In Scrum, only 3 roles are prescribed; Product Owner, Scrum Master and Developer (Team Member). It suggests that we let go of our traditional roles (and job titles) to form an embedded team, that collaborates and cross-skills.
“All developers are equal, but some developers are more equal than others”
I have spoken to several project and delivery managers who struggle to envisage this approach working in the real world. Their opinion is typically that contrary to Scrum’s idealistic vision, in practice they need to be able to map specialisations (and therefore, roles) into a project team to ensure that the relevant skills and experience are present to set it up for success.
They assert that the hard reality is that not everyone is a “superstar” that is able to generalise (certainly to the standard required) and that Scrum doesn’t work in its purest (or purist) form with team members of varying levels of ability. For example, a dedicated tester may be adept at test-automation, whereas a junior C# developer may lack this experience. Your project will vary in quality and speed of delivery depending on the composition of the team.
Discussion
I’d be interested to hear how people have addressed (the perception of) this issue and how they try to ensure each of their Scrum teams has the right mix of skills to guarantee success?
Please share your thoughts and experience by posting your comments below. 🙂
Setchu - Agile at Scale 