I need your support, dear community. For months, I have been working on turning the popular Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide PDF into a new book from Scrum-org’s Professional Scrum Series, published by Pearson. We will soon start the editing process, and I am hopeful we may see a release date in Q2/2023.
Creating the graphics has been challenging at times; there will be more than 50 cartoons and sketches in the book. However, it has also been gratifying to rethink some of the old cartoons and, generally, improve their quality.
There is one challenge, though, I like to ask for your support: which cover shall it be — red or blue?
Please join the poll on the book cover of Pearson’s Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide here:
Update 2022-12-23: Join the poll’s lively discussion on LinkedIn.
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I created the original collection of Scrum anti-patterns during a freelancing project in 2017/2018. At the time, I worked as an external Scrum Master for a large traditional German multinational corporation. Commuting to and from my workplace on Mondays and Thursdays by train left me a long time to reflect on observations and experiences. Initially, I did not intend to create a structured document; the effort was more opportunity- and curiosity-driven. (This is also why the current guide lacks coverage of essential topics.)
However, after more than 18,000 downloads, I thought it might be a good idea to fill the gaps and help other practitioners cover all of Scrum’s roles, events, artifacts, and commitments. Luckily, with the support of Scrum.org, I managed to interest Pearson in the project and started writing.
Besides filling the gaps of the old Guide, I also added a tools section to help overcome some of the identified obstacles that prove to be challenging, focusing on getting new Scrum Masters up to speed and helping align team members and stakeholders. Moreover, there will be some food for thought regarding Scrum. After all, we are not paid to practice Scrum but solve our customers’ problems within the given constraints while contributing to the organization’s sustainability.
By the way, the free Guide will stay available after the book launch.
