As a project manager, you must look for ways to continue learning to improve your field. Project management is an enormous field with several strategies, unique approaches, and hacks for different projects.
The project environment constantly changes, and smart project managers always look for new ways to make their processes easier. And that’s why I advise professionals to stay on top of industry trends, new strategies, tools, and tools.
What’s one easy way for project managers to do this?
By reading books on project management.
To make this easy for you, I compiled a list of the best Agile project management books for project managers today.
How did I arrive at this list? I did my research online to find every book you see here. These project management books listed here are perfect for Agile management projects. I got them by checking the most mentioned project management books in online communities, forums, social media groups, and other related project management resources.
Most books here teach the basics or fundamentals of the increasingly popular agile project management methodology. The books can act as a guide that guides project management professionals, specifically on agile projects.
10 Best Agile Project Management Books to Read in 2023
Agile methodologies are frameworks that include Scrum, Kanban, lean, etc. The agile books mentioned in this post are practical guides that explain all agile processes, agile transformation, product development process, agile software development, etc.
After reading these best agile books, you will know all the most popular agile processes and frameworks.
The Best Books for Agile Project Management:
#1. Agile Project Management For Dummies
The first book on the list for beginners and even professionals is the “Agile Project Management for Dummies” book by Mark C. Layton. He is a Scrum Alliance certification instructor, certified PMP, and a management consultant offering agile transformation expertise.
With over 220 ratings at 4.3, this project management book is one of the best books on your list as a project manager. This book explains the agile manifesto and its principles.
With the fast pace of the growing web and mobile tech industry, the software project space must also keep up with this pace.
This project management book covers the tech, mobile, and web aspects of project management. And this book will help you achieve these skills even faster.
Written by: Mark C. Layton
Perfect for: Project managers looking to become flexible and faster with Agile project management.
#2. The Scrum Guide
This is one of the second most exclusive books on project management. This project management book focuses on defining the “Scrum Guide” and is written by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, the originators of Scrum methodology.
This is a must-read agile book for the most popular agile process. This book explains the scrum framework and guides teams toward successful project endings.
You get the best information and project management techniques from this book.
One thing I love about this book, ‘The Scrum Guide,’ is translated into over 30 languages. So wherever you are in the world, most of the places you are in the world, you will assess this, and you can also download the Screen guidebook here.
This book has a lot of good ratings. There are over 167 ratings with a 4.6 star. So I think this is something I recommend, and you should go for now.
Another thing is this book covers the very details of both the 2020 and the 2027 scrum versions.
Thus this goes in-depth, and I love it. If you want to get this book, check it out on Scrum.com.
Written by: Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland
Perfect for: Independent project managers and Agile project management teams.
Click here to download it for free
#3. Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value by Melissa Perri
The next best book on project management is “Escaping the build trap: How effective product management creates real value” by Melissa Perri.
This has a 4.6 rating from over 1,413 people. The book covers a lot, and then many people love it.
It also comes in four different versions on Amazon. It comes with a Kindle version for $14.70, an audiobook free (with membership), a paperback version between $13 to $15 or $16, and an audio CD for 24.98 dollars.
This book helps agile product managers stay competitive in agile project management, working with organizations that need to adapt to several changes in the project management field.
In this book, Melissa Perri explains exactly how you can lead the foundation for your agile projects, how you can execute them, and how to assign tasks to team members.
The book also helps agile project management experts create a product culture that benefits your business and the customers.
It also teaches you the exact principles of product management, which can apply to any organization, big or small.
This book is written by Melissa Perri, the CEO of Products Labs, a product management consultancy.
#4. Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook by Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez
The next best agile project management book on this list is the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook.
Antonio describes a unique and easy framework in this project management book that would grow any project (small or large company).
The book focuses on explaining different case studies from different industries across the globe. Think of the United States, Asia, the United Kingdom, and more.
Thus you can learn from real case studies of strategic company projects in project management.
In this HBR Agile Project Management book, you will learn the basics you need to know about project management in practice. Unlike other agile project management books, Antonio focuses on explaining things with real-life projects that have happened.
The agile approach book also goes in-depth into that and the regional project management concept with exclusive case studies from different companies worldwide.
The book is available in four different Amazon formats.
You have the Kindle version, which is available for $14.99; the audiobook, free with a membership; the hardcover, $38.99; and the paperback, $19.29.
#5. Agile Product Management with Scrum: Creating Products that Customers Love by Roman Pichler
This is another Agile Project Management book that I love. It is called Agile Product Management with Scrum, and just as the name applies, it does not just focus on Agile project management. Still, it explains how to incorporate Agile project management with Scrum methodology to create better products.
This agile product management book also focuses on Scrum and other project management methodologies.
Scrum consultants and experts can learn skills and gain experience with this book.
Roman Pichler goes in-depth by describing the broad range of Agile project management. He includes key real-life case studies, which makes agile product and project management easy to learn.
You can understand minimal marketable products, leverage customer feedback and work closely with not just the product management team but also the development team in a company.
By reading this book, you can benefit from Pichler’s agile project management experience, which can help you grow your knowledge and experience in the agile management field.
Roman is a renowned product management expert specializing in various product management skills like leadership, agility, and product strategies.
Thus you can learn a lot from this book, and I recommend this on Amazon.
#6. Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins
The next best Agile project management book is The Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition, written by Joseph Santos, an expert in project management with decades of experience in project management tools, software products, and much more.
This book, “Coaching Agile Management,” coaches project management methodologies and gives project managers the pathway to help them control and get the best out of their project teams and how to find the right people for any project.
This book is specific for project management experts and managers to understand how to work with teams and finish their projects and tasks on time. This practical guide helps scrum masters with insights and tools.
The book is traditionally aimed at already trained project management managers transitioning to lead agile teams. So it is for those already introduced to agile projects such as Scrum methodology.
You can purchase this agile project management book in different formats as well. It is written by Lisa Atkins, a professional project management manager who has programmed several projects with over 15 years of experience.
She also has a BSC in Management Information Systems from George Mason University.
You can purchase it on Amazon for $39.99 – $49.99 (Paperback), $29.99 for the Kindle edition, and $0 for e-book (with membership).
#7. Agile Estimating and Planning by Mike Cohn
The next best project management book is The Agile Estimating and Planning, written by Mike Cohn, who has many books on Amazon. The book is rated 4.6 by over 600 people at the time of writing.
This agile project management book goes in-depth and teaches how to estimate and plan projects as a project management manager.
Just like the previous project management book, this also focuses on people who have already gained knowledge or experience in the field. Thus, with practical examples, this book will show you how to manage project teams and run projects effectively and on time.
It is written by. John Kohn, the founder of Mounting Good Software, and Mike specialize in helping companies improve and grow their agile processes and techniques. He is also the author of Agile Estimating and Planning and has over 20 years of experience.
It comes in two versions; the Kindle version ($34.49), Paperback ($10.97 – $45.59)
#8. Agile Enterprise by Mario E Moreira
The next best Agile project management book is The Agile Enterprise by Mario E Moreira. This book has a score of 4.4 from 36 readers.
You can purchase this book in different formats. You can get it in the Kindle version from around 12 to 26.79 USD and the paperback from 24.0 to 28.20 USD.
In this book, you learn how to establish idea pipelines to process your project easily and productively to evolve your customer rating and value.
This project management book explains how to leverage relationships, delay, leadership and self-organization, and Agile budgeting. This book will give you an idea of pipelines at senior project manager levels in huge companies.
This will enable you to adapt to the speed of the market so that you can help any company stay on top of the game. The book is specifically for senior executive project managers and professionals.
Mario E Moreira is a project management expert with deep experience in business technology and an understanding of the power of collaboration across different organizations or companies. He is also a professional in bringing value to customers and focuses on building trust in the workplace and has been doing this since 1998.
He has helped multiple companies to implement Agile digital transformation, leading to better ROI. He is also a certified Scrum Master and Agile professional.
#9. Scrum Mastery: From Good to Great Servant Leadership by Geoff Watts
This project management book is also on Amazon and written by Geoff Watts, an experienced project management expert and leader.
This Amazon project management book has a rating of 4.6 from 266 customers (at the moment). This book focuses on insightful thoughts that justify the project management framework.
I highly recommend this book to experienced project managers and experts who wanna go deep down and build their career in project management.
Author: Geoff Watts
Perfect for: Beginner project managers looking to build their careers in the Agile project management space.
#10. An Agile Adoption And Transformation Survival Guide by Michael Sahota
Lastly, I will discuss the project management book ‘An Agile Adoption and Transformation Survival Guide’ by Michael Sahota.
Now this agile project management book provides essential tools to help you understand the adoption and transformation of the Agile methodology.
The book provides practical guidance and shows you how to differentiate between tasks and what you need to do to avoid project delays or failures in any project.
Professionals will also learn the project management culture to help you work more effectively and efficiently with your organization.
This book is called the ‘Survivor Guide’ since readers have used it to help save projects easily and avoid problems and failures.
It also contains a lot of experiences that you can work with and identifies the causes of most failures in agile projects.
It then introduces a model to help you understand Agile, Kamban, and software culture.
Michael Sahota, a trained consultant on evolutionary leadership, writes the agile project management book.
He’s also the founder and CEO of Shift314 Inc now. Michael has been in this field since 2001 and published the ground breaking book “Agile Adoption and Transformation of Our Guy Working with Organizational Culture” in 2018.
Unlike other books in this list, this book does not come in different formats; it only comes in paperback.
#11: The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses: By Eric Ries
This practical guide on lean startup helps you find a successful business path through lean startup and manufacturing principles. Lean methods are a precursor to Agile and help you grow through human creativity, scientific experimentation, and validated learning. The lean startup approach explains the lean software development process and shows how today’s entrepreneurs can use continuous innovation to meet customer needs.
If you want to understand Lean Startup principles and use them for your product development process, this book is for you.
Conclusion: Which are the Best Agile Project Management Books to Read in 2023 (even as we approach 2024)?
In conclusion, the best way to learn Agile project management and grow your career in Agile product management is to read as many books as possible.
One of the easiest ways to learn about agile project management is to read many books on Agile project management.
I recommend you read many books on Agile project management, scrum project management, and methodology on different sites.
To help you do this, I have compiled a list of our top three Agile project management books you should go for now.
Our top Agile Project Management Books for 2023:
- Agile Project Management with Kanban
- Agile Product Management with Scrum: Creating Products that Customers Love
- Coaching Agile Teams
Thank you for reading this guide, and you can check out all of this, and if possible, you can go through each of these books to increase your knowledge and grow your expertise as a professional agile project manager.
Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase after clicking. Please understand that I recommend these resources because they are useful, not just because of my commissions. Please do not purchase unless you need the materials to achieve your goals. Read the disclaimer.
I am Mohammad Fahad Usmani, B.E. PMP, PMI-RMP. I have been blogging on project management topics since 2011. To date, thousands of professionals have passed the PMP exam using my resources.
