Fluid Scrum Teams — An example

Here’s how fluid teams can self-organize to manage complexity

A while ago I introduced the concept of Fluid Scrum Teams. It sparked quite a discussion! Many responses were very positive and I am thankful for that. Others were reserved and some people were downright hostile to the idea.

What was the idea again? Well, fluid teams organize themselves based on the work at hand. Every time new topics need to be addressed, the larger pool of people organize themselves to optimize the chances to succeed with their challenges. The pool of people of 20 is a stable and cohesive team. They form smaller teams each Sprint to maximize their effectiveness.

To clarify the concept of Fluid Scrum teams, I will now discuss a practical example. With it, I show how it actually works. Meanwhile, I will address some concerns that I received as feedback on my article.

The main concerns were the following:

• Fluid teams are a nice idea in theory, but it will not work in practice. Especially in a well-established organisation.
• Fluid teams will lose cohesion and a sense of togetherness. They will cease to be a true team. As a result, they will be less effective than stable teams.
• Fluid teams will be fragmented in their focus and lose sight of the single objective.
• Fluid teams are (another) tool for management to abuse by assigning the people to specific tasks without…