Best books for Scrum Masters
From framework to coaching to organisational agility. The opening books cover Scrum's origins and core practice, a complete essentials guide, agile principles and retrospectives. The build set covers coaching teams, team launch, story mapping and honest conversations. The lead set covers leadership models, team structures, delivery research and how an enterprise adopts agile.
12 books in 3 stages, about 3,390 pages (85 hours of reading). The notes are ours, with no ratings or sales claims.
How to choose your books
A short method, so you read the right book for where you are instead of the longest list.
Find your stage
Getting started · 4 books
The framework and the rituals: Scrum itself, essential practices, agile principles and running retrospectives.
Jump to this stage ↓Doing the job · 4 books
Coaching teams: guiding behaviours, launching a team, shaping the backlog and honest conversations.
Jump to this stage ↓Senior and leading · 4 books
Beyond the team: leadership models that give control to teams, team structures, delivery evidence and enterprise adoption.
Jump to this stage ↓
If you are unsure, start one stage lower than you think. Books in a later stage assume the working knowledge the earlier ones give you.
Begin with one book
Our starting pick
Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process
by Kenneth S. Rubin · 2012
It covers the framework in full and is the most complete single reference to keep next to you in your first sprints.
See the book ↓Then pick by your situation
Choose the next book by the problem in front of you, not by its place in the list.
If your retrospectives have become a ritual with no change
read Agile Retrospectives (getting started)
If you want to coach, not just facilitate
read Coaching Agile Teams (doing the job)
If you are scaling agile beyond a single team
read Sooner Safer Happier (senior and leading)
Check it against what Scrum Master postings ask for
These skills come from our analysis of live Scrum Master job postings. If one is new to you, its book list sits one click away.
Each step on the scale reflects how often live job postings name the skill, tool or credential, based on our analysis of those postings. With fewer than 100 postings behind this page, treat the scale as directional: a sample this size can shift a skill by a step or more.
Set a time budget
| Stage | Books | Pages | Reading | At 3 hrs a week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Getting started | 4 | 1,190 | 30 hrs | 10 wks |
| Doing the job | 4 | 1,030 | 26 hrs | 9 wks |
| Senior and leading | 4 | 1,170 | 29 hrs | 10 wks |
| All 3 stages | 12 | 3,390 | 85 hrs | 28 wks |
Treat this as a ceiling, not a target. Read one book at a time, apply it, then move on; read reference-style books in sections.
Judge any book before you buy it
Age
This list runs from 2006 (Agile Retrospectives) to 2020 (Agile Conversations). Older books earn their place by teaching principles that do not change. For tools and platforms, buy the latest edition.
Level
Check the stage before the title. A book from a later stage will make sense only once you have faced the problems it solves.
Format
The longest book here, Essential Scrum, runs about 500 pages. Read very long books as references: pick the chapter that matches the problem you have.
Fit
Ask what you will do differently the week after you finish. If you cannot answer, the book is for a different moment. Come back to it when the situation arrives.
Getting started
The framework and the rituals: Scrum itself, essential practices, agile principles and running retrospectives.
Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time
by Jeff Sutherland, J.J. Sutherland · 2014
~260 pages~7 hrs to read
Co-creator Jeff Sutherland explains the thinking behind Scrum: sprints, backlogs, retrospectives and visible progress. A quick, motivating introduction to the framework.
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Start hereEssential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process
by Kenneth S. Rubin · 2012
~500 pages~13 hrs to read
A thorough reference on Scrum roles, events, artifacts and planning at several levels. Keep it beside you during your first teams.
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Clean Agile: Back to Basics
by Robert C. Martin · 2019
~240 pages~6 hrs to read
Revisits the original intent of agile and the practices behind it, with a plain account of what teams drift away from. Read it to anchor your coaching in fundamentals.
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Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great
by Esther Derby, Diana Larsen · 2006
~190 pages~5 hrs to read
A collection of retrospective activities organised around a five-stage structure, with advice on facilitating them. Use it to plan your first retrospectives.
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Doing the job
Coaching teams: guiding behaviours, launching a team, shaping the backlog and honest conversations.
Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition
by Lyssa Adkins · 2010
~320 pages~8 hrs to read
Covers the coach stance, facilitation, conflict and growing self-organization. Read it once the mechanics of Scrum are routine and you start coaching people.
View book →Liftoff: Start and Sustain Successful Agile Teams
by Diana Larsen, Ainsley Nies · 2011
~170 pages~4 hrs to read
A guide to launching a team or project with a shared purpose, working agreements and context. Use it when a new team forms or a team resets.
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User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product
by Jeff Patton · 2014
~320 pages~8 hrs to read
Shows how to lay out a product's user journey as a story map and slice releases from it. Helps teams that have a backlog but no shared picture.
View book →Agile Conversations: Transform Your Conversations, Transform Your Culture
by Douglas Squirrel, Jeffrey Fredrick · 2020
~220 pages~6 hrs to read
Five conversation types, from trust to accountability to commitment, that make agile practices stick. Read it when ceremonies exist but behavior has not changed.
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Senior and leading
Beyond the team: leadership models that give control to teams, team structures, delivery evidence and enterprise adoption.
Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders
by L. David Marquet · 2013
~240 pages~6 hrs to read
A submarine captain's account of giving control to the people closest to the work. A model for coaching teams toward self-direction.
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Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow
by Matthew Skelton, Manuel Pais · 2019
~240 pages~6 hrs to read
Describes team types and interaction modes that reduce handoffs and cognitive load. Useful when you advise on team design across several teams.
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Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps
by Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, Gene Kim · 2018
~290 pages~7 hrs to read
Research-based account of the practices and measures linked to software delivery performance. Gives agile coaches evidence for improvement conversations.
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Sooner Safer Happier: Antipatterns and Patterns for Business Agility
by Jonathan Smart · 2020
~400 pages~10 hrs to read
Patterns and antipatterns from large-organization agile transformations, with focus on outcomes over ritual. For coaches working above team level.
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Frequently asked questions
Which book should a Scrum Master read first?
Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process by Kenneth S. Rubin. It covers the framework in full and is the most complete single reference to keep next to you in your first sprints.
Do I need to read all 12 books?
No. The list is a menu, not a syllabus. Find your stage (getting started: 4, doing the job: 4, senior and leading: 4), begin with one book (we suggest Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process), then pick the next book by the problem you are facing at work. Come back to the others when the situation they cover arrives.
How long does it take to read these books?
All 12 books add up to about 3,390 pages, roughly 85 hours at 1.5 minutes a page. At three hours a week that is about 28 weeks; at six hours a week, about 14. The list is meant to be read over time, one book at a time, not in one run.
Are these books up to date?
They range from 2006 (Agile Retrospectives) to 2020 (Agile Conversations). Older titles are included because they teach principles that have not changed; for tools and platforms, we favour recent editions. Check the edition before you buy.
Related reading
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