While setting up an agile process, teams become central to the planning and design phase. Agile product teams are typically built around squads allowing them to scale up in case workload increases. Each squad is comprised of ten or fewer people, including one product owner, coach and a development team. Agile development teams may vary depending on project scope and size. Roles described below are illustrative.
Decision-maker responsible for the vision, the backlog and the value delivered by the Product team.
Leader responsible for making sure agile practices and rules are applied by the team.
Work happens simultaneously, not sequentially, which allows for greater flexibility
Needed capabilities are gathered upon set up, which ensures the right skills are available for execution.
Cross-collaboration is emphasised, which helps the team move faster.
Team morale improves, as it is designed to maximise communication and teamwork.
Some roles (e.g. service owners, designers) which have overall view of the product / service should not be outsourced to ensure delivery success and consistency.
While designing teams, mixed reporting lines of resources should be avoided to maintain clear accountability.
Ensure that the squads are focused on launching one product / feature.
Resources within a team should be dedicated full time. Part-time resource allocation can hinder timely progress due to multiple reporting lines.
Development is broken down into time boxed iterations named “Cycles” (1-4 weeks each)
Helps visualise sprint backlog and typically includes post-its on a whiteboard (to-do, WIP and done).
Teams breakdown features requirements into “user stories” that describe what customers want.
Set period of time that a team works towards completing a goal.
User stories recorded but not moved to development, are stored in the icebox.
Teams typically leverage project management (e.g., Jira or Trello), or collaborations (e.g., Slack, confluence) tools.