Scrum team


Scrum teams are highly capable, committed and motivated. The scrum team is a small team. Typically less than 10 members. If larger teams are required, then they create multiple small teams. Scrum team comprises of;

  • Scrum master

  • Product owners

  • Developers


Developers

            1. Creating a plan for the sprint (sprint backlog)

            2. Adhering to definition of done

            3. Adapting their plan each day toward the sprint goal

            4. Holding each other accountable as professionals

Product owner

Product owner owns the product backlog which include creation, elaboration, prioritization, validation and value maximization. In other words, product owners primary role is product backlog grooming and value delivery. The product owner is considered as one who understands the functionality better than everybody else in the team. Here are the key roles and responsibilities of the product owner;

  • Accountable for maximizing the value of the product

  • Developing and explicitly communicating the product goal

  • Creating and clearly communicating the product backlog items

  • Prioritizing the product backlog items

  • Maintaining the clarity, transparency and the visibility of the product backlog

Scrum master

Scrum master service to the team

  • Scrum master is a true servant leader

  • Scrum master is accountable for following Scrum within the project

  • They help everyone, both internal to the project and external to the project to understand the scrum theory and practice.

  • Scrum master is accountable for the scrum teams effectiveness

  • One of the primary responsibilities of the Scrum master is to remove impediments faced by the team

  • They ensure that the scrum events happen properly as planned

Scrum master service to the product owner

  • Product goal definition support

  • Product backlog management support

  • Empirical product planning support

  • Facilitating stakeholder collaboration

Scrum master service to the Organization

  • Leading, training and coaching the organization

  • Planning and advising scrum implementations within the organization

  • Establishing and maintaining an empirical culture

  • Improving collaboration across functions


There is no hierarchy within the scrum team. It is highly cohesive team working towards achieving the product goal. All the members of the scrum team should have the same product owner, same product backlog and same product goals. When working in a sprint their main goal would be meeting the sprint goal. Scrum teams are cross functional in nature and at the same time everyone is known as a team member only. Scrum teams are also self organizing. Like in traditional projects, there will not be anybody to allocate work. The team decides who will do what based on their capabilities and availability. All the product related activities from stakeholder collaboration verification, maintenance, operation, prototyping, research and development and anything else that might be required to make the sprints successful are performed by the scrum team. This calls for lot of autonomy and empowerment.

The entire scrum team is responsible for the success and failure of the sprint. A sprint is considered as successful, when the sprint goal is met.


Reference : Scrum guide 2020