1

I have some doubts about development team:

  • When is it formed? Each sprint? Because in each sprint I may have different requirements.
  • It's necessary to keep all members on development team, if only need it for testing phase (e.g.: last week on sprint)?
  • A member can be allocated on different development teams, "at the same time"?

Appreciate your help =) Thanks

3 Answers 3

4

Organizing a team for Scrum development

When is it formed? Each sprint? Because in each sprint I may have different requirements.

One of the key principles of Scrum is that you form a team that has all the skills needed to convert a product backlog item (PBI) into potentially shippable code. The team members are cross-functional and self-organize to accomplish whatever is needed to be done to deliver a finished product. It takes time for team members to build trust and gel as a team. So, you should plan to keep a team relatively stable for longer periods of time. This is the way to get high performing teams.

It's necessary to keep all members on development team, if only need it for testing phase (e.g.: last week on sprint)?

Software development (or any knowledge work for that matter) is highly productive if handled by a skilled team that is highly motivated and allowed to focus on accomplishing one large business goal at a time. Such a team can often come up with better, faster and easier ways to solve the business problem. If you micromanage and think of it as tasks to be assigned to any free resource, you will get low productivity and an unhappy team.

A member can be allocated on different development teams, "at the same time"?

Software development (or any knowledge work for that matter) is best accomplished by people who focus on one thing at a time without any distractions. Even within one team, Scrum Masters try to keep team members from working on too many stories at a time. So, the answer to your above question is, no you should not plan to have team members assigned to different teams "at the same time".

Having said that, sometimes I have compromised on this for practical reasons. We had a database developer who had specialized knowledge and skills about the back-end. I had him assigned to help more than one team at a time. However, I had other team members shadow and learn the ropes so that we don't have to continue this practice.

0

Unfortunately your questions are so broad that it is apparent you have not read the Scrum Primer or other materials to help yourself.

To fully answer your question would be to completely educate you in Scrum including the ceremonies, artifacts and the values. That is before talking about Test Driven Development and other bolt-on improvements.

I have not voted to close your question, I suggest you do some reading and come back to edit your question to clarify anything that is still confusing you.

  • The Development Team exists for the entireity of the Project
  • The Sprint should have different requirements, that is the aim of the Product Backlog allowing a section of requirements to be understood and completed
  • Are your doubts about the professional ability of the team?
  • There is no "Testing" Sprint. Testing is inherent to every Sprint delivering shippable code.
  • Do you have a Product Owner? Are you the the PO?
  • Do you have a ScrumMaster? Are you the SM? Is your SM certified?
  • If no SM, who is coaching your team in Agile ways of work?

I could go on quizzing you but that is not constructive for either of us.

2
  • 1
    Thanks for your answer. I'm a master student and I only curious about agile project manager. Imagine that I want to use SCRUM in university work. I pick three students: a programmer, a data analyst and programmer also, and a specialist document writer to write user manual. A document writer need to wait for that will be designed and implemented by others. What I asked does not make any sense? Commented Apr 8, 2015 at 15:58
  • In that scenario; 3 people and documentation, I would not recommend Scrum. I would suggest asking a new question with the title "What is a suitable strategy for managing a team of 3 people,co-located, working on a start-up idea?" Commented Apr 8, 2015 at 16:01
0

Hopefully this helps drawing from my own experience being on scrum teams in different roles such as a Scrum master, a test engineer, and briefly as a product manager.

Your Questions, My Feedback:

When is it formed? After the product or project requirements are developed and the Product Owner has an idea of the user stories to present to the team.

Each sprint? Because in each sprint I may have different requirements. Requirements>Acceptance Criteria> User Stories. Break it in to chunks sprints are incremental. Research "well written acceptance criteria" and "well written user stories" it may help.

It's necessary to keep all members on development team, if only need it for testing phase (e.g.: last week on sprint)? Scrum is best for full software development life cycle. If you are running sprints and trying to do scrum just with the testing it's not going to work the best for you. Look into Kanban.

A member can be allocated on different development teams, "at the same time"? This is not ideal, but that is what capacity planning is for. Get estimates of what amount or percentage of time will be spent on the sprint at hand. Plan your hours around that.

Hope this was helpful, have a good one!

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.