What Is the Best Size of a Scrum Team?

I remember my worst meeting with a customer as if it was yesterday. A public sector company. 26 people from various departments representing various interests showed up. After about half an hour, I realized that I was talking to 5 people. Others formed their groups and conducted lively conversations, completely detached from the discussed topic. They and I were wasting our time.

It is similar with Scrum Teams. The improperly selected size and composition (accountabilities) can drastically reduce productivity and lead to large waste. What are the rules?

The Scrum Guide explains that typically the Scrum Team does not exceed 10 people:

“The fundamental unit of Scrum is a small team of people, a Scrum Team (…) The Scrum Team is small enough to remain nimble and large enough to complete significant work within a Sprint, typically 10 or fewer people.” — Scrum Guide 2020

There’s no perfect size. Pick the size that works for you and your team. Try something, inspect and adapt. Be flexible.

Not so fast ;)

Yes, you can experiment with different formats of the meetings, but it’s not so easy for the Scrum Team. After all, how many Sprints would you need to try out all the available configurations? How would it affect your team (see: Forming, Storming, Norming and…