The Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide: Challenges Every Scrum Team Faces and How to Overcome Them(The Professional Scrum Series)

Unlock Scrum success for beginners and experts alike with The Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide, your key to understanding and elevating Scrum practices. Scrum is simple to understand but difficult to master. As a framework, Scrum is particularly challenging as there is no formal education tailored to these roles and no comprehensive set of practices readily available to those interested in applying it. The Scrum Guide 2020 describes its underlying principles only in the broadest strokes--from applying Scrum to complex adaptive problems to embracing self-management--but the Scrum Guide is not at all prescriptive about how Scrum Teams work. The Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide compiles the most common challenges that every Scrum Team faces and how to remedy them. Stefan Wolpers uses the Scrum Guide as a template to structure the content, thus supporting the junior practitioner’s Scrum discovery journey (categorized by roles, events, artifacts, and commitments) while allowing the more experienced reader to use the book to reference individual problems or situations. Addresses Scrum anti-patterns for both novices and experienced practitioners Offers actionable insights into why Scrum implementations fall short and how to improve Covers real-time course corrections and improvements in Scrum practice Maximize Scrum success with this quick reference to the most common Scrum anti-patterns and how to resolve them.   "Stefan Wolpers has a remarkable ability to highlight underlying traps and issues for stakeholders, teams, and process. Wolpers documents sources of waste and frustration, an amazing compendium of typical ways progress becomes blocked. Depressing! He doesn’t leave us there though. He also recommends insightful remedies. Uplifting!"  --Diana Larsen, speaker, advisor, author, and co-developer of the Agile Fluency® Model   Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.  

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Dave West xv Foreword by Janna Bastow xvii Preface xix Introduction xxv    Chapter 1. Scrum Master Anti-Patterns 1 Introduction 1 The Scrum Master According to the Scrum Guide 2       Possible Reasons Why Scrum Masters Leave the Path 2       Anti-Patterns from Acting as an Agile (Line) Manager 5 Scrum Master Anti-Patterns by Scrum Events 15       The Sprint Planning 15       The Sprint 17       The Daily Scrum 20       The Retrospective 22 Food for Thought 26 Conclusion 26    Chapter 2. Product Owner Anti-Patterns 29 Introduction 29 The Role of the Product Owner According to the Scrum Guide 30       Product Backlog and Refinement Anti-Patterns 31       Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns 40       Sprint Anti-Patterns 42       Product Owner Anti-Patterns during the Daily Scrum 46       Sprint Review Anti-Patterns 50 Food for Thought 52 Conclusion 52    Chapter 3. Scrum Developer Anti-Patterns 55 Introduction 55 The Role of the Developers in Scrum 56 Developer Anti-Patterns by Scrum Events 56       Sprint Anti-Patterns 56       Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns of the Developers 66       Anti-Patterns during the Daily Scrum 68       Developer Anti-Patterns Concerning the Sprint Review 75       Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns of Developers 76       Anti-Patterns at the Product Backlog Level 77 Food for Thought 81 Conclusion 81    Chapter 4. Scrum Stakeholder Anti-Patterns 83 Introduction 83 Common Scrum Stakeholder Anti-Patterns 84       Scrum Stakeholder Anti-Patterns at the Organizational Level 84       Sprint Anti-Patterns of the IT Management 96       Incentivized Scrum Stakeholder Anti-Patterns 98       Stakeholder Anti-Patterns at Scrum Event Level 104       Product Backlog and Refinement Anti-Patterns 105       The Daily Scrum 105       Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns of Stakeholders 106       The Sprint Review 106       The Sprint Retrospective 107 Food for Thought 108 Conclusion 108    Chapter 5. Sprint Anti-Patterns 109 Introduction 109 The Purpose of the Sprint 109 Sprint Anti-Patterns 111       Sprint Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 111       Sprint Anti-Patterns of the Developers 112       Sprint Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Master 113       Sprint Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 113       Sprint Anti-Patterns of the IT Management 118       Sprint Review Anti-Patterns of Stakeholders 121 Food for Thought 123 Conclusion 124    Chapter 6. Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns 125 Introduction 125 Preparing the Sprint Planning 127 Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns 127       Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns of the Developers 127       Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 132       Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 134       Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Master 138 Food for Thought 139 Conclusion 140    Chapter 7. Daily Scrum Anti-Patterns 141 Introduction 141 The Purpose of the Daily Scrum According to the Scrum Guide 142       Daily Scrum Anti-Patterns 143       Daily Scrum Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 143       Daily Scrum Anti-Patterns of the Developers 146       Daily Scrum Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 150       Daily Scrum Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Master 150       Daily Scrum Anti-Patterns of the Stakeholders 151 Food for Thought 154 Conclusion 155    Chapter 8. Sprint Review Anti-Patterns 157 Introduction 157 The Scrum Guide on the Sprint Review 158 Sprint Review Anti-Patterns 159       Sprint Review Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 159       Sprint Review Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 162       Sprint Review Anti-Patterns of the Developers 165       Sprint Review Anti-Patterns of the Stakeholders 167 Food for Thought 174 Conclusion 175    Chapter 9. Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns 177 Introduction 177 The Scrum Guide on the Sprint Retrospective 178 Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns 179       Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 179       Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Master 187       Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns of the Organization 191 Food for Thought 194 Conclusion 195    Chapter 10. Product Backlog and Refinement Anti-Patterns 197 Introduction 197 The Product Backlog According to the Scrum Guide 198 Common Product Backlog Anti-Patterns 200       General Product Backlog Anti-Patterns 200       Product Backlog Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 207       Product Backlog Anti-Patterns of the Developers 209       Product Backlog Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 211 Food for Thought 212 Conclusion 213    Chapter 11. Sprint Backlog Anti-Patterns 215 Introduction 215 Sprint Backlog Anti-Patterns 216       Sprint Backlog Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 217       Sprint Backlog Anti-Patterns of the Developers 220       Sprint Backlog Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 225 Food for Thought 228 Conclusion 228    Chapter 12. Increment Anti-Patterns 229 Introduction 229       The Purpose of the Increment According to the Scrum Guide 230 Increment Anti-Patterns 231       Increment Anti-Patterns by the Scrum Team 231       Increment Anti-Patterns of the Stakeholders or the Organization 240 Food for Thought 242 Conclusion 242    Chapter 13. Product Goal Anti-Patterns 245 Introduction 245 The Purpose of the Product Goal According to the Scrum Guide 246 Product Goal Anti-Patterns 247       Product Goal Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 247       Product Goal Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 251       Product Goal Anti-Patterns of the Organization 254 Food for Thought 257 Conclusion 257    Chapter 14. Sprint Goal Anti-Patterns 259 Introduction 259 How to Create Sprint Goals 260 Sprint Goal Anti-Patterns 261       Sprint Goal Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 262       Sprint Goal Anti-Patterns Induced by the Organization 267       Sprint Goal Anti-Patterns by the Developers 269       Sprint Goal Anti-Patterns by the Product Owner 271 Food for Thought 272 Conclusion 272    Chapter 15. Definition of Done Anti-Patterns 273 Introduction 273 Creating a Successful Definition of Done 275 Definition of Done Anti-Patterns 277 Definition of Done Anti-Patterns of the Developers 278 Definition of Done Anti-Patterns of the Scrum Team 281 Definition of Done Anti-Patterns of the Organization 289 Definition of Done Anti-Patterns of the Product Owner 290 Food for Thought 291 Conclusion 291    Appendix A. How to Sabotage Scrum Masters and Product Owners at an Organizational Level 293    Appendix B. Toolbox 305    Index 369

About the Author :
Stefan Wolpers is a Professional Scrum Trainer at Scrum.org, Agile Coach, and Scrum Master, specializing in guiding agile transformations through practices like Scrum, LeSS, Kanban, Lean Startup, and professional product management. He’s a licensed Agile Fluency™ Team Diagnostic facilitator with a history of senior leadership roles. His agile coaching focuses on scaling product delivery for fast-growing, venture-capital-backed startups as well as transitioning existing teams in established enterprises. Stefan curates the widely-followed "Food for Agile Thought" newsletter, engaging 50,000+ global Agile enthusiasts. He shares insights on Age-of-Product.com, hosts a vibrant Slack community of 18,000+ agile practitioners, and has authored e-books on agile themes, garnering over 100,000 downloads.