Books

Spending much of our work-life on airplanes traveling to clients, we have a lot of time to read. Below are some of the best books in the agile space mostly addressing organizational and leadership agility from many angles including project management, traditional leadership, organizational structures, change management, and product development.

Succeeding with Agile by Mike Cohn - Mike brings his many years and breadth of practical experience in applying Scrum in "real world" organizations. He provides a comprehensive view of implementing and adapting Scrum in an organizational context with a keen focus on teams delivering value.

This is not a book about "what Scrum is", rather it is a book about how to apply Scrum effectively within your organization. As a Scrum coach and trainer, I found myself confirming most of our successful patterns to adoption.

Organizational Patterns of Agile Software Development by James Coplien & Neil Harrison - They distill years of studying development teams into 100 bite-sized organizational patterns. This work preceded most of the agile methods and is core to organizational agility.

Five Dysfunctions of a Team: a Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni - Agility requires teamwork & teamwork is hard. Patrick has some wisdom on building high-performing teams and they directly apply to Scrum - focus on results to drive accountability, commitment, conflict & trust.

Power Up: Transforming Organizations Through Shared Leadership by David Bradford & Allan Cohen - Follows their Managing with Excellence book with a substantially researched body of work evaluating key post-heroic leadership characteristics - a key to leadership agility.

Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products by Jim Highsmith - An excellent resource focused on the project management role in leading agile teams. Jim provides a framework for success with agile project visioning process, tracking through a parking lot and much more.

Scaling Software Agility: Best Practices for Large Enterprises by Dean Leffingwell - Dean is a leading enterprise agility consultant and has some wise advice for scaling agility within the enterprise. Dean addresses requirements, architecture, release management and the organization.

Agile Estimating and Planning by Mike Cohn - Probably the most practical guide on the street today in putting the best agile practices to work to drive predictability in your projects. Mike has a vast experience in leading agile teams and this book is a result of that work.

Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit by Mary Poppendieck & Tom Poppendieck - Tom and Mary surface the lean principles behind many of the agile practices - optimizing the whole system, building quality in, reducing waste, and more.

Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change by William Bridges - If you are considering an agile transition from a traditional functional phase-based process, be prepared for change. Bridges has some well researched advice on change and the transition team.

Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations by Robert Austin - An excellent resource for understanding the motivations and impacts of measuring performance of people and teams. While not focused on agile, measuring performance effectively is a key for any leader.

Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know About How Artists Work by Rob Austin & Lee Devin - If you are looking at agility from a different perspective, this is a great resource. Rob and Lee compare agile software development to the making of theatre productions! One of my favorite books!

Death By Meeting: a Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni - Are your meetings effective? Usually not. Lencioni proposes more meetings are key - context specific meetings (strategic, tactical and daily). Hey, that's Scrum! An excellent and fast read for any leader in an agile company.

Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change by William Joiner and Stephen Josephs - Continues the body of research on competencies and skills required to lead through agility. Basis of the Leadership Agility 360 Assessment.

eXtreme Project Management by Douglas DeCarlo - An excellent resource for any current project manager looking to understand agility and how it applies to the PMI body of knowledge. DeCarlo, former head of the Project Management Institute (PMI), provides an agile perspective.

The Enterprise and Scrum by Ken Schwaber - Ken follows up his two Scrum application books with a focus on enterprise adoption. A key component of this book is the use of a transition team to aid the organization through the adoption - a key success factor for larger organizations.

Agile Software Development with SCRUM by Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle - The original Scrum book. It has all of the basics you will need to know about how to run a Scrum Project. A must first read on Scrum to learn the basic framework and the reasons behind why it is so powerful.

Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash by Mary and Tom Poppendieck - Extends their body of knowledge through application of the lean principles. They provide specific examples of how to apply lean in various organizational settings.

Winning at New Products by Robert Cooper - This is an excellent resource for a complete understanding of the new product development lifecycle covering stage gate methodology and team composition. A key element is the Functional vs. Project matrix organization.

The Software Project Manager's Bridge to Agility by Michele Sliger and Stacia Broderick - provides an excellent map for traditional project managers looking to leverage their experience and skills in moving to agility. Sliger and Broderick are both PMP Certified and Certified Scrum Trainers.