Book excerpt: Proven Solutions for the Most Widespread and Frustrating Agile Challenges “This book gives you the answers that a wise mentor would have given you, if you had one. Daniel Gullo shares his insights on the principal questions that everyone coming to the world of Agile will inevitably encounter. ” –From the foreword by Stephen Denning, author of The Leader’s Guide to Radical Management Agile is becoming ubiquitous, but successful Agile implementation remains difficult. Organizations keep getting stuck on the same issues. However, with Real World Agility: Practical Guidance for Agile Practitioners, that need not happen to you. World-renowned Agile coach and consultant Daniel James Gullo identifies and addresses nearly sixty widespread challenges faced by anyone trying to derive value from Agile. Drawing on his vast experience guiding Agile teams to success, Gullo helps you accurately diagnose your problems, describes each solution with maximum clarity, and concisely presents the details you need in order to act effectively. This accessible guide is for every project participant and stakeholder: from ScrumMasters and team leads to developers, project managers, product owners, and customers. Gullo addresses methods ranging from Scrum to Kanban, guides you on scaling Agile, and even helps you apply it beyond software development. Coverage includes Making sense of Agile’s many “flavors” Overcoming key hurdles in transitioning from waterfall Addressing cultural obstacles Meshing Agile teams with your management hierarchy Engaging executives with Agile practices and values Clarifying relationships among ScrumMasters, product owners, and project managers Smoothly handling key tasks, such as organizing backlogs and defining sprints Taking advantage of continuous integration and test-driven development Bringing Agile to distributed teams and large product portfolios Throughout, vignettes show exactly how Agile problems manifest in the real world–and how Gullo’s solutions can help you overcome them. As you learn from others’ experiences, you’ll quickly begin to see a clear path to success.