Anyone taking the CSM evaluation is expected to first attend a Certified ScrumMaster course as well as do some self-study on their own. We've compiled a list of suggested reading to prepare you for the CSM evaluation and give you the background you need to better implement Scrum in your own organization.

We're not suggesting you memorize everything in these documents. Instead, we expect these resources will give you the context you need to apply the concepts you were taught (or will be taught) in your Certified ScrumMaster course.

CSM Content Outline and Learning Objectives

Suggested Reading

Countless books and resources exist that are exceptionally helpful in furthering your knowledge of the agile principles, engineering practices, and approaches that help you transform the world of work. This list includes only those resources we believe we can reasonably expect a new student of Scrum to become familiar with.

"Do Better Scrum", by Peter Hundermark, a CSC and CST in Africa and Brazil. Provides a set of tips and insights into how to do Scrum well. (Also available in Spanish.)

"The Scrum Primer", by Pete Deemer, Gabrielle Benefield, Craig Larman, and Bas Vodde. An early description of Scrum, written in 2006 by a respected group of CST practitioners. Offers an in-depth introduction to the theory and practice of Scrum.

"The Scrum Papers", compiled by Jeff Sutherland, one of the co-creators of Scrum. A collection of papers relating to the practice of scrum that covers the basics all the way up to advanced topics such as how to scale Scrum.

Scrum topic pages, by CST Mike Cohn. An online overview of many of the Scrum basics.

Simple Scrum, by Tobias Mayer. A domain-independent overview of the Scrum framework.

The Scrum Alliance is constantly evaluating new sources of Scrum knowledge. If you have a resource you believe should be on this list, contact studentresources@scrumalliance.org and we'll be happy to consider your resource at our next review. Be advised, however, this list is limited to five or six resources we would expect a new student of Scrum to read.