The Enterprise and Scrum - Ken Schwaber (2007)

This book is not about doing Scrum in software development if you are doing it for the first time. This is a book for the pros. I will suggest for this book be read by all the senior management of every firm who are thinking Scrum as a panacea to every illness they have seen in their software development.

Scrum affects the enterprise in strange ways. The most important change being the classical product management role goes through a different spin. The role changes from that of providing what to working closely with the team and operate within the team's limitations (velocities). Teams are empowered and expected to self manage and lead. There is very little scope for ego or going against the team's will. For the management there is enough provision to monitor but very little scope to control.

With so much of changes in place, it's never easy to implement Scrum, particularly when you have been used to a line organization. For senior management it's important to start from this book. For people in the mid or start of career they should read this book after they develop some confidence in the Scrum methodology. The book will provide food for thought for both. I think this book should be referred to once very few months to internalize the concepts.

I fail to write a synopsis for this book as the book is fairly short and can be finished in 1-2 hours. More importantly, this book in some sense is a summary in itself can only be appreciated once read and internalized.