Help Select the Book Cover of the new ‘Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide’ by Pearson

TL; DR: Red or Blue?

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?

Help Select the Book Cover of the new ‘Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide’ by Pearson — Age-of-Product.com
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Agile Micromanagement — Seriously? Making Your Scrum Work #27

TL; DR: Agile Micromanagement

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Indeed, given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. For example, the Scrum Guide clearly states the importance of self-management at the Scrum team level. Nevertheless, the prevailing cause of many messed-up attempts to use Scrum result from what I call agile micromanagement, a pseudo-commitment to agile principles only to be overridden whenever it seems beneficial from a stakeholder’s or manager’s perspective.

Join me and delve into the importance of self-managing Scrum teams in less than two minutes.

Agile Micromanagement — Making Your Scrum Work #27 — Age-of-Product.com
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No Sprint Goal, No Cohesion, No Collaboration — Making Your Scrum Work #26

TL; DR: No Sprint Goal

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. For example, what if there is no Sprint Goal — Sprint after Sprint? What if the Scrum team is always only working on a random assortment of work items that seem to be the most pressing at the moment of the Sprint Planning?

Join me and delve into the importance of the Sprint Goal for meaningful work as a Scrum team in less than two minutes.

No Sprint Goal, No Cohesion, No Collaboration — Making Your Scrum Work #26 — Age-of-Product.com
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Prisoners of Retrospectives — Making Your Scrum Work #24

TL; DR: Prisoners of Retrospectives

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. What if, for example, not all of your Scrum team’s members feel enthusiastic about the Sprint Retrospective, the critical event when the Scrum team inspects itself? How can you help them become dedicated supporters instead? Join me and delve into how to avoid teammates feeling like prisoners of Retrospectives in less than two minutes.

Prisoners of Retrospectives — Making Your Scrum Work #24 —Age-of-Product.com
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Scrum Developer Anti-Patterns

TL; DR: Scrum Developer Anti-Patterns

After covering the anti-patterns of the Scrum Master, the Product Owner, and the stakeholders, this article addresses Scrum Developer anti-patterns, covering all Scrum Events and the Product Backlog artifact. Continue reading and learn more about what to look out for if you want to support your teammates who build the Increment.

Scrum Developer Anti-Patterns — Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide 2022 — Age-of-Product.com
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36 Scrum Stakeholder Anti-Patterns

TL; DR: Scrum Stakeholder Anti-Patterns

Learn how individual incentives and outdated organizational structures — fostering personal agendas and local optimization efforts — manifest themselves in Scrum stakeholder anti-patterns that easily impede any agile transformation to a product-led organization.

36 Scrum Stakeholder Anti-Patterns — Scrum Anti-Patterns 2022 — Age-of-Product.com
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