Midway Project Transition: Master Your Project Agility With Agile Team Structure

Entrepreneurial Adultery is not a crime! Now you know how to smartly move on with your midway project transition and choose an Agile Software Development Company as your new vendor.?

In my last article, you saw the difference between Being Agile vs Doing Agile; you must implement Agile methodology and not just accept it for your business transformation.?

Now, while you are pretty clear with the Agile transformation, one thing that is barely covered is the structure of the Agile Team. In the last article of my series, I am here to discuss how the Agile team structure works. To add on, I’ll share some insights on the key roles and liabilities of the right kind of Agile Team.?

Let me share my experience how I envisioned Bacancy, some 10 years ago, to become the top Agile & Lean Software Development Company in India. I took the responsibility of setting the structure of my Agile team. Having an adaptive approach, Agile works with a row of sprints; thus following its core objective of making complex projects easy.?

I divided my very first project into several iterations or sprints. The entire development team worked on these sprints with effective sprint planning under the guidance of the Scrum Master.?

Consequently, the Agile team structure that I am going to discuss today will help you trace how a project progresses by Backlogs, Sprint reviews, and Ceremonies. This is to highlight the importance of Agile, i.e., to seek consistent room for improvement, thereby obtaining quality results.?

Characteristics of Agile Team Structure

The Agile team structure is a framework which depicts how the diverse facets of a team function in an Agile project. Simply put, the structure is a foundational model that helps Agile teams organize their operations, thus giving clarity where everyone has knowledge about their responsibilities so that they can respond to changes rapidly and efficiently.?

Analyze your team and train them in the following direction so that you end up with a shining Agile Team.?

1. Cross-functional: An ideal agile team structure is always cross-functional. Each of your team members has some unique expertise. However, everyone works towards a common goal, thus delivering products on time to satisfy customers.?
2. Collaborative: Cross-functional Agile team flourishes when it comes to open communication and collaboration. Few of your team members may even participate in cross-training by working with colleagues. Such team members are referred to as T-shaped. The horizontal line represents the general understanding of several skills, and the vertical line represents their chief prowess.?
3. Non-hierarchical: The next chief element involves non-hierarchical. Agile teams consist of a flat structure where individuals are provided with the autonomy to work freely without any restrictions. When you have a small group, each of your team members holds a defined responsibility and role. Ensure that you eliminate all the inappropriate and unnecessary layers of monitoring to promote self-management effectively.?

Roles & Responsibilities Of An Agile Team?

Agile teams have an incredible sense of urgency that is hard to match. This is because the core value of Agile Teams involves change. They know exactly how quickly the software market evolves in today's date. Considering this, agile teams employ adaptive planning to execute dynamic software development.?

Every role on the Agile team is different, or I would rather say each of these roles have different names based on the methodology used. However, certain roles are highly comprehensive, and having an idea of their contribution is important.?

A few common agile roles include,?

1.Team Lead/ Scrum Master?

Your team lead acts as a coach who is held accountable for guiding the entire team. You will appoint the team lead from your hired Agile Software Development company. The team lead gains resources when needed and eliminates impediments that obstruct the team from doing their work. The team lead role often encircles soft skills of project management more than technical skills and planning, which are often allocated to the entire team very often.?

Team lead is also referred to as the Scrum Master in teams that implement Scrum (an Agile framework that helps teams build and deliver complex products). However, do not confuse the team leads or Scrum master with the team manager. The role is more encompassing responsibilities and knowledge beyond its rank.?

2. Team Member

Your team members from the partnered development company are responsible for building and delivering the project. Team members usually comprise Quality Analysts, developers, and UX designers. They are responsible for project planning, designing, developing, testing, and delivering. They usually range from 3-7 in strength with different expertise and knowledge.?

3. Product Owner/ Active Stakeholder

You are the Product Owner or the "key" Stakeholder of your project. You represent the voice of your customers or end-users. I see this role as responsible for backlog and facilitating the ROI (return on investment). Your responsibilities include documenting requirements or user stories for the project.?

4. Other Stakeholders

If I break this term, a Stakeholder is generally not directly engaged in the project activities but plays a vital role. This person will regularly collaborate with the team lead, product owner(yourself), and your team members to provide critical feedback in the development process. The stakeholder’s feedback throws a significant impact on your project results. Stakeholders comprise a wide category of people: end-users, investors, portfolio managers, executive teams, independent testers, enterprise architects, or subject matter experts.?

Besides these, Agile teams generally have augmented cast members called upon to offer domain or technical expertise for certain skills that might not exist among the current team members. And anyway, we do not expect you- the product owners, to be experts in each domain. This is exactly where domain experts enter the play to assist teams with specific requirements.?

Well, I behold immense pride in sharing how Bacancy transformed from a small group of 10 members to today, with 800+ Agile Bacancyers. Beyond a doubt, each of the Bacancyers is a firm Agile follower in its own right.

I hope you enjoyed this series of midway vendor transition. Do reach out to me if my journey moved you. Share comments if there’s anything that you might like to know more about Agility or Leadership.?

Always happy to reverberate with Agile!?

Love,

#EmpoweringWithChandresh