Speaking Engagements
"Agile Scrum" Made List of Best Scrum Books of All Time
24 March 2019
Scott M. Graffius' Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions was named one of the Best Scrum Books of All Time by BookAuthority. A screen shot is available.
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:
- Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
- Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
- Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.
Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”
Winner of 17 first place awards.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇭🇺 Hungary
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇱 Israel
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇳🇴 Norway
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 UAE
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
About Author Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius is a technology leader, project management expert, consultant, international speaker, and award-winning author.
Scott is the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, a professional services firm, where he partners with client companies to help them achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. The consultancy provides project, program, portfolio, and PMO management services inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid development and delivery frameworks. Business results include upgraded responsiveness to business needs, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, higher customer and stakeholder satisfaction, and greater competitive advantage.
A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott’s book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. It helps technical and non-technical teams develop and deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage. The book has garnered 17 first place awards from national and international competitions. Scott and Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions have been featured in Yahoo Finance, the Boston Herald, NBC WRAL, the Dallas Business Journal, the PM World Journal, BookLife by Publisher’s Weekly, Learning Solutions, Innovation Management, and additional media publications. A trailer, high-resolution images, reviews, a detailed list of awards, and more are available in the digital media kit.
Scott is a former vice president of project management with a publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. He has experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets, as well as experience spanning 20 countries.
Scott has a bachelor's degree in Psychology with a focus in Human Factors. He holds six professional certifications: Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB), and IT Service Management Foundation (ITIL). He is a member of the Scrum Alliance, the Project Management Institute, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Within the IEEE, Graffius is a member of the Computer Society, the Consumer Electronics Society, the Broadcast Technology Society, the Internet of Things Community, and the Consultants Network.
He has been actively involved with the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the development of professional global standards. He was a member of the team which produced the Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures—Second Edition. Scott was a contributor and reviewer of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge—Sixth Edition and The Standard for Program Management—Fourth Edition. He was also a subject matter expert reviewer of content for the PMI EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Congress 2019.
Scott regularly speaks at conferences and other events in the United States and internationally where he delights audiences with presentations on agile, traditional, and hybrid project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. He integrates content on professional standards, best practices, and his first-hand experience with successful implementations. Scott uses everyday language and custom vibrant visuals to make complex topics clear and understandable, and he provides audiences with practical information they can use. Scott spoke at Techstars Startup Week and at events in London and Las Vegas. He also delivered talks at the Los Angeles chapter of the PMI, the California Central Coast chapter of the PMI, the California Inland Empire chapter of the PMI (two events), and the California Central Valley chapter of the PMI. Attendees have said “Scott is an amazing speaker,” “fantastic presentation,” and “highly recommended!” A list of his past and upcoming appearances (including the Project World conference in Canada, and more) is available here.
His full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
About BookAuthority
BookAuthority curates the books recommended by the world's most successful CEOs, business leaders, and domain experts such as Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, Sheryl Sandberg, and David Allen. Only the very best books are featured on BookAuthority. To keep BookAuthority's site objective and unbiased, ratings are calculated purely based on data. BookAuthority uses a proprietary technology to identify and rate the best nonfiction books, using dozens of different signals, including public mentions, recommendations, ratings, sentiment, popularity and sales history. BookAuthority does not accept requests to feature books, nor does BookAuthority conduct business with publishers or authors. BookAuthority has been featured on CNN, Forbes and Inc. The preceding information is based on content from BookAuthority.com.
© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
Public Speaking Engagements for Scott M. Graffius
08 November 2018
Follow @scottgraffius
Scott M. Graffius presents thought leadership on project, program, portfolio, and PMO management related topics of timely importance. He regularly speaks at private and public events in the United States and internationally. This article provides an overview of his prior speaking engagements.
(For a list of both prior and upcoming speaking engagements, visit http://scottgraffius.com/publicspeaker.html.)
The most recent event is shown first.
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Scott spoke at Techstars Startup Week, where he presented "Agile Scrum Helps Innovators, Disruptors, and Entrepreneurs Develop and Deliver Products at Astounding Speed Which Drives Competitive Advantage" to an audience of startups and others in the entrepreneurial community on October 4, 2018.
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Scott presented “Agile Scrum: An Overview (Originally) for The Board of Directors of an Entertainment Company” at a meeting of the PMI California Central Valley Chapter (PMI-CCVC) on September 13, 2018.
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Scott facilitated an interactive workshop, “Retrospectives and Continuous Improvement in the Agile Scrum Framework,” at a private event in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 25, 2018.
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Scott presented “Agile Scrum: An Overview (Originally) for The Board of Directors of an Entertainment Company” at a meeting of the PMI California Inland Empire Chapter (PMICIE) on August 14, 2018.
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Scott presented “Agile Scrum: An Overview (Originally) for The Board of Directors of an Entertainment Company” at a meeting of the PMI California Central Coast Chapter (PMI-4C) on June 28, 2018.
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He was a guest speaker on agile project management at an event of the Project Management Institute Los Angeles Chapter (PMI-LA) on July 25, 2017.
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Scott gave an interactive talk on innovation and project management at a private meeting in London, England on February 9, 2017.
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For more information on Scott’s speaking engagements including a list of prior and upcoming engagements, visit http://scottgraffius.com/publicspeaker.html.
About Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius, CSP, CSM, CSPO, PMP, ITIL, LSSGB is a project management expert, consultant, international speaker, and award-winning author. He is the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, a professional services firm, where he partners with client companies to achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. The consultancy provides project, program, portfolio, and PMO management services inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid development and delivery frameworks. Business results include upgraded responsiveness to business needs, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, higher customer and stakeholder satisfaction, and greater competitive advantage. Scott is a former vice president of project management with a publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. He has experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets.
His full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:
Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”
Winner of 17 first place awards.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions
Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions (http://Exceptional-PMO.com) helps organizations achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives via world-class project management. The firm provides expert advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management in agile, traditional, and hybrid development and delivery frameworks.
© Copyright 2018 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
Scott M. Graffius presents thought leadership on project, program, portfolio, and PMO management related topics of timely importance. He regularly speaks at private and public events in the United States and internationally. This article provides an overview of his prior speaking engagements.
(For a list of both prior and upcoming speaking engagements, visit http://scottgraffius.com/publicspeaker.html.)
The most recent event is shown first.
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
Scott spoke at Techstars Startup Week, where he presented "Agile Scrum Helps Innovators, Disruptors, and Entrepreneurs Develop and Deliver Products at Astounding Speed Which Drives Competitive Advantage" to an audience of startups and others in the entrepreneurial community on October 4, 2018.
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
Scott presented “Agile Scrum: An Overview (Originally) for The Board of Directors of an Entertainment Company” at a meeting of the PMI California Central Valley Chapter (PMI-CCVC) on September 13, 2018.
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
Scott facilitated an interactive workshop, “Retrospectives and Continuous Improvement in the Agile Scrum Framework,” at a private event in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 25, 2018.
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
Scott presented “Agile Scrum: An Overview (Originally) for The Board of Directors of an Entertainment Company” at a meeting of the PMI California Inland Empire Chapter (PMICIE) on August 14, 2018.
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
Scott presented “Agile Scrum: An Overview (Originally) for The Board of Directors of an Entertainment Company” at a meeting of the PMI California Central Coast Chapter (PMI-4C) on June 28, 2018.
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
He was a guest speaker on agile project management at an event of the Project Management Institute Los Angeles Chapter (PMI-LA) on July 25, 2017.
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
Scott gave an interactive talk on innovation and project management at a private meeting in London, England on February 9, 2017.
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
For more information on Scott’s speaking engagements including a list of prior and upcoming engagements, visit http://scottgraffius.com/publicspeaker.html.
About Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius, CSP, CSM, CSPO, PMP, ITIL, LSSGB is a project management expert, consultant, international speaker, and award-winning author. He is the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, a professional services firm, where he partners with client companies to achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. The consultancy provides project, program, portfolio, and PMO management services inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid development and delivery frameworks. Business results include upgraded responsiveness to business needs, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, higher customer and stakeholder satisfaction, and greater competitive advantage. Scott is a former vice president of project management with a publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. He has experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets.
His full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:
- Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
- Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
- Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.
Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”
Winner of 17 first place awards.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇭🇺 Hungary
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇱 Israel
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇳🇴 Norway
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 UAE
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions
Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions (http://Exceptional-PMO.com) helps organizations achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives via world-class project management. The firm provides expert advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management in agile, traditional, and hybrid development and delivery frameworks.
© Copyright 2018 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
2018 Year in Review
21 January 2019
I’ve compiled a review of 2018. This post highlights my consulting business, book, speaking appearances, and blog.
Business
Organizations need to realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. My professional services firm, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, helps our clients achieve those needs through advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. Our expertise spans agile, traditional waterfall, and hybrid development and delivery frameworks. To learn more about the company, please visit http://exceptional-pmo.com.
A book and speaking appearances—extensions of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™—are highlighted individually below.
Book
Inspired by a fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client in the entertainment industry, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions was published in 2016. It helps technical and non-technical teams develop and deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage. Between the date of publication and 2017, it garnered 15 first place awards from national and international competitions. The credit is shared with Chris Hare and Colin Giffen, the technical editors on the book.
Attention and interest continued in 2018. Accolades included two additional first place awards (making the updated total 17), being featured as a success story by the BEA, and more. And Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and I were featured in Yahoo Finance, Innovation Management, Informa Middle East, and additional media publications.
To make the book available to more sellers and customers, I transitioned it to Expanded Distribution in 2018. With the change, both the print and ebook formats of Agile Scrum were still available at Amazon, just not exclusively. Expanded Distribution provided access to a larger audience through more online retailers, bookstores, libraries, academic institutions, and distributors. Agile Scrum became available through the following channels (in addition to Amazon):
- Bookstores and Online Retailers - available to online and offline retailers such as Barnes & Noble and to distributors such as Ingram and the National Association of College Stores, Inc. (NACSCORP).
- Libraries and Academic Institutions - offered through Baker & Taylor to libraries and academic institutions.
- CreateSpace Direct - available to certified resellers through the CreateSpace Direct wholesale website.
Agile Scrum is still offered in print and digital formats at Amazon. The paperback is available in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The ebook is for sale in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
A trailer, high-resolution images, reviews, a detailed list of awards, and more on Agile Scrum are available in the digital media kit at https://AgileScrumGuide.com.
Speaking Appearances
I've been fortunate to have spoken to diverse audiences on project, program, portfolio, and PMO management related topics of timely importance. I delivered five talks at conferences and other events in 2018:
- Techstars conference
- California Central Coast chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI)
- California Inland Empire chapter of the PMI
- An event in Las Vegas
- California Central Valley chapter of the PMI
Upcoming appearances in 2019 include the Project World conference in Canada, another talk at a PMI chapter, and more—to be announced. You can read more about my speaking engagements at http://bit.ly/SpeakerOne.
Blog
My blog at http://scottgraffius.com/blog provides news, tips, and more on the intersection of project management with business and technology. In 2018, I published 48 new articles on the site. That’s down from last year, when I produced 65. However, traffic has been steadily growing per data from Google Analytics. In 2018, the blog had 109,771 page views, compared with 57,139 the prior year. That’s an increase of 92%!
There was a mix of different categories of topics. The top 10 articles in 2018 were:
- Phases of Team Development
- Yahoo Finance: Scott M. Graffius to Speak at Techstars Startup Week
- The Potentially Shippable Product Increment and a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Approach
- The Importance of Managing Work in Progress (WIP)
- Scott M. Graffius Featured in Success Story by BEA
- Are Agile and Scrum Limited to Technology Projects or Technology Industries?
- "Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions" Quoted in Innovation Management
- Q&A with Author Chris Hare: Transforming Project Management into Time-Saving, Stress-Relieving Solutions for Parents of K-12 Students
- Scott M. Graffius to Serve as Subject Matter Expert Reviewer of Content for Project Management Institute EMEA Congress 2019
- The Holiday Nice List: 11 Gifts to Impress
The majority of visitors (53%) came from the United States. Rounding out the top 10 were France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Philippines, Brazil, India, Australia, and Sweden. While not in the top 10 for the year, there was a significant increase in traffic (primarily in late 2018) from Belgium, the Netherlands, and Japan.
Thank you for visiting the blog!
© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
Agile Transformation at an International Media Conglomerate: Based on a True Story | Part One
08 March 2019
Follow @scottgraffius
Agile Transformation at an International Media Conglomerate: Based on a True Story
Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, helps companies achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. A fantastic agile transformation outcome with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott's award-winning book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. This is the story behind the book—told by Scott. Identifying details have been changed and certain elements are not included.
This article is the first installment of the eight-part story.
Part One: The Call
The assistant to the executive vice president (EVP) of technology for a division of a global entertainment company contacted me by phone. I was told that I was referred by someone who knew me and thought I would be a good fit for contract work. A one-hour consultation with the EVP was scheduled for the next day. I then received an email with several attachments including a non-disclosure agreement which needed to be executed and brought to the meeting.
I brought the documents to the session. The EVP explained that his division of the company was experiencing an alarming trend of problems with project management. He reported that deliverables were not meeting expectations, there was a marked decline in satisfaction, and—this was characterized as "the straw that broke the camel's back"—a highly skilled and very well-respected team member quit, citing the problems as her reason for departure.
After an hour with the EVP, we agreed to extend the meeting (initially, my complimentary consult) an additional hour (billable time). I learned that this division of the company previously used a traditional plan-driven/waterfall approach for development and delivery. The EVP explained that things worked reasonably well then and that they were "close enough" to being on-scope, on-budget, and on-time that team members and stakeholders were satisfied.
The EVP explained, however, that he wanted to adopt a model (Scrum) employed by some of the other divisions of the company. The EVP said that he conducted a search for a value-added reseller (VAR) to help his group move to agile. A VAR-partner of a popular software solution was selected, and the VAR transitioned the group to Scrum. Reportedly, very few problems surfaced during the VAR's contractual engagement, which ended two weeks into the first sprint (then, the duration for sprints was four weeks). Many problems surfaced subsequently, however. The VAR had been gone for two months at the time of my meeting with the EVP.
The EVP asked me to make things right. I explained that change depends on many people and multiple factors and that a specific end result could not be guaranteed. I suggested, however, that I'd be honored to work with his group in the first step—an assessment—which would help inform the subsequent work of foundational planning. The objectives of the assessment include working closely with the EVP, the Scrum Team and stakeholders to understand their goals—and the environment, roles and practices. He asked me when I could start. I asked him when he needed me, and he replied "immediately." I agreed to start the next day.
Agile Transformation at an International Media Conglomerate: Based on a True Story continues with Part Two: The Goals.
© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
Agile Transformation at an International Media Conglomerate: Based on a True Story
Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, helps companies achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. A fantastic agile transformation outcome with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott's award-winning book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. This is the story behind the book—told by Scott. Identifying details have been changed and certain elements are not included.
This article is the first installment of the eight-part story.
Part One: The Call
The assistant to the executive vice president (EVP) of technology for a division of a global entertainment company contacted me by phone. I was told that I was referred by someone who knew me and thought I would be a good fit for contract work. A one-hour consultation with the EVP was scheduled for the next day. I then received an email with several attachments including a non-disclosure agreement which needed to be executed and brought to the meeting.
I brought the documents to the session. The EVP explained that his division of the company was experiencing an alarming trend of problems with project management. He reported that deliverables were not meeting expectations, there was a marked decline in satisfaction, and—this was characterized as "the straw that broke the camel's back"—a highly skilled and very well-respected team member quit, citing the problems as her reason for departure.
After an hour with the EVP, we agreed to extend the meeting (initially, my complimentary consult) an additional hour (billable time). I learned that this division of the company previously used a traditional plan-driven/waterfall approach for development and delivery. The EVP explained that things worked reasonably well then and that they were "close enough" to being on-scope, on-budget, and on-time that team members and stakeholders were satisfied.
The EVP explained, however, that he wanted to adopt a model (Scrum) employed by some of the other divisions of the company. The EVP said that he conducted a search for a value-added reseller (VAR) to help his group move to agile. A VAR-partner of a popular software solution was selected, and the VAR transitioned the group to Scrum. Reportedly, very few problems surfaced during the VAR's contractual engagement, which ended two weeks into the first sprint (then, the duration for sprints was four weeks). Many problems surfaced subsequently, however. The VAR had been gone for two months at the time of my meeting with the EVP.
The EVP asked me to make things right. I explained that change depends on many people and multiple factors and that a specific end result could not be guaranteed. I suggested, however, that I'd be honored to work with his group in the first step—an assessment—which would help inform the subsequent work of foundational planning. The objectives of the assessment include working closely with the EVP, the Scrum Team and stakeholders to understand their goals—and the environment, roles and practices. He asked me when I could start. I asked him when he needed me, and he replied "immediately." I agreed to start the next day.
Agile Transformation at an International Media Conglomerate: Based on a True Story continues with Part Two: The Goals.
© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
BookAuthority Names "Agile Transformation" One of the Best New Scrum Ebooks
10 June 2019
Follow @scottgraffius
BookAuthority named Scott M. Graffius' second book, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change, as one of the best new ebooks on Scrum!
About Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change
Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Based on actual events, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.
The award-winning book by Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
About Author Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius is a technology leader, project management expert, consultant, international speaker, and award-winning author.
Scott is a Principal Consultant and the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, a professional services firm, where he helps clients strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. The consultancy provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. The firm’s expertise spans agile, traditional waterfall, and hybrid approaches. While every engagement is unique, outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery time, improved on-budget performance, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, and more. Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ confidently backs its services with a Delighted Client Guarantee™.
A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott’s first book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. It helps technical and non-technical teams develop and deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage. The book has garnered 17 first place awards from national and international competitions. Scott and Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions have been featured in Yahoo Finance, the Boston Herald, NBC WRAL, the Dallas Business Journal, Computer Weekly, the PM World Journal, BookLife by Publisher’s Weekly, Learning Solutions, Innovation Management, and additional media publications. A trailer, high-resolution images, reviews, a detailed list of awards, and more are available in the digital media kit. His second title, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change, was published in April 2019.
Scott is a former vice president of project management with a publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. He has experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets, as well as experience spanning 20 countries.
Scott has a bachelor's degree in Psychology with a focus in Human Factors. He holds six professional certifications: Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB), and IT Service Management Foundation (ITIL). He is a member of the Scrum Alliance, the Project Management Institute, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Within the IEEE, Scott is a member of the Computer Society, the Consumer Electronics Society, the Broadcast Technology Society, the Internet of Things Community, and the Consultants Network.
He has been actively involved with the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the development of professional standards. He was a member of the team which produced the Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures—Second Edition. Scott was a contributor and reviewer of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge—Sixth Edition and The Standard for Program Management—Fourth Edition. He was also a subject matter expert reviewer of content for the PMI EMEA Congress 2019.
Scott regularly speaks at conferences and other events around the globe where he delights audiences with presentations on agile, traditional, and hybrid project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. He integrates content on professional standards, best practices, and his first-hand experience with successful implementations. Scott uses everyday language and vibrant custom visuals to make complex topics clear and understandable, and he provides audiences with practical information they can use.
FHis full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
About BookAuthority
BookAuthority curates the books recommended by the world's most successful CEOs, business leaders, and domain experts such as Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, Sheryl Sandberg, and David Allen. Only the very best books are featured on BookAuthority. To keep BookAuthority's site objective and unbiased, ratings are calculated purely based on data. BookAuthority uses a proprietary technology to identify and rate the best nonfiction books, using dozens of different signals, including public mentions, recommendations, ratings, sentiment, popularity and sales history. BookAuthority does not accept requests to feature books, nor does BookAuthority conduct business with publishers or authors. BookAuthority has been featured on CNN, Forbes and Inc. The preceding information is based on content from BookAuthority.org.
© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
BookAuthority named Scott M. Graffius' second book, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change, as one of the best new ebooks on Scrum!
About Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change
Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Based on actual events, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.
The award-winning book by Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
About Author Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius is a technology leader, project management expert, consultant, international speaker, and award-winning author.
Scott is a Principal Consultant and the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, a professional services firm, where he helps clients strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. The consultancy provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. The firm’s expertise spans agile, traditional waterfall, and hybrid approaches. While every engagement is unique, outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery time, improved on-budget performance, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, and more. Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ confidently backs its services with a Delighted Client Guarantee™.
A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott’s first book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. It helps technical and non-technical teams develop and deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage. The book has garnered 17 first place awards from national and international competitions. Scott and Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions have been featured in Yahoo Finance, the Boston Herald, NBC WRAL, the Dallas Business Journal, Computer Weekly, the PM World Journal, BookLife by Publisher’s Weekly, Learning Solutions, Innovation Management, and additional media publications. A trailer, high-resolution images, reviews, a detailed list of awards, and more are available in the digital media kit. His second title, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change, was published in April 2019.
Scott is a former vice president of project management with a publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. He has experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets, as well as experience spanning 20 countries.
Scott has a bachelor's degree in Psychology with a focus in Human Factors. He holds six professional certifications: Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB), and IT Service Management Foundation (ITIL). He is a member of the Scrum Alliance, the Project Management Institute, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Within the IEEE, Scott is a member of the Computer Society, the Consumer Electronics Society, the Broadcast Technology Society, the Internet of Things Community, and the Consultants Network.
He has been actively involved with the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the development of professional standards. He was a member of the team which produced the Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures—Second Edition. Scott was a contributor and reviewer of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge—Sixth Edition and The Standard for Program Management—Fourth Edition. He was also a subject matter expert reviewer of content for the PMI EMEA Congress 2019.
Scott regularly speaks at conferences and other events around the globe where he delights audiences with presentations on agile, traditional, and hybrid project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. He integrates content on professional standards, best practices, and his first-hand experience with successful implementations. Scott uses everyday language and vibrant custom visuals to make complex topics clear and understandable, and he provides audiences with practical information they can use.
FHis full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
About BookAuthority
BookAuthority curates the books recommended by the world's most successful CEOs, business leaders, and domain experts such as Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, Sheryl Sandberg, and David Allen. Only the very best books are featured on BookAuthority. To keep BookAuthority's site objective and unbiased, ratings are calculated purely based on data. BookAuthority uses a proprietary technology to identify and rate the best nonfiction books, using dozens of different signals, including public mentions, recommendations, ratings, sentiment, popularity and sales history. BookAuthority does not accept requests to feature books, nor does BookAuthority conduct business with publishers or authors. BookAuthority has been featured on CNN, Forbes and Inc. The preceding information is based on content from BookAuthority.org.
© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
BookAuthority Names "Agile Transformation" One of the Best Scrum Ebooks of All Time
05 July 2019
Follow @scottgraffius
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change was initially offered only in ebook format. Soon after it was released, BookAuthority named Agile Transformation as one of the best *new* ebooks on Scrum! BookAuthority gave it an additional award. It's now on the list of the best Scrum ebooks of *all time.* Details on the award are available here. Thank you BookAuthority!
For those who prefer the visual and tactile experience of physical books, a paperback version of Agile Transformation was added and is also available.
Grab a copy of Agile Transformation in ebook or paperback -
● In the United States: bit.ly/at-us
● Outside the United States: bit.ly/intl-links
#Agile #AgileProjectManagement #AgileTransformation #AgileTransformationBook #AgileCoach #Author #Book #Business #Change #ChangeManagement #Entertainment #IT #ITManagement #InformationTechnology #Innovation #Leadership #Management #PMO #Product #ProjectManagement #ProjectMgmt #Scrum #Success #Tech #Technology #Transformation
About Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change
Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Based on actual events, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.
The award-winning book by Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
About Author Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, PMP, ITIL, LSSGB is a project management expert, consultant, speaker, and author. He is a Principal Consultant and the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, a professional services firm, where he helps clients strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private companies with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. Scott and his award-winning book on agile project management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions, have been featured in Yahoo Finance, the Boston Herald, Learning Solutions, Informa, Innovation Management, and additional media publications. His second title, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change, was published in April 2019. BookAuthority named it one of the best new books on Scrum. Scott regularly speaks at conferences and other events around the world.
His full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
About BookAuthority
BookAuthority curates the books recommended by the world's most successful CEOs, business leaders, and domain experts such as Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, Sheryl Sandberg, and David Allen. Only the very best books are featured on BookAuthority. To keep BookAuthority's site objective and unbiased, ratings are calculated purely based on data. BookAuthority uses a proprietary technology to identify and rate the best nonfiction books, using dozens of different signals, including public mentions, recommendations, ratings, sentiment, popularity and sales history. BookAuthority does not accept requests to feature books, nor does BookAuthority conduct business with publishers or authors. BookAuthority has been featured on CNN, Forbes and Inc. The preceding information is based on content from BookAuthority.org.
© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change was initially offered only in ebook format. Soon after it was released, BookAuthority named Agile Transformation as one of the best *new* ebooks on Scrum! BookAuthority gave it an additional award. It's now on the list of the best Scrum ebooks of *all time.* Details on the award are available here. Thank you BookAuthority!
For those who prefer the visual and tactile experience of physical books, a paperback version of Agile Transformation was added and is also available.
Grab a copy of Agile Transformation in ebook or paperback -
● In the United States: bit.ly/at-us
● Outside the United States: bit.ly/intl-links
#Agile #AgileProjectManagement #AgileTransformation #AgileTransformationBook #AgileCoach #Author #Book #Business #Change #ChangeManagement #Entertainment #IT #ITManagement #InformationTechnology #Innovation #Leadership #Management #PMO #Product #ProjectManagement #ProjectMgmt #Scrum #Success #Tech #Technology #Transformation
About Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change
Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Based on actual events, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.
The award-winning book by Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
About Author Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, PMP, ITIL, LSSGB is a project management expert, consultant, speaker, and author. He is a Principal Consultant and the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, a professional services firm, where he helps clients strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private companies with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. Scott and his award-winning book on agile project management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions, have been featured in Yahoo Finance, the Boston Herald, Learning Solutions, Informa, Innovation Management, and additional media publications. His second title, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change, was published in April 2019. BookAuthority named it one of the best new books on Scrum. Scott regularly speaks at conferences and other events around the world.
His full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
About BookAuthority
BookAuthority curates the books recommended by the world's most successful CEOs, business leaders, and domain experts such as Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, Sheryl Sandberg, and David Allen. Only the very best books are featured on BookAuthority. To keep BookAuthority's site objective and unbiased, ratings are calculated purely based on data. BookAuthority uses a proprietary technology to identify and rate the best nonfiction books, using dozens of different signals, including public mentions, recommendations, ratings, sentiment, popularity and sales history. BookAuthority does not accept requests to feature books, nor does BookAuthority conduct business with publishers or authors. BookAuthority has been featured on CNN, Forbes and Inc. The preceding information is based on content from BookAuthority.org.
© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.