Introduction
The Scrum Team is the core unit in Scrum, made up of a Scrum Master, a Product Owner, and Developers.
The team is small and unified, with no sub-teams or hierarchy, and works together toward a single goal called the “Product Goal.”
Each team member has the skills needed to deliver value during each Sprint. The team makes decisions internally about who does what, when, and how.
Typically, the team size is 10 or fewer people to keep things flexible and efficient. If a team gets too large, it’s recommended to split into smaller teams that still work on the same Product, sharing the same Product Goal and Product Owner.
Scrum Teams are responsible for everything related to the product, from working with stakeholders and developing the product to maintaining and improving it.
Unpacking Three Accountabilities in a Scrum Team
Product Owner: Value-Maximizer and Optimizer
The Product Owner is the single person not a committee, and is responsible for maximizing the value delivered as a result of a Scrum Team.
The Product Owner represents the customer and, by working with stakeholders he supports the team in building the RIGHT thing and building the THING right.
I like to call the Product Owner: “Mini CEO of the Product” because he is accountable for:
- Product Vision
- Product Goal
- Effective Product Backlog management
- Stakeholders management
- Release management
- Product pricing
A great Product Owner not only possesses the skills mentioned above and areas of work also understand and applies Evindence-Based Management which is empirical frameworks for measuring value being delivered by the product or service.
Scrum Master: The Servant-Leader
Scrum Masters are accountable for establishing the Scrum framework and ensuring the Scrum Team’s effectiveness.
Their job is to ensure that the Scrum Team delivered highest value possible in short time-frame having in mind effective risk-management and high quality.
Scrum Masters lead by serving the Scrum Team, Product Owners and wider organization in several ways. Their success is Scrum Master’s success, because, as servant leaders, they put others first and set them up for success.
Some of the key accountabilities of a Scrum Master:
- Coaching Scrum Team and wider organization in Scrum adoption
- Helping people, teams and organization to understand empirical product planning for complex problems
- Eliminating waste throughout the organization and focusing on essentials
- Facilitating meetings or Scrum Events as requested or needed
- Coaching Scrum Team to be self-managing and cross-functional
One of the most important things to be that every Scrum Master must master is active listening and asking open-ended and close-ended questions.
Active listening is listening to understand NOT to reply. Which unfortunately nowaday is missing.
Skilled Scrum Master not only understands Scrum and is not Scrum dogmatic, but Agile pragmatic.
Developers: Defenders of Quality
Developers in Scrum represent group of professionals who work together to deliver product increment at the end of each Sprint.
They are self-managing and cross-functional, meaning they have (as a group) all the skills necessary to complete the work without depending on people outside of the Scrum Team.
Some of the key accountabilities of Developers:
- Delivering high quality increments of value
- Prioritizing quality over speed
- Holding each other accountable as professionals
- Committing to the Sprint Goal and Product Goal not the scope of the work
- Effectively managing Daily Scrum Event and Sprint Backlog Artifact
- Promoting team work NOT individualism (everyone for themself)
Developers are autonomous, proactive, and committed to producing high-quality increments that meet stakeholders needs.
Important to Note
In a scrum team there is no sub-teams like Development team, QA Team, BA team, etc… It is only one team focused on all product/service-related activities such as, research, development, documentation, verification, analysis, validation, etc.
Conclusion
Forming an effective Scrum Team requires careful consideration of the three accountabilities, the team’s dynamic and adherence to Scrum values and principles. By assembling a cross-functional and self-managing team that continuously strives for improvement, you can ensure that your Scrum team will deliver valuable otucomes.
