Agile Team Considerations
Considerations When Setting Up Successful Agile Software Delivery Teams
Executive Brief
by Stevie Borne
Considerations When Setting Up Successful Agile Software Delivery Teams
When creating Agile software delivery teams, it’s important to have the right set of skills to ensure the team can be successful.
What This Means…
This means there needs to be more than just developers on the software delivery team. When using the Scrum framework, it is common practice to stick to the three key roles defined in the Scrum Guide, to include:
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Product Owner
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ScrumMaster
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Developers
We will explore these three key roles, in addition to the additional roles not mentioned in the guide that help agile software delivery teams be successful. You do not need every single role on each agile team. However, you do need to carefully consider each of these skillsets and determine if they are needed for your team or not.
The Complete Agile Team Includes…
- Section 1: The Developers
- Section 2: The Quality Assurance Expert
- Section 3: The User Experience Expert
- Section 4: The Automation Expert
- Section 5: The Scrum Master
- Section 6: The Subject Matter Expert
- Section 7: The Business Analyst
- Section 8: The Delivery Manager
Section 1: The Developers
“There is no magic number of developers needed on an agile team, although fewer than seven is often ideal.”
The Developers
It’s clear that for any software delivery team to be successful, the team needs developers with the proper technical skills. Often this is one of the easiest roles to fill.
You may need a mix of front-end and back-end technical skills, depending on the software being developed. There is no magic number of developers needed on a team.
It’s more important that each developer is available full-time to a single team, so they can remain focused on one body of work and available as other team members may need help.
Section 2: The Quality Assurance Expert
“Developers look at software in terms of “how do I make it work like this?” QA experts approach the same software in terms of “how can I break it?”
Ensuring Quality – The Quality Assurance Expert
In addition to developers, successful software delivery teams also need people with quality assurance (QA) expertise.
Some may argue that developers can do all the testing needed for a team. While it may technically be true that developers can write and execute tests, developers often do not think about what needs to be tested in the same way as QA experts do.
Developers look at software in terms of “how do I make it work like this?”. QA experts approach the same software in terms of “how can I break it?”. Both perspectives are needed to create robust, high quality software.
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Section 3: User Experience
“If you want to build a product that captures your user in a positive way, then you want to be sure to include a UX/UI Designer on your software delivery team.”
The User Experience Expert
In some cases, there is a need for a User Experience/User Interface (UX/UI) Designer on an Agile delivery team.
This is true when building a product that you want your consumers to enjoy interacting with. A UX/UI team member understands what is important to consumers as they navigate websites and products. There are specific design patterns, accessibility needs to consider, and typical user behaviors that require UX/UI expertise.
UX/UI Designers create application screen mockups, gather customer feedback, and ensure best practices are followed when designing a product. If you want to build a product that captures your user in a positive way, then you want to be sure to include a UX/UI Designer on your software delivery team.
Section 4: The Automation Expert
“It matters less about which ‘role’ has this expertise and more that this necessary skillset is part of your team.”
Automate! Automate! Automate!
This is a mantra all successful Agile teams live by.
Automation includes having automated tests for the code written, automated build and deploy processes, and automating any other manual steps possible to improve efficiency and reduce human error. Successful Agile software delivery teams have at least one automation expert on the team.
This can be one of the developers, a QA team member, and/or a DevOps team member. It matters less about which “role” has this expertise and more that this necessary skillset is part of your team.
Section 5: The Scrum Master
“The Scrum Master is a coach for the delivery team, keeping them focused on completing the desired deliverables, and helping the team remove obstacles that impede their progress.”
Scrum
When using Scrum it’s important to have someone in the Scrum Master role to keep the team focused on building the right product using Scrum in appropriate ways.
The Scrum Master is a coach for the delivery team, keeping them focused on completing the desired deliverables, and helping the team remove obstacles that impede their progress. Scrum Masters also guide the team on how best to use Scrum and keep an Agile mindset, so the team can be successful.
This is more than a project manager or meeting facilitator role. Successful Scrum Masters must also have coaching skills in order to effectively navigate team dynamics. Scrum Masters need to motivate, inspire, and hold the team accountable.
Section 6: The Subject Matter Expert
“Whether using Scrum or not, successful Agile software delivery teams need a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the product being built. In Scrum, this is the Product Owner role.”
The SME
The SME defines the product vision, prioritizes the features, and articulates the detailed requirements for the delivery team. This person needs to be highly available to work with the delivery team on a daily basis.
They also need to have the ability to think strategically about the product, while communicating the detailed requirements of each feature. It is crucial for the person in this role to have effective story writing skills. In many situations, the Scrum Master coaches the subject matter expert/Product Owner on how to write effective stories for the team, since this may be a new skill for them.
If the subject matter expert/Product Owner doesn’t have the bandwidth to do this level of detailed work, then another role is also needed on the team. That is the role of the Business Analyst.
Section 7: The Business Analyst
“There is some debate within the Agile community on the role of a Business Analyst (BA) on Agile teams. Some argue that a Product Owner (PO) can do the work of a typical BA.”
BA or PO?
There is some debate within the Agile community on the role of a Business Analyst (BA) on Agile teams. Some argue that a Product Owner can do the work of a typical BA.
Others believe that BA’s are crucial to translating the ideas from the Product Owner/subject matter expert to details for the delivery team to execute against. BA’s on successful Agile software delivery teams do more than just transcribe ideas and requirements into user stories.
BA’s work closely day to day with the developers and QA experts to answer questions in the moment, as they arise. This means BA’s need to have decision-making authority so the delivery team can keep moving forward as quickly as possible. BA’s and Product Owners can work well together on the same team. In these situations, the Product Owner stays focused on the strategic, big picture of the product while the BA manages the daily, detailed requirements.
Section 8: The Delivery Manager
“The key to bringing it all together is the Delivery Manager.”
One final role that may not seem necessary at first is a Delivery Manager.
“What is a Delivery Manager?”
A Delivery Manager is a leader that acts as a jack-of-all-trades to help in whatever ways the team needs. Most often this person has strong project management skills, with software delivery expertise.
Breaking Down The DM
A Delivery Manager must be comfortable working in an Agile team environment so they can remain flexible to adjust to the specific team needs. This role goes beyond a Scrum Master role in that Delivery Managers are not focused on ensuring the team successfully uses Scrum, but that all the various elements of the software delivery process are working well together.
For instance, a Delivery Manager may keep an eye on the budget, timeline, and scope of the overall project/product and communicate that regularly with key stakeholders. In this way, they act more like a Project Manager.
It’s imperative that the Delivery Manager works closely with the Scrum Master and the Product Owner/subject matter expert so as not to duplicate efforts of either of those roles. The work a Delivery Manager does to support the team varies greatly from project to project, which is why it’s imperative that they are a seasoned software development leader. The Delivery Manager is one of the only part-time roles on an Agile delivery team. This person won’t be involved in the day to day details of the team but will provide a key organizational and leadership role.
In Conclusion
A sample Agile software delivery team may include a part-time Delivery Manager and the following full-time people:
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4-5 Developers (1 w/extensive automation expertise)
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2 Quality Assurance Experts
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1 User Experience/User interface Designer
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1 Product Owner
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1 Scrum Master
There are numerous ways to staff an Agile software delivery team, based on project needs, technologies used, timeline, and budget. In some situations, people may have multiple skills represented in this list. What’s most important is that you have the right skillsets filled, based on your project needs, as outlined in this article.
Intertech has consultants that cover all of these skillsets with years of experience successfully delivering projects. We also provide coaching and guidance for how best to setup successful Agile software delivery teams or adjust existing team structures to be more successful.
About Intertech Executive Brief
Intertech publishes original articles, reports and periodicals that provide insights for business leaders. Our goal is to draw upon research and experience from throughout our professional services organization, to include consulting and training, as well as coauthors in academia and business throughout the world, to advance the understanding of important principles of interest to executives throughout the IT world.
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