The Scrum Team comprises these specific roles, namely Product Owner, Scrum Master, and the Developers. The Developers include software engineers, testers, UX specialists, graphic designers, DevOps engineers, etc.
All these roles differ from the traditional software paradigm. The roles are clearly defined so that the individuals can play their roles efficiently. In addition, the Scrum Team is also cross-functional that helps teams to learn and scale at the professional level.
The Scrum Team has a Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Developers. Ideally, the team has to be small of size +/- 7 members. This helps the team to communicate effectively and stay more productive. This team will not have any hierarchies, but they have well-defined roles to perform.
The Scrum team works towards one common Product Goal. They are a cross-functional team, so the team members have the necessary skills to work. They are also a self-managing team, which implies the team decides on their duties and moves away from the “command and control” mode of working.
The Scrum Team takes responsibility for all the related activities and empowered to decide on how to manage their work. They are accountable for creating a product increment at the end of every sprint and deliver a business value to the customer.
The Scrum Master plays an important role in the Agile delivery process. The Scrum Master is the “servant leader”, a facilitator, a coach, a mentor who ensures that the teams are focused and aligned towards the Project and Sprint goals while supporting them in removing impediments and blockers. The Scrum Master also helps the Product Owner in keeping the Product Backlogs in order. The Scrum Master reinforces the adoption of the Scrum framework, Scrum values, principles, and practices. The Scrum Master also stays flexible, encourages open-communication, and facilitates the change for the benefit of the team.
A great Scrum Master establishes trust and collaboration among the members of the team and builds a high-performing team. This helps to get the best final product to the customer.
The Product Owner in the Agile team plays a pivotal role in ensuring the Product Vision is achieved by delivering the most valuable items with high-priority to the customer. The Product Owner tells the developers and other stakeholders “what” is required to finish the sprint activities.
The Product Owner bridges the customer’s vision and the Product’s vision by delivering incremental value to the customer in every sprint. The Product Owner also manages the stakeholder’s expectations within the organisation by working with all of them, get their inputs, and prioritise the work.
Since a change in the Agile team may lead to a larger impact from team structure to end product, one person who is responsible for key Product decisions and sets priority, the Product Owner is important in balancing the act.
The Development Team consists of Developers, the people who take care of “how” to deliver the project work. They are not just software engineers but also include UX specialists, graphics designers, testers, DevOps engineers, etc. This team has skillful resources in order to accomplish the sprint goal.
The developers ensure that the work items are moved to the “done” state at the end of the sprint, demoed to all the stakeholders, take the feedback and incorporate them in the upcoming sprints following the “inspect and adapt” Agile best practices. They are empowered to self-manage, make decisions for efficient product increment delivery.