THE SCRUM TEAM SIZE
There is one thing to know about Scrum teams: size matters. And testers would know this very well. If it’s too small, then it’s going to be challenging to meet deadlines. If it’s too big, then the team could get tangled up in dependencies and miscommunication. So what’s the right size, then? And how are testers affected with team size?
The Development Team, According to the Scrum Guide
First, let’s revisit how the Scrum Guide defines the Development Team:
‘The Development Team consists of professionals who do the work of delivering a potentially releasable Increment of the product at the end of each Sprint.’
Note that the Scrum Guide calls the Development Team members simply as “professionals”. This is because Scrum does not recognise titles. While it definitely describes the Scrum team to be cross-functional, it also emphasises on how “accountability belongs to the Development Team as a whole”. So regardless of whether you’re a technical architect, a programmer, a data engineer, a business analyst, or a tester, you’re known in Scrum as a developer.
The development team is cross-functional and have the skills needed to develop the product. The Development Team are also self-organising. The Product Owner, the Scrum Master, and even the customers can’t tell the Development Team how to transform the Product Backlog into smaller, potentially releasable product increments. After all, it is the Development Team who have the skills and technical knowledge to make the product happen, and the organisation they work in should be conducive for them to form the synergy needed to come up with the best decisions for the team.
Even though the synergy needed to build the product will depend on things like trust, respect, and communication, the number of people involved is also a factor in making or breaking that synergy.
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course:
Course Contents
Section 1: Agile Project Management
Section 2: Using the Agile Manifesto to Deliver Change
Section 3: The 12 Agile Principles
Section 4: The Agile Fundamentals
Section 5: The Declaration of Interdependence
Section 6: Agile Development Frameworks
Section 7: Introduction to Scrum
Section 8: Scrum Projects
Section 9: Scrum Project Roles
Section 10: Meet the Scrum Team
Section 11: Building the Scrum Team
Section 12: Scrum in Projects, Programs & Portfolios
Section 13: How to Manage an Agile Project
Section 14: Leadership Styles
Section 15: The Agile Project Life-cycle
Section 16: Business Justification with Agile
Section 17: Calculating the Benefits With Agile
Section 18: Quality in Agile
Section 19: Acceptance Criteria and the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 20: Quality Management in Scrum
Section 21: Change in Scrum
Section 22: Integrating Change in Scrum
Section 23: Managing Change in Scrum
Section 24: Risk in Scrum
Section 25: Risk Assessment Techniques
Section 26: Initiating an Agile Project
Section 27: Forming the Scrum Team
Section 28: Epics and Personas
Section 29: Creating the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 30: Conduct Release Planning
Section 31: The Project Business Case
Section 32: Planning in Scrum
Section 33: Scrum Boards
Section 34: Sprint Planning
Section 35: User Stories
Section 36: User Stories and Tasks
Section 37: The Sprint Backlog
Section 38: Implementation of Scrum
Section 39: The Daily Scrum
Section 40: The Product Backlog
Section 41: Scrum Charts
Section 42: Review and Retrospective
Section 43: Scrum of Scrums
Section 44: Validating a Sprint
Section 45: Retrospective Sprint
Section 46: Releasing the Product
Section 47: Project Retrospective
Section 48: The Communication Plan
Section 49: Formal Business Sign-off
Section 50: Scaling Scrum
Section 51: Stakeholders
Section 52: Programs and Portfolios