The Agile Pocket Guide by Peter Saddington is a helpful guide for experienced software developers who have been asked to lead their first Agile project.
The book is roughly broken into four parts.
Chapters 1–4 teach general principles that will serve the leader well and each chapter ends with a list of three “Leader Questions” aimed at helping the reader internalize the lessons taught.
Chapters 5–16 get more into the actual tools and processes used in Scrum. The chapters include these tools, processes, and concepts, and sometimes include examples from the author’s experience. Each chapter ends with a list of three questions for either the leader or the entire team.
Chapters 17–24 get into the dynamics of the Agile team (and its leader) interacting with other parts of the business. Each chapter ends with a specific “Example Case” from the author’s personal experience.
Chapters 25–28 deal with Kaizen at the personal, team, product, and cultural levels. Kaizen is a Japanese term roughly meaning “continuous improvement”. Each of these chapters is primarily a long list of things that leaders, teams, and organizations can focus on to integrate the Kaizen concept into how they operate.
Bottom line, The Agile Pocket Guide is written by an experienced Agile practitioner based on coaching he’s provided to many who are new to the framework. It serves as a broad-ranging introduction to many of the terms, concepts, and practices that a leader of an Agile team will need to learn to become successful. If you’ve been asked to lead an Agile team, this short book might prove helpful to you.