Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time

Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time is one of the most impactful books I’ve read on productivity and organizational change. Jeff Sutherland doesn’t just explain Scrum—he shows how it transforms the way teams think, plan, and deliver. The book is packed with real-world stories, and one of the most striking is the chapter on the FBI. Given everything the Bureau has gone through in recent years, it’s remarkable to read how Agile practices helped modernize their systems, speed up delivery, and ultimately rebuild processes that were struggling. Seeing a massive government agency adopt Scrum successfully shows that this isn’t just a tech fad—it’s a powerful framework that can change the direction of entire institutions. As someone who has worked in Agile environments, I found the book both familiar and refreshing. It explains the why behind the practices: eliminating waste, focusing on value, fostering transparency, and empowering teams instead of burning them out. Even if you already know Scrum, this book deepens your understanding and reminds you what the framework was designed to accomplish. Whether you’re in software, leadership, government, healthcare, or simply trying to improve the way you work, this book is timely, practical, and energizing. It challenges the old assumption that longer hours mean better results—and shows how smart, iterative collaboration leads to outcomes that are faster and better.

Jeff Sutherland co-created Scrum, a team-oriented method of software development, back in 1993 after working in a variety of tech companies. He recognized the way so many companies work is deeply broken. Scrum is now used by the vast majority of software companies and countless companies working in other product development fields. In his new book, Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time, Sutherland aims to take Scrum to the masses. The “masses” in this case being, well, everyone: non-profits, governments, educational systems, start-ups, and men checking items off their weekend “honey-do lists.” Sutherland writes in an engaging, straightforward manner. He loves stories and hates technical jargon, and the book is fun to read even when though I didn’t find every principle directly applicable to my situation. Speaking of application, no matter who you are, if you are in any kind of team leadership role—and I mean any kind—you will find value in this book. I highlighted pages like crazy, dreaming of ways I could implement the ideas. The real value of Scrum is how quickly you could put Sutherland’s ideas into practice, and how quickly you would see real results. Also, the research and stories Sutherland provides to support his ideas are fascinating. Fascinating, but in many ways superfluous as the principles of Scrum are so common sense it’s ridiculous. Yeah, why don’t we work like this, I found myself thinking. Can an idea be so common sense and yet as counter-intuitive as Scrum seems to be? A frustrating, but intriguing paradox. As I stated above, if you lead a team, in any capacity, that is trying to accomplish a goal in as little time as possible, Scrum can help you. It’s worth a read. Please Note: This book was gifted as a part of the Blogging for Books Reviewers Program in exchange for my unbiased review of this work. This has in no way influenced my opinion or review of this work.

If you would believe all that Jeff Sutherland claims in his book, then you'd believe he won the Vietnam war singlehandedly, cured cancer, prevented the US economy from collapsing, and invented the ATM. Though his will and magnificence alone, he buried General MacArthur, shouting, "There can be only one!" His son fixed NPR, taking it from a middling lemonade-stand outfit to the national, public, and radio organ it is today. His son fixed it using Scrum (the only child Jeff truly cares for) and according to the transitive property of progeny accomplishment, Jeff actually fixed it. Jeff actually revamped how the New York Times, Washington Post, and Tiger Beat produce their content, and without him, we'd be getting all of our news from Twitter and Facebook posts oh wait- When Jeff thinks about how great he is, a single tear wells in his eye. Much like the phoenix's, Jeff's tears are known for their curative and life-restoring abilities. He has stared into the face of God and said, "had you used Scrum to design these animals, we wouldn't have mosquitos. None of the stakeholders want them. Change or die." Jeff is also partnered with OpenView Venture Partners. I know this because he mentions it as often as possible. Did you get that? "OpenView Venture Partners", where Imagination Meets Life (tm). Is this book basically an advertisement for OpenView Venture Partners? Whoa, did someone say OpenView Venture Partners? Long story short, if you can look past the auto-fellatio, this book offers a good introduction to the Agile framework, its history, and many interesting examples of its use across industries. But I honestly feel like I need to go read Donald Trump and Kanye's autobiographies to remember what (relative) humility sounds like.

Learn the basics and apply a Lean methodology to run your business. It is a good read to start learning about SCRUM

Väl berättad. Intressant.

A terrific insight in to how scrum works in different industries and even in educational situations!

Just finished reading this book. I am working full time on a busy project and most of the time long hours but managed to finish it in slightly over a week. The book is well structured and in my opinion is a must read for any one looking for a background understanding of the framework. The book starts by describing "The way the world is broken" using a number of real life stories but the most striking one is the FBI story. The book covers all aspects of life from software, politics, education and poverty and links all these to Scrum and how it helped and still helping to get things done differently. I stopped a number of times every chapter and looked back in how I did and I still do things and how to change it. The need for reading this book and some other books in Scrum before jumping into certification is the fact that Scrum is light weight, simple to understand and difficult to master. In my opinion it is important to read some of the references he has highlighted throughout the book: The Machine that changed the world The new new product development game and the the servant as leader. It is one of the very few books you can call a life changing book

From 2005 onwards a new procedural way of building and deploying software was invented and introduced. This is Scrum an Agile framework. While not limited to software development its being used in various industries/ scenarios. This book is a must read for any body in the IT Industry, part of scrum team and more importantly this book is for anybody(project managers) who wants to streamline processes, get more valuable work and reduce waste, risk. This book gives the why behind the Scrum Framework, The how can be read in the "Official Scrum Guide". The Author who is the founder of Scrum shares his own experience and journey on how he found issues in typical processes of companies and what could be made better both on a procedural level and also the emotional and psychological level of employees. All the learnings in his career led him to device Scrum and promote it. This books sums it up! A good read to cement the Scrum concepts and take it to long term memory: 1. Accountabilities- Scrum Master, Product Owner, Developers) 2. Artefacts-Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Increment 3. Commitments- Product Goal, Sprint Goal, Definition of Done 4. Events-Sprint, Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective 5. 3 Pillars of Empiricism- Transparency, Adaption and Inspection. 6. Scrum Values- CCFOR- Courage, Commitment, Focus, Openness and Respect

Açıkcası anadiii türkçe olan biri olarak, yeterli kelime haznesi olan birisinin a2 ingilizceyle bile okuyabileceğini düşünüyorum ayrıca amazon üzerinde türkçe çevirisi olan kitapta var. ama kesinlikle öneririm.