At the beginning of this summer I was able to read Claude Aubry’s book. I regularly consult his blog (I find two sources of interest there: agility AND rock’n roll), read his tweets, and I was able to meet him (quite briefly) during a Scrum presentation around Montpellier.
His posts (blog) are generally simple (in the good sense of the term) and effective. So I expected something of the same caliber. But telling myself: yet another book on Scrum, on agility… There are already quite a few, and good ones at that, well, the literature available on the web is plentiful. In short, the exercise is not easy.
But let’s say it right away, this book is a success and the challenge has been passed with flying colors.
First obvious benefit: a book that addresses and brings together a lot of information about Scrum in French. This was missing and it’s very good. Many people are not necessarily comfortable with English and this could be a source of blockage or misunderstanding (and therefore rejection of Scrum).
Second obvious point: Claude has seriously delved into his subject. He doesn’t skimp on quality, but also on quantity. He has a lot of content. Many subjects are examined, explored (theory, practice). He has a very structured approach: theme A, point 1, point 2, point 3, etc. So we can use this book as a reference, it’s not a simple pedagogical work, initiation, introduction, it’s also a manual (…hmm… a guide? ah yes. that’s it).
Finally Claude is a good popularizer (in the good sense of the term). Everything is explained clearly and seems to flow naturally. In this I imagine that Scrum helped him.
To finish, the book’s success lies in these 3 factors. We have a work that will allow the beginner to dive easily and completely into Scrum, while remaining over time a reference manual and reminder of good practices for someone more advanced on the subject.
I recommend it to everyone (with the 2009 album by Black Crowes playing in the background, who transcend themselves with age: “Before the frost”).
ps: As a reader I would appreciate for his next book either a collection of experience reports; or a deeper exploration of the issue of change management to be conducted in an organization with the introduction of agility and Scrum.
ps 2: He finds a way to slip Led Zeppelin into his book, I admire that.