Scrum Team

What Is a Scrum Team?

A Scrum Team is a small, self-organizing team that is responsible for the delivery of a specific product increment or component. They are typically Agile, meaning they are able to adapt quickly to changes in requirements or unexpected problems.

The team, composed of five to nine members, including the Product Owner and the Scrum Master, works in short cycles called Sprints to deliver potentially shippable increments of functionality for the product.

Every member of the team utilizes the Scrum methodology, an Agile software development framework that is the foundation of their work. Scrum stands at the core of the Scrum Team process and is derived from the principles of Agile development, which emphasize collaboration, flexibility, and responsiveness to change.

After gaining a basic understanding of what a Scrum Team is, let's take a deeper look at its importance for your organization and the roles of each member, along with additional information that can help you understand this highly effective form of collaboration. Let's get started. 

Why is a Scrum Team Important?

The Scrum team is a great way to organize and manage a product's development. At the end of each Sprint, the team is responsible for delivering a product increment or a portion of the product.

The importance of forming a Scrum team lies in the Scrum team's ability to be fast, flexible, and focused. As a result, the team can adapt quickly to changes and produce a quality product. 

What Are the Benefits of the Scrum Team? 

1. High-Efficiency

Agile Teams, such as Scrum Teams, are highly efficient and organized, which allows them to produce more work in less time. This is due to the fact that everyone is aware of their role and what is expected of them. The team is also able to manage its own work and is not reliant on any other team or individual within the organization.

2. Enhanced Communication

The Scrum Team is able to communicate more effectively by using  specific tools and techniques, such as daily Scrum meetings and retrospectives. These allow for a better understanding of the tasks at hand, as well as any potential roadblocks.

3. Flexibility

The Scrum framework is very flexible, which allows it to be adapted to the specific needs of the team. This can help to ensure that the team is able to meet all of its deadlines and goals.

4. Improved Quality

By working together and using specific tools and techniques, the team is able to produce high-quality work that meets all expectations. This can lead to a better reputation for the team and the organization as a whole.

5. Boosted Morale

With a well-trained and dedicated team, morale is boosted as each success is earned and celebrated, feedback is encouraged, and transparency is maintained throughout the process. In this way, trust can be built among teams, and everyone can work together toward the same goal.

The ability of Scrum Teams to be fast, flexible, and focused makes them indispensable. This allows the team to adapt quickly and produce quality work. 

Who is in a scrum team

A Scrum Team comprises competent individuals who form a team of people who work together to deliver a quality product.
These are the key roles that make up a Scrum Team:

1. Stakeholders

A stakeholder is an individual outside the Scrum Team who has detailed knowledge and interest in a product that is needed for continuous improvement.

Typically, stakeholders fall into three types:

• Users - Individuals who use the product being developed
• Internal Customers - Decision makers for software product development funding
• External Customers - People who pay to utilize the software

Although stakeholders do not necessarily make decisions for the Scrum Team, they provide vital input for the success of the project during Sprint Review, where the Product Owner engages actively for development feedback and keeps the project on track.

2. Team Members

It is the team members who make up the Scrum Team. Besides completing their tasks, they contribute to the overall success of the team. While team members are assigned specific tasks, they must also be willing to assist with other tasks as needed.

Scrum team members report to the following individuals:

• Scrum Master - Facilitates the Scrum process and is responsible for ensuring that the team follows the prescribed methodology and that they are productive and effective.
• Product Owner - In charge of maximizing the value of the product created by the team, representing the customer, and responsible for ensuring that the team delivers valuable products that meet the needs of the customer.

A Scrum team can not be successful without the cooperation and support of the Product Owner and Scrum Master. The team is responsible for working together and creating a product increment during each Sprint that achieves the goals of the Product Owner. If they don't, it can lead to team conflict and a product that doesn't meet the customer's needs.

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Scrum development team

The Scrum Development Team is comprised of computer engineers, designers, writers, data analysts, developers, and any other roles necessary to deliver the highest quality product within the given time and budget. 

To understand better the different roles of the scrum team, watch this video by agilemania:

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Agile Pod

An Agile Pod is an evolution of the Scrum Team that sees a bespoke team being created to work towards a project/task in a product backlog. The skillset of the ‘pod’ will be tailored to the task at hand. An Agile Pod will be created if there is a problem that requires specific attention to, and the team will be built based on the requirements of the problem and they will solely focus on this problem. Similarly to a Scrum Team, an Agile Pod will be self-organizing and self-sufficient and will work without a lot of supervision. However, after a solution is built for the problem, the Agile Pod may be disbanded and the group members will rejoin the main Scrum Team. 

Agile Pod vs Scrum Team

These are the main differences between an Agile Pod and a Scrum Team:

1. An Agile Pod is a focus-centric group that is entirely focused on solving the problem that they were designed to solve. Whereas a Scrum team is a sprint-centric group that looks to produce value within the framework of Scrum. 
2. An Agile Pod is a need-based team inside a project whereas a Scrum team is a project-based team which focuses on the Sprint.
3. An Agile Pod is a task-oriented team whereas a Scrum Team is a Sprint-oriented team.

How Can GoRetro Help Your Scrum Team?

GoRetro is an intuitive and Agile retrospective tool various businesses use to improve the effectiveness of their Scrum team. The platform offers a variety of features that help teams plan, track, and analyze their progress. 

GoRetro provides a variety of reports, such as burndown and velocity charts, that help teams track their progress and identify any potential issues. 

The platform can also track tasks and Story Points, allowing teams to ensure they are completing tasks on time and are meeting their Sprint goals. This also allows them to analyze their progress and identify any areas that need improvement. 

Overall, GoRetro is a must-have for every Scrum team. The feature-rich platform is simple to use and, best of all, completely free.

Wrapping Up

Scrum teams are an effective way to manage Agile development projects. They are self-organizing and cross-functional, which allows them to be more responsive to change. Thus, building a Scrum team for your business can be beneficial in the long run. By having the right people in the right roles, your team can be productive and organized.

More about Scrum Teams

Why Do Scrum Teams Name Themselves?

There are many reasons why Scrum Teams name themselves, but one of the most common reasons is that it builds team identity, cohesion, and morale. It can also help the team to feel more ownership of the work they are doing and make them feel more accountable for their actions.

It can also be fun to come up with a Scrum Team name as a team! By choosing a name for the team, you will have the opportunity to describe the team's culture and how members work together.

What Is the ideal Scrum Team size?

Scrum Teams are tight-knit groups of individuals. To maximize the team’s efficiency, be sure to choose the right team size for your organization. It is recommended that the team consist of ten people or less in order to facilitate better communication during Sprint reviews. However, the team must be large enough to accomplish significant work.

It is generally accepted that large Scrum Teams get more done than smaller teams, but they also may hamper productivity because it is more difficult to manage a large team compared to multiple smaller ones, resulting in longer meetings and more catch-up time.

That said, multiple Scrum Teams composed of fewer members may work together to support a single product. An effective Scrum Team should be cross-functional and possess all the necessary skills to deliver incremental value at each Sprint.

How Should a Scrum Team Deal with Non-Functional Requirements?

The Scrum framework is designed for managing and completing Agile product development with a cross-functional team. Non-functional requirements (NFRs) such as performance, scalability, and security can impact the entire system and are often out of the team's direct control.

A system's scalability, for instance, refers to its ability to handle increasing amounts of traffic. If a system is not scalable, it will eventually become overloaded and cease to function properly.

The goal of dealing with NFRs in Scrum is to ensure that they are considered and addressed early on in the product development cycle and that any impacts are tracked and managed as part of the overall Sprint progress.

NFRs can be introduced into a project in a number of ways. They may be identified during requirements-gathering, or they may be imposed by the business or customer. They may also be discovered during development as the team tests and integrates their work with other parts of the system.

In any case, it is important to have a process for dealing with NFRs in Scrum so that they do not become blockers to progress. 

Who Owns Quality in a Scrum Team?

The quality of work in a Scrum Team is the responsibility of the entire team. All members of the Scrum Team, including the Product Owner, the Scrum Master, and the Development Team, must work together effectively in order to accomplish this goal. 

Individual team members may have specific areas of expertise that contribute to the overall quality of the project. If there are problems, the Scrum Master may need to intervene to ensure that the team is meeting its quality goals. It is the responsibility of the Product Owner to ensure that the work is of high quality and meets the customers' needs.

How Often Should a Scrum Team Change its Members?

There is no single definitive answer to how often a Scrum Team should change members, with some recommending regular changes and others suggesting that no changes should be made.

Generally speaking, it is recommended that team memberships be changed every 12–18 months as interests wane and engagements become tiresome. In the end, however, it depends on the team and the project. If the team is underperforming, then there needs to be a change.

Who Should Lead the Scrum Team? 

A self-managing team, such as a Scrum Team, has no hierarchy. It is a cohesive unit of individuals working together as a powerhouse to accomplish the Product Goal. Key members keep the team on track, but no single person manages the whole team's work. 

Managing micro-teams can result in a lack of accountability and multiple discussions that do not produce valuable results. 

How Do You Know If a Scrum Team is Cross-Functional?

When you hear Agile practices or Scrum referred to as cross-functional, it simply refers to how teams work together. It is also known as a multidisciplinary team or interdisciplinary team, where a variety of specialists work together toward a common goal.

Using a team-first strategy, you know a Scrum Team is cross-functional if all of its members are involved in every phase of the product development process. This includes ideation, design, development, testing, and shipping. When a team is cross-functional, it's able to move more quickly and efficiently because everyone is able to work together to get the job done.