How does Scrum Team work? A biology metaphor
Scrum Team is the logical consequence of Scrum processes, rules, and opportunities. How does it work? How does it create a software product and why is its quality so dependent on relations between people?
First we have to answer a simple question. Why do we use Scrum Teams at all? Agile Manifest is the determinant of how we work. This entails company’s organization and relations with Partners.
3 to 9 for quality
Agile does not determine methodology, that’s what frameworks are for. And Scrum is just one of them. Scrum determines the composition and variety of the team itself, though. Each team must be interdisciplinary and self-reliant; must beable to deliver working solutions.
A perfect team must have from 3 to 9 developers. These numbers have been estimated on the basis of scientific studies.
What the numbers ‘do’ is simply related to quality. Quality comes from effectiveness and that comes straight from personal relations. Small teams are more effective, because people simply know each other. They know their strengths, weaknesses, patterns of shortcomings. They cast spells making the everyday reality fun — this magic is commonly known as jokes. Other important facts shed light on direct relations. When the group of co-workers is small, the development of sub-groups and distractive behaviours is significantly limited.
Scrum Team as a biological organism
Every team is focused on a product and its value for the end-user. That’s because the team consists of highly specialized individuals. This genetic variety can be translated into higher resilience to bad decisions, low performance, toxic influence of the bad work habits from past projects or employers. In a nutshell — this genetic organism is immune to bad mutations.
As our Software Development Manager Jarosław Kroczek says:
Because of the small number of members and stability, the team is capable of receiving the unexpected changes from the Product Owner (and by the definition the ultimate PO is the Partner). Sometimes change can be happening in the project which is currently at hand, sometimes the evolution of the organism touches a new territory. And this territory has to be taken over, because the organism needs to expand and learn life.
Translating this into practice: when a Scrum Team has been making CRM for some time and the PO comes with an e-commerce project, this ‘new territory’ is like a breath of fresh air. New technologies, new challenges and working habits make the organism an everchanging biological entity. Genetic mutations (new team members, new technologies) combined with natural evolution (new territories) create a match made in heaven. Or rather in an evolution pit.
Changes and evolution are exciting. Each new construction in a sprint is a generation in the life of the team and could be explained as an opportunity to grow. We’ve created something. Now it’s evolving and the next generation is going to be more mature.
The guardian of the evolution itself is the genetics. Every change is stored in cells and through chemical reactions the true potential and creativity of the organism is shown to the world. In Scrum, the guardian (genetics) is the Scrum Master. Mutations necessary to grow and evolve take place at retrospectives. Mutations don’t happen in the vacuum, though. The catalyst of those mutations is called Product Owner. He or she is responsible for the business end of the evolution process and dictates the boundaries of the evolution process.
Why evolution works
Scrum Teams is constant because of the rules (Scrum) and it’s variable under the influence of evolution. Scrum Teams deliver working iterations of a software project within the boundaries of a project they’re working on. And by being the consultants of the ultimate Product Owner (the Partner) the team delivers the coherent vision for the solutions and functionalities.
And that’s why evolution and biological organisms which live according to its rules work. It’s logical. It gives the room for growth and respect that is expected from a professional environment. It respects variety and uniqueness, at the same time staying true to the guidelines.
Photo credits: XSolve, Flickr.
Originally published at www.xsolvesoftware.com on May 8, 2015.
