Scrum is the most widely adopted Agile framework in the world. It is easy to understand and yet, difficult to master. This is a short list of great books and articles on Agile, Scrum, and practices to become an effective Scrum Master.
BOOKS
You may check my books in the Books section of this website, and also see the list below:
Scrum and Agile foundations
“Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process“, by Kenneth Rubin
“Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time“, by Jeff and JJ Sutherland
“A Scrum Book: the spirit of the game“, Jeff Sutherland, James O. Coplien
“Sprint Your Way to Scrum“, by B. Yelsangi, V. Zanini
Scrum Master stories
“Scrum Mastery: From Good to Great Servant-Leadership”, Geoff Watts, CST
“The Scrum Master Playbook“, Sjoerd Nijland, Evelien Roos
“Scrum for Hardware“, by Paolo Sammicheli
Agile coaching
“Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition“, by Lyssa Adkins
“Ask Powerful Questions: Create Conversations That Matter“, Will Wise, Chad Littlefield
Becoming a great Scrum Master
“Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great“, by Esther Derby, Diana Larsen
“Liftoff: Start and Sustain Successful Agile Teams“, by Esther Derby, Ainsley Nies
“Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play“, by Luke Hohmann
“Sprint Your Way to Scrum“, by B. Yelsangi, V. Zanini
Kanban and Lean
“The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement“, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
“The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production“, by James Womack, Daniel Jones, Daniel Roos
Metrics and performance
“Software Development Metrics“, by David Nicolette
Articles and blog posts
Articles on Agile, Scrum, and coaching to deepen your knowledge in various areas and grow as a Scrum Master
Good Scrum Master-ship
The Scrum Master’s dark side: https://www.5dvision.com/post/the-scrum-master-dark-side/
Velocity, capacity, load: https://www.5dvision.com/post/velocity-capacity-load/
The Scrum Master’s role at Daily Scrum: https://medium.com/serious-scrum/the-scrum-masters-role-to-ensure-effective-daily-scrums-9f37352b7e08
Agile metrics – the good, the bad, and the ugly: https://age-of-product.com/agile-metrics-good-bad-ugly/
Coaching
“Coaching the uncoachable”, by Geoff Watts https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/coaching-uncoachable-geoff-watts/
Agile stories
Embracing Agile (HBR): https://hbr.org/2016/05/embracing-agile
Is Agile really worth it?(Forbes): https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2019/10/06/is-agile-really-worth-it-evidence-says-yes-if-you-do-these-4-things/
Case studies and applications of Agile
How Agile Is Helping Unilever Go Forward Faster: https://www.forbes.com/sites/keithferrazzi/2020/06/17/how-agile-is-helping-unilever-go-forward-faster/
Scrum
Scrum Guide: https://www.scrumguides.org/
What is Scrum? (5D Vision): https://www.5dvision.com/post/what-is-scrum/
Scrum events (5D Vision): https://www.5dvision.com/post/the-scrum-events/
Scrum values: https://www.conceptsandbeyond.com/post/obey-the-principles-without-being-bound-by-them
What’s new in Scrum Guide 2020: https://www.5dvision.com/post/whats-new-in-the-scrum-guide-2020/
Scrum for Hardware: https://www.5dvision.com/post/scrum-for-hardware/
Agile failures and how to avoid
If Agile fails, blame Product Management: https://medium.com/@vzanini/if-agile-fails-blame-product-bd875d49350c
Hardening Sprints (anti-pattern): https://agilepainrelief.com/blog/antipattern-hardening-sprint.html
Large Product Backlog (anti-pattern): https://resources.scrumalliance.org/Article/scrum-anti-patterns-large-product-backlog
Support research
Systems thinking and productivity: https://less.works/less/principles/systems-thinking
Strategies for managing technical debt: http://www.designsmells.com/articles/four-strategies-for-managing-technical-debt/
Scrum Master job and career
From Project Manager to Scrum Master: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/from-project-manager-to-scrum-master-3-tips-for-making-the-transition
Industry Reports
State of Agile Coaching Report
https://resources.scrumalliance.org/Article/state-agile-coaching-report
The impact of Agile quantified (2013)
http://maccherone.com/share/Impact%20of%20Agile%20Quantified%20-%202013%20edition.pdf
Learn More
Certified Scrum Master training
Interested in learning more about Scrum and becoming a Certified Scrum Master (CSM certification from Scrum Alliance)? Browse our CSM classes and find one that works for you.
Product Owner reading list
If you are interested in learning more about the Product Owner/Product Manager role, we have a list of books and articles for Product Managers too:
https://www.5dvision.com/post/the-product-managers-reading-list/