Agile Team Structure: Definition, Role, Team Building

By now, you know how agile methodology works and how you can pursue agile software development for better and faster product creation.

But to ensure the most compatibility with the Agile manifesto, it’s time for you to learn the perfect Agile development team structure that can get you an awesome team to work with. So let’s get started!

What Is An Agile Team?

An agile development team is a group of people who are cross-functional and self-organized to the point that the people in the team are enough for product iteration delivery without pulling for skills outside the group.

These team members can often be distributed through a contractor or freelancers, or they may join the team as part-time employees. Either way, the team members are dedicated people whose sole focus is a single project while following the agile framework.

When the current project has gone through all possible iterations before publishing the complete product, the team moves on to the next.

Characteristics of An Ideal Agile Team Structure

1. Cross-Functional

In an agile team, the skill set of every team member is unique. But, they put all their skills together as a team to work towards a common goal: creating a complete product.

2. Collaborative

Agile team members communicate with each other every step of the way to ensure complete transparency and that everyone is on the same page. The team members also take part in training by working with co-workers to learn new skills.

3. Non-Hierarchical

Agile teams don’t have any certain hierarchy. The team members are allowed to work autonomously and self-organize. The team members have their roles and responsibilities without any unnecessary upper management.

Roles In An Agile Team

Team Leader

The team leader’s task is to manage the entire team while providing them with the necessary resources for development. Team lead also keeps the team free from other influences and creates an environment where they solely focus on product development and improvement.

Product Owner

The product owner is the person who works as a bridge between developers and customers/ stakeholders. The product owner has the authority to demand changes in the product based on user stories and customer feedback, which the developers implement.

Team Member

Of course, these people are members of the agile team working on developing, testing, and marketing the product. Everyone brings unique skills, and their collaboration takes the agile approach.

After following the agile development process, the team members improve the product with every major release.

Stakeholder

A stakeholder may not be involved in the development process, but they can sway the final look and outcome of the product significantly. Stakeholders regularly communicate with the team leader, members, and even the product owner to provide their input for the product.

The feedback of stakeholders can influence the final product. Internal stakeholders are usually investors and senior-company executives.

Tester

Software testing is a huge part of the agile process, and this is one of the vital roles to have in a team, even when the product is non-software.

In software development, releasing a clean and fully functional product is important, and the tester ensures that while working with the in-house developer teams. Remember, the product should break in your hands than in the hands of a customer. Because that way, you can fix it easier.

Different Types of Agile Team Structures

It’s time to look at what an agile team looks like with different types of agile team structures.

1. Generalist

Just like the name suggests, a generalist team is where the members of an agile team has a general understanding of a wide variety of topics, or in simple terms, everyone here is a “jack of all trades.”

Due to the versatile nature of the team members, they can easily switch their work with one another and take on a diverse range of tasks. The biggest challenge with a team like this is to find suitable members who can take on any role on demand.

2. Specialist

This team composition is entirely different from a generalist team since everyone in this team has a specific set of skills to work with. Each team member is only responsible for the tasks that fall under their domain of expertise.

Each team member here is highly valuable since their additional expertise can lead to complex projects, high-quality software development, and release.

An issue with this kind of team is the unpredictability; team members often sit still without the next task in sight. The problem becomes even more severe in larger teams.

3. Hybrid

As the name implies, this mixes the previous two team structures. Here, the specialists create all the complex parts of the project, while the generalists put all these parts together to make sense of the project.

A hybrid agile team structure offers great flexibility and aligns with the ethos of Agile itself.

4. Parallel

In a parallel team, each member’s job switches after the team completes a sprint. This way, the team members can parallelly work on multiple projects simultaneously. But a team like this requires members with extensive training.

5. Transitioning Team

When your organization is going through an agile transformation, you should have a team ready to support the transition. That’s where the transitioning team comes in.

In a transitioning team, members are frequently switched out, with members trained in agile in favor of followers of the traditional method. During this time, other members are slowly introduced to different agile practices and methods to turn it into a habit.

6. Sub-Team

This can be considered a team structure within a part of a team. Sub-teams within the team are only assigned one particular task. This way, a large project gets broken down into digestible parts, and the work environment promotes more visibility and accountability throughout the project.

How To Build The Ideal Agile Team Structure

Now that you know how an ideal agile scrum team works, it’s time to start building your own. And the process is way easier than it may seem.

1. Choose The Ideal Model

Consider the skills of each of your team members. Then ask yourself about the model they would be a perfect part of. Another thing to consider is the size of your product. Align all the results together to determine the best team structure for the current project.

2. Assign Roles

Once the team has been formed, take your time to assess the strength and specialties of each team member. Once you have taken note of them all, you can start assigning roles according to the needs of your project. Remember, each team member is qualified to take on their assigned roles.

3. Stay Adaptable

An agile structure is designed to be flexible and adaptable to any change. When the development is in progress, constantly pay attention to the needs and requests of the team members. Make adjustments according to the needs of the team members and the product itself.

Challenges in Agile Team Management

Though the idea of working with an agile team sounds like a lot of fun, maintaining a team of diverse professionals has quite a few challenges.

• It’s very difficult to get a team where each team member’s skillset complements each other.
• Most people only like to work in their domain and are not flexible, so it’s tougher to find the right fit for your team.
• An agile structure is only good for a small team. If you have a larger project at hand that cannot be supported by a small team, you must look for additional agile specialized experts.

To Wrap It All Up

Working in an agile team structure works best when the team size is smaller, but it can be challenging to ensure team collaboration for fulfilling all the customer requirements and product goals.

But suppose you want to make the most of your product idea and deliver a successful product with maximum customer satisfaction. In that case, this is the best approach for your future agile projects.

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