One of the most important elements contributing to success in project management is the project team building. A great deal depends on the people, their knowledge, competence and skills, as well as experience, and how they perform their duties. A well-chosen team should also place great emphasis on the final product, meeting customer’s expectations. Concepts such as Agile management or Scrum are more often applied. What is Agile? Does it bring great benefits? How to create a good Scrum team? Read about it in the article below.
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Agile in a nutshell
Agile is a term used to describe the approach to project management, including software development, which means product delivery, teamwork, continuous planning and continuous learning. This idea was initiated in the Agile Manifesto in 2001 by programming practitioners who gathered to describe and apply this methodology in practice.
Agile values were characterized as 4 main points:
- people and interactions over processes and tools,
- functional software over documentation,
- cooperation with the client over formal arrangements,
- reacting to changes over following the plan.
Unfortunately, there is not one general approach that would work in any project. This is why a term Agile contains different practices, consistent with the manifesto values
Agile approach and nearshoring
The Agile methodology will be the ideal way to develop software in the nearshore model and help both you and your partner to address all challenges.
Remote collaboration with development teams working in the same or similar time zone, called nearshoring, can in fact bring both benefits and challenges. At JCommerce, using an agile approach, we help nearshoring teams improve communication, organization and the software development process itself.
In the case of remote teams, customers can quickly get used to daily communication and meetings using a variety of video conferencing tools. Consistent and clear communication with each team member is important. Agile methodologies and practices have changed the way teams work and impact IT nearshoring in a positive way, significantly contributing to the success of projects.
Scrum Approach
Scrum is the most popular and most often chosen agile framework, which focuses on the team’s self-organization and providing increasingly refined projects. In this approach, it is important to define a vision of the product, divide the project into iterations and tasks to be implemented by people from the Development Team who have the necessary competences.
Scrum describes in detail the distribution of tasks, from planning to delivery of the finished product, therefore the work is divided into individual stages:
- Sprint Planning
- Daily Scrum meetings,
- Sprint Review,
- Sprint Retrospective.
Let’s emphasize it: transparency is very important in this framework. Feedback on how the various stages of work are carried out, regardless of whether the implementation of tasks is successful or not — is the key to achieving the intended effect.
The team and responsibilities of members
· Scrum Team
The Scrum Team is the basic element of Scrum. It consists of a Scrum Master, Product Owner, as well as Developers who are not divided into small teams, but form a one team. Such a Scrum Team is small. When it comes to the number of people, usually it is up to 10. However, this is enough to finish most of the work within a Sprint.
Smaller teams are generally more productive and communicate better. The team is responsible for the activities related to the product and its structure and authority given to it by the organization allow Scrum Team to manage its own work.
· Product Owner
The Product Owner responsible for increasing the value of a given product resulting from work of the Scrum team. He is also responsible for the effective management of the Product Backlog, i.e.:
- development and clear communication of the Product Goal,
- creating and handing over individual elements of the Product Backlog
- maintaining order in Product Backlog,
- ensuring transparency and access to the Product Backlog.
Product Owner can perform his or her tasks on their own or delegate them to the respective people in the team. It will always be PO’s responsibility to deliver the result. The person in this position should be characterized by charisma, assertiveness, decision-making and be communicative.
· Scrum Master
Scrum Master – mainly responsible for ensuring that Scrum is implemented in accordance with the rules. responsible for the effectiveness of the team, helps its members in various ways, including:
- teaching them self-management and interdisciplinarity,
- helps to focus on creating valuable Increments – the sum of all increments creates a product,
- in the event of complications and difficulties that limit the team’s progress, strive to remove them,
- ensures that all subsequent stages in the Scrum are productive and delivered within the assumed time frame.
Through their responsibilities, of course, Scrum Master is a great help for the Product Owner, supporting cooperation with stakeholders when needed or when asked to do so. SM also helps to select techniques that allow you to effectively determine the Product Goal and manage the Product Backlog.
· Developers
Developers are responsible for creating a given increment in each subsequent Sprint. The scope of skills necessary for the Developer is wide and varies greatly depending on the project. However, a developer is always responsible for:
- creating Sprint Backlog, the action plan for the sprint,
- maintaining and ensuring the quality of work,
- organizing the daily work plan in such a way that the Sprint Goal was achieved,
- assigned tasks in the Sprint.
We’ve got the Scrum Team, what’s next?
It is good practice to build self-organizing teams by selecting people whose competences complement each other. Do not just combine a few random people and expect the desired results. In order to attract the right people to Agile team, we should consider the aspect of knowledge that we need. It is important that the cross-functional team has all the skills necessary to move from the idea to the implementation. Team members should have all essential skills. The team’s ability to organize itself around set goals is important for all agile methodologies, including Scrum.
A very important, if not crucial, element of work in the Scrum Team is the effective cooperation of its members. Only working together, can they achieve Sprint Goals and deliver valuable software. Team members should demonstrate commitment, determination, courage, openness and focus in their daily work. In a stressful work environment, people who are shy and prone to stress may not feel well in an agile team.
How to build a Scrum Team – summary
In some projects, despite seemingly perfect selection of Scrum Team members, not everything will go smoothly. We also need to pay great attention to the soft skills of candidates and build teams consisting of members having competencies that complement each other. Agile fosters building teams based on trust and ongoing communication, and here the Scrum Master plays an important role, striving to continuously improve processes. Then, the Product Owner and the team will be able to deliver a valuable, consistent final product.
