Futuristic Agile Teams: Learn from cricket

Over the last couple of months, I have had the opportunity to listen to and speak with people on topics like - the future of a scrum master, self organizing teams, high performing teams, full stack engineer ...

It set the thoughts rolling in me - can we learn from others? We (I mean the tech sector folks) generally believe that everything we do is new - which no man or woman (outside of the tech world) have ever solved or even encountered.

Growing in India, cricket has become an integral part of my life. Having seen the team from Pataudi's men-in-white to Virat Kohli men-in-blue, I thought they provide a fascinating way to look at teams.

The next few sections in this post - may appear very simple, but they serve an important purpose - set the right context for the end sections.

The Agile Team of Today

A typical agile team has a product owner and possibly some analysts (and given the onsite-offshore model - a proxy product owner and analysts at times), some developers, some testers, a scrum master. Then there are various other flavors - like UI/ UX designers, architects, performance test specialists who may be included in the team. I call them flavors because - they all are variants or specialization or high value resources of the original lot. Then there is the Agile coach, the Engineering Managers, the People managers, the Program managers and so on...

The cricket team

They need to have players who can bowl, bat and field. They have a specialist fielding role - of a wicket keeper. There are many flavors among the above players. The team has a captain. They have a coach (and some specialist sub-coaches - like a fielding coach or a bowling coach). They have a manager - who takes care of the non-cricketing activities, primarily.

Analyzing the cricket team

The captain's position

He's the first among equals in the team. As the leader of the team - he has some specific privileges and specific accountability. However, his position in the team is due to the fact that he's a player first, captain next.

The fielder's role

Have you seen some-one being selected for being just a fielder in the team? None. All the batsmen and bowlers double up as fielders.

So, does it mean that fielding is not as important as bowling and batting then? In fact, it is far from it, isn't it. If you field poorly - the batsmen will have to do a lot more to score those extra runs; the bowlers will have to bowl even more overs and even more accurately OR vice-versa, you will have plenty to do on the field if you bowl and/ or bat poorly. So, a good team would bat and bowl well - so that it has less fielding to do, isn't it.

The specialist wicket-keeper

A wicket keeper, by virtue of the nature of this game, is a must. It's a specialist fielder's role (In a techie world - the wicket-keeper is a derivative class of the base class - fielder!).

How many of them today make it into a team - just as a wicket-keeper? Rarely, anyone. They invariably double up as a batsman, even if wicket-keeping is their primary role.

The team on the field

They all go to the field with a game plan. But, they know the opposing team and the field conditions are going to change it all. So they dynamically, adapt to the evolving situation.

Despite all that, they have a role to play. They all play their role - the captain does not come and tell them, what to do or what not to do, all the time.

They have such good understanding, that the fielders on their own adjust to what is needed - based on the way the bowler is bowling, the way the opposition is playing, their need, and the field conditions. [Of course there's a role for the captain, but a good bowler - will be able to set a right field himself.]

They have a simple goal - stop the opponents march; and end it quickly. If they do a lousy job of fielding they are going to spend a lot more energy bowling and batting.

The learning inference

Some of you are not going to agree on this. But this is my forecast for the best performing teams of the future.

1. The scrum master's role - is akin to the captain's role. It accords a few extra privileges and added accountability - to a player who can be effective in enabling the team to perform to its full potential. He/ she will be a part of the team, based on their ability to either define or develop the product. No more, just a scrum master.
2. Everybody's a fielder. There's no fielder-only players. They are primarily a batsman or a bowler - some more capable as a fielder, and others more capable as a batsman/ bowler. The job of testing is akin to fielding. When you bat well and bowl well - your load as a fielder is reduced. That means - you define the requirement well and develop the product well, to minimize your testing effort. No more, independent testers in the team.
3. So, what does it mean to be a specialist wicket-keeper, then? Well, the role also involves being a batsman as well. So it means that if there are specific needs for an independent tester - he/ she needs to be doubling up as an analyst or developer.
4. So what about batsmen and bowlers? They are like the ones who define the product/ the requirements at one end and the other one is like the developer/ the designer. Those who understand and define the need and those who convert it into a working product are interdependent and work together to win. Both are equally important - if one has an off-day, the other will step-up, because together they win!
5. By now you are ready to define the all-rounders!

In Conclusion

A well performing team, is going to be self-organizing - just like the cricket team. They are going to depend on their ability to clarify ambiguity in the requirements effectively and match it with a quality design and development job - like good bowlers and batsmen. In thus working, they will reduce their own testing load, as there will be no separate set of testers (unfortunate prediction for the testing community!) When there's a specific need for a specialist - like a wicket-keeper, he/she will double up as an analyst/ developer. They will need no independent scrum-master, just like the team captain, they will also captain the team (bad luck for scrum-only masters! and great for those who believe in actually contributing.)

In short - the best development team will carry no additional management overhead, so no separate scrum-master. Those who define and those who create the product - together as a team will ensure - that they build the right product right! Quality is everyone's job and hence no need for a separate tester.

I am sure some of you think this simplification will not work. (Remember, those of you who have worked with some Japanese customers, have never heard of the concept of User Acceptance Test.) In my opinion, such a team will be a high value adding team - all muscle with very little fat or flab!

I believe this is entirely do-able with the current millennium generation, the way they think of work, leadership, value addition, and collaboration. They do not carry the baggage of the command-and-control structure, in which, the earlier generation is steeped in.

I am sure there are others who believe this is do-able, albeit with some re-imagining on their part. In any case, I wish to hear your perspective and prediction.