Why Do We Need A Scrum Team? Flashcards
How are teams arranged in larger, traditional organisations?
People are organised into teams with a specialist skillset. Work is managed and handed off the to these specialist teams. Each team has its own culture, practices, standards and priorities. These teams will work on many different initiatives at the same time. The volume of work will mean that management of the work and the people is essential.
What are some challenges with the traditional approach to team management?
- Significant dependencies will arise between teams which will lead to delays.
- Specialist teams will seek to optimise their work which may lead to unnecessary delays at the product level.
- Specialist teams will be managing large volumes of work and regularly shifting priorities. This is another form of waste.
- It will be challenging for the people in these teams to feel connected to the end- user/customer and see the value of their work when it is only a small part of a bigger product.
- When work for one product has been spread to many specialist teams it will be hard to understand the true current state of the product.
- Full testing of the product will be impossible until the work of these teams has been integrated into a cohesive product.
- Where issues cross- cut a number of specialist teams, communication may be challenging as people who are not familiar with each other and have different goals, motivations and interests will need to find ways to collaborate. Where this goes wrong an “us vs them” blame culture may result.
- Change will be difficult under these conditions. A change in direction for the product may lead to significant waste and frustration as work is abandoned by some teams who were working in advance of others.
Transparency will be low, risk will be high and change will be difficult. The realisation of value will be delayed. Developing products under these conditions is difficult and prone to failure.
How is Scrum differnt in team organisation?
In Scrum, we have Developers who have the skills that would have been present in each of these specialist teams.
We develop the product iteratively and incrementally, rather than as a single large entity.
The Developers are empowered to manage their own work and take responsibility for developing Done Increments each Sprint.
What are the benefits of the Scrum approach?
- Reduced risk through increased transparency and real inspectable progress at regular intervals. We will have a clearer picture of what is going on and the current state of the product. Problems can be found earlier and then eliminated over time.
- Higher quality through regular testing and validation of the product.
- Earlier value delivery is possible as we can release Increments when it makes sense to do so for the customer and the organisation.
- Increased agility as we are working on smaller pieces which mean the cost of changing work not started will be lower and therefore more possible. This is vital in complex environments where change is inevitable.
- Less management of work and people will be required as the volume of work in progress will be lower and therefore manageable at a lower cost.
- Team members will be closer to the customer and stakeholders and will have more access to the big picture of the product. This can help to keep motivation levels high as people stay connected to the purpose behind their work.
- Fewer delays as the scope of work is smaller inside a Sprint. If one person gets stuck and needs help from another specialist, the other person will be present in the team and will be available to deal with the issue much sooner and without a formal handoff.
- Increased and regular collaboration means problems can be solved faster. When we hit a problem that requires 3 people with different skills it will be faster for them to get together to address the issue. They will already be team members so will have relationships and understanding in place. Their responsibility is common and shared – develop a Done Increment each Sprint.
