Recommended Agile Websites

Agile Websites image

There are a large number of Agile websites that include resources that are both useful and valuable for practitioners to download and make use of. Some are just sales pitches for some new esoteric and copyrighted method but others are truly useful. In a social and collaborative manner their creators make these files available and free to use.

I have selected my favourite fifteen websites that contain Agile resources that are free to download and use. These are all professional websites and the quality of the downloadable content reflects that.

My recommended websites are as follows:

  1. Agile Manifesto – Where would we be without the guiding light of the Agile Manifesto’s four values and twelve principles, no seriously I am asking – where would we be? Fifteen years on, this simple document is still the foundation of all of our efforts. Values, principles, some history and the opportunity to become a signatory.
  2. The Scrum Guide – The definitive guide to Scrum written by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland. The current version was updated in 2013 and is just sixteen fun-packed pages. This to me is canon and should be read, understood and used as a starting point by anyone developing with Scrum.
  3. Agile Alliance – The Agile Alliance are a global NPO committed to advancing Agile development principles and practices. The site includes a large amount of downloadable and viewable content under the Resources section. You will need membership ($100 standard) for some content, such as the experience reports, but most is free.
  4. Agile Atlas – This site provides an ‘encyclopaedia’ of information for Agile and its many implementations. There are sections on common practices and articles contributed from the global community.
  5. Visual AGILExicon – This resource includes over two hundred graphics that can be used to show the Scrum framework and Agile practices. The site is hosted by Ken Rubin and the pictures include and extend the ones from his Essential Scrum book.
  6. InfoQ – The InfoQ mission is “Facilitating the spread of knowledge and innovation in professional software development” and this site acts as the hub. There are a large number of articles, presentations, interviews and books that can be downloaded. Examples of useful downloads include the books ‘Scrum & XP from the Trenches’ by Henrik Kniberg and ‘Do Better Scrum  by Peter Hundermark.
  7. ScrumLab Open – Scrum Inc. is Jeff Sutherland’s company and offers online resources and training with ScrumLab Open being a free area containing foundation information. There are videos, papers and webinars all available for free on this site. ScrumLab Prime membership is available for $49 a month which gives further access to further content including courses and slides.
  8. Scrum Body of Knowledge – ScrumStudy is a Scrum training organisation, the site includes several free resources including articles, blogs and the Scrum Body of Knowledge. The SBoK guide is a huge block of information (342 pages) produced in 2013 that can be used as a knowledge bank and reference book for Scrum. You would do better starting with the Scrum Guide but if you would like to understand more and enjoy reading then this is a well indexed tome.
  9. State of Agile Report – The annual state of Agile report from tools vendor VersionOne is always an interesting read on the continuing spread of Agile practices. It is useful to see what practices, methods and tools are being used across industry and how these change over time.
  10. Scrum Reference Card – Software processor mentor Michael James, creator of the Scrum Training Series has made available a six-page Scrum reference card that can be downloaded from this site.
  11. Scrum Master Checklist – Another resource created by Michael James to provide a simple checklist for a Scrum Master to use in determining what should be investigated and improved for a team. It is worth a read and consideration on the points even if you don’t end up using it.
  12. Scrum Sense – Agile coaching company Agil42 have made available the two booklets  ‘Do Better Scrum  (now downloadable on InfoQ) and ‘What every Product Owner should know’. These are both worth reading as they contain solid information on Scrum from the viewpoint of the Scrum Master and Product Owner roles.
  13. Scrum Case Studies – This site contains interesting links to case studies of Agile projects and the lessons learnt. The studies are grouped into twelve categories and include an executive summary, key takeaways and the full study. These are definitely worth reading and provide a wealth of valuable real-world experience.
  14. Slide Share – Created in 2006 and bought by LinkedIn for $118.76M in 2012 Slide Share allows users to upload presentations in most popular formats (PowerPoint, PDF, Keynote and OpenDocument). There are around one hundred thousand Agile presentations available so you can be sure to find something interesting to read though (eventually).
  15. YouTube – YouTube is the world’s most popular video sharing site, created in 2005 by three former PayPal employees and bought in 2006 for $1.65B by Google. Although there is a huge amount of Agile content on YouTube with over 569,000 Agile videos and 372,000 for Scrum if you refine your search down to very specific items, companies or people then there is great value on here.

And that, as they say, is that. I hope that you enjoy these fifteen websites and the valuable resources that they contain. As always, if you have seen something interesting then let me know and I will add it to the list.