Essential Scrum by Kenneth Rubin – As a Scrum Trainer and Coach, I often find myself navigating between the theory and practice of Scrum. The theory of Scrum is easy to grasp yet implementing Scrum is quite challenging. Putting Scrum to work effectively in an organizational context requires years of practice, experience, and trial-and-error. In reading the title of the book, I made the mistake of reading “Essential” as the bare essentials of the Scrum framework. In fact, this is a similar story that Ron Jeffries tells in the forward – dumbfounded that an “Essential” book on Scrum is over 400 pages!
Upon reading Essential Scrum, I have redefined my interpretation of the title “Essential” as meaning everyone MUST READ this book before and during your implementation of Scrum. Ken has packaged decades of applied learning and teaching in this book and it will save you months (if not years) of Scrum thrashing, navigating between the theory and practice of Scrum.