     24     Providing a Translator     25     Confirming What Team Members Understand     25 Tools     26 File Sharing     26 Software Engineering Practices     27 Schedule Differences     27 Team Dynamics     28 Telephone Dynamics     29     Providing Access to the Call     29     Working with Telephones in a Meeting Room     30     Identifying the Speaker     31     Handling Visual Cues     31     Encouraging Participation     32     Limiting Side Conversations     33     Muting the Lines     33     Checking for Agreement and Disagreement     34     Identifying an Advocate to Represent Remote Team Members     34     When Nothing Else Works, Everyone Dials In     34 Reminders     34 Impact of Communication Problems     35 How Does Scrum Help?     36 Summary     37   Chapter 3  Starting a Scrum Project     39 How to Identify the Problems Your Product Will Solve     40     Who Are Your Stakeholders?     40     What Problems Will the Project Address?     42     What Are Your Solutions to the Problems?     46     What Is the Return on Investment?     47 Define the Vision     49 Create the Product Roadmap     50 Organize the Scrum Teams     50 Create and Prioritize the Backlog      51     Estimating the Stories as a Team     52     Prioritizing the Backlog     52     Single Backlog for Multiple Scrum Teams     53     Single Backlog with Sections for Multiple Teams     53     Separate Backlogs for Multiple Scrum Teams     54     Single Backlog Populated by Multiple Other Teams     56 Create the Release Plan     56     What Is the Sprint Length?     58     What Is the Estimated Team Velocity?     59     What Are the Dependencies?     61     What Are the Risks?     63 Coordinate Multiple Product Owners     63 Use Agile Project Management Tools     64 Invest in Smarter Development     65 Coordinating Agile and Non-Agile Teams     66 Reporting on Release Status     66 Ongoing Updates to Release Plan and Vision     66 Important Note about Meeting Face-to-Face     66 Summary     67   Chapter 4  Preparing for Sprint Planning     69 Sprint Preplanning Activities     70     Clarification of the User Stories     71     Breaking Down User Stories     72     Estimating User Stories     72     Dealing with Dependencies     75     Cleanup of the Product Backlog     78 Approaches for the Sprint Preplanning Meeting     78     The Full-Team Approach     80     The Preplanning Team Approach     81     The Balanced Team Approach     82     Considerations for Distributed Teams     82 Summary     83   Chapter 5  Sprint Planning     85 Adequately Preparing for the Sprint Planning Meeting     87 Sprint Planning Meeting Logistics     87     Sprint Planning Meeting Logistics for Scaled Teams     87     Sprint Planning Meeting Logistics for Distributed Teams     88 The First Half of Sprint Planning: Deciding What to Do     88     Reviewing Product Vision and Sprint Goal     89     Reviewing the Product Backlog     89     Engaging Stakeholders     91 The Second Half of Sprint Planning: Deciding How to Get the Work Done     91     Creating the Sprint Backlog     92     Gaining Commitment     94     Updating the Release Plan     94 Summary     94   Chapter 6  Distributed Daily Scrum Meetings     97 Using the Three Questions Effectively     98     Answering the Three Questions     99     Coordinating the Team on a Daily Basis     99     Committing to the Team     100     Verifying Progress     100     Resolving Blockers     101 Daily Scrum Logistics     102 Ways of Communicating During the Daily Scrum     102     Face-to-Face Meeting     102     Teleconference Meeting     103     Videoconference Meeting     104     Group Instant Messaging Approach     105 Approaches to Handling Time Zone Issues     106     Daily Scrums Through Documentation     107     The Liaison Approach     108     Alternating Meeting Times     110     Sharing the Pain     112 Tips for Distributed Daily Scrums     114     Removing Side Conversations     114     Keeping the Team Engaged     114     Facilitating the Meeting     115     Taking Daily Scrum Notes     116     Dealing with Language Barriers     117 Tools to Help with Distributed Daily Scrum     117 Scrum of Scrums     118 Summary     118   Chapter 7  Effective Collaboration During a Sprint     121 Communicating During the Sprint     122     Documentation to Overcome Distance     123     Using the Right Tools     123     Valuing the Whole Team     124     Transparency     124 Handling New Requests in the Middle of a Sprint     125     Single Point of Entry     125     Value of the Well-Groomed Backlog     126     Shortening the Sprint     127     Dealing with Defects     127     Disruptions at the Team Member Level     128 Handling Stories the Team Cannot Complete During the Sprint     128 Handling Blockers During the Sprint     129 Responding to Questions During the Sprint     130 Sustainable Pace     131     Sharing Time Zone Challenges     132     Avoiding Double Workdays     132 Continuous Integration     133     Reports Any Build Failures to the Team     133     Reduces the Risk of Integrating Code     133     Establishes Greater Confidence in the Product     135     Reduces the Time to Find Integration Issues     135     Improves the Efficiency of the Team     136     Builds Can Run at Different Frequencies     136 Test Automation     137     Dedicated Automation Teams     137     Identify High-Value Automated Tests     138     Automate What Is Stable     138     Automated Tests Can Run at Any Time     139     Automation Helps Improve Software Quality     139 Test-Driven Development     139     Provides Documentation and Working Examples of Code     140     Helps Reduce the Time to Fix Defects     140     Helps Improve Code Quality and Provides a Safety Net for Changes     141     Helps Team Members Work Together and Collaborate     141     Helps Teams Move Away from Big Upfront Designs     142     Unit Tests and Continuous Integration     142 Handling Infrastructure Projects     143 Summary     144   Chapter 8  End of Sprint Reviews     147 Who Participates in the Reviews     148     Enterprise Stakeholders     148     Who Should Present     149 Preparing Stakeholders     150 Reviewing the Strategic Vision of the Product     151 Approaches to Help Focus the Review     151     Using Themes and a Script     152     Having the Product Owner Introduce Each Presentation     152 Scheduling for Teams with Overlapping Work Hours     153 Scheduling for Teams with No Overlapping Work Hours     154     Alternating Meeting Times     154     Multiple Sprint Review Meetings     155     Sharing the Pain     156     Feeling the Pain     156     Recording the Entire Sprint Review Meeting     157 Challenges Teams Face     157     Not Keeping Track of the Stakeholder Comments     157     Demos May Provide a False Sense of Completion     158     The Team Has Nothing to Present     158 Added Challenges of Distributed Teams     159     Neglecting to Demo the Work of Part of the Team     159     Coordinate with Teams on Different Sprint Lengths     160 Remote Demonstrations      160     Network Delays and Poor Performance     160     Services May Vary by Location     161     Demos Outside of Office Hours     161 Summary     162   Chapter 9  Retrospectives     163 Sprint Retrospectives     163 What Should Come Out of a Retrospective?     165 Retrospective Timing     166     Hold Joint Retrospective as Needed     166     Hold Regular Joint Retrospectives     166     Joint Retrospectives for Teams on Different Sprint Lengths     167     Retrospectives for Teams in the Same Product Family     167     Conducting Retrospectives After Reviews     167     Larger Retrospectives     168 Building Trust     168     Effects of Distance     169 Preparing for the Retrospective     169     Setting Expectations     169     Understanding the Team Members’ Personalities     170     Respecting Cultural Differences     171     Offering Anonymity     171 Asking for Comments Before the Retrospective Meeting     171     What Went Well and What Can We Improve?     171     Providing Questions to Focus the Discussion     172     Consolidating Comments Is Extra Work     172 Conducting the Retrospective     173     Discussing Reported Issues     173     Giving Everyone a Chance to Engage     174     Using Common Terminology     175     State the Obvious     175     Keep the Conversation on Track     175     Managing Time Effectively     175     Release Retrospectives     176 Summary     177   Chapter 10  Closing Thoughts     179   Index     181