A Complete Guide to Build a High-Performing Agile Team

When you have an aspiring idea of creating a digital product for your company, it is necessary to have an Agile team. In this vivid world, software needs to be more innovative & problem-solving to accompany market needs. One thing we can say is that having a team that is built for adaptation is highly beneficial – and this is exactly what Agile does. The Agile team is different from the traditional team in terms of everything.  

There are several benefits of choosing an Agile team instead of a traditional working team –

• Better Interaction :

The basic advantage of working with an Agile team is the regular interaction of team members. It brings every member to the same page while working on a particular project.

• Better Process-flow :

You can divide the process into small parts for dedicated team members. You can likewise change your process by rearranging the task order from vital to secondary. It makes your process Seamless.

• Better accountability :

One of the main issues with traditional project management is the lack of accountability. So, an Agile team trying to fill the gaps left by the traditional project management/ waterfall methodology.

An agile team follows the standard scrum framework

Remember, Agile project management is a vast management style that has many variations. So, the scrum framework is recommended for Agile teams- although many Agile teams do not follow the scrum framework. We can define a scrum framework that develops a system through repeated cycles and creates work output in smaller parts. The standard scrum framework allows us to keep our eyes on the process, filter the issues, make changes to resolve the issue & redefine our work.

It is essential to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of your new Agile team. An Agile team sticks to the scrum framework, that’s why every role is different & important. So, Let’s glance at some roles that add value to an Agile team.  

• Product Owner(PO)

A Product owner is a key player in the project, who knows the products & clients very well. A Product owner is responsible for the internal side of the development. The product owner must prioritize the work to increase return on investment (ROI). Product owners make the decisions regarding what features should be delivered within the scope of the project depending on budget and deadline.

• Scrum Master

The word defines itself as a master, a leader, or a coach. The scrum masterworks for the team to improve productivity, maintain proper communication, and resolve issues that are road blockers in the project. The scrum master’s main objective is to follow the Product owner’s instructions & make sure that they are well implemented in the process.

• Development Team

If software development is a movie then the development team members are the stars of the film. The development team plays a major role in helping estimate the work items and their tasks. It determines how much work the team can perform each sprint.

An ideal Agile development team consists of-

• Business Analyst :

Business Analysts (BAs) are responsible for gathering information and documents as per the requirements of the team. Business analysts are working with the development team. A Business analyst fully understands the user stories and guides the team in any way they can deliver.

• UI/UX designer :

An ideal Agile team has an Agile team member who creates design and graphic elements for a project. The role of UI/UX designer is very critical because he’s the one who should have a clear understanding of product vision and its requirements.

• Technical Lead :

A technical lead is managing design-related technology solutions. A technical lead is responsible for breaking down processes into small parts & dividing them into appropriate members of the team. It makes the decision-making process easier.

• Developers :

Developers are the ones who take responsibility for estimating, planning, and managing all tasks and reporting on progress. In the least words, Developers are at the heart of the Agile team in making sure the team performs the agreed-upon work during each sprint within the deadlines.

• QA Analyst :

An Agile team runs smoothly with its strong QA resources. Quality analysts are part of the agile team that writes test cases from the inputs of PO. If any errors or issues are found during testing, the QA resource should create a document and ensure the bugs found during testing get priority.

Agile team way

Sprint planning, Daily scrum & Team Retrospective are the prime parts of the structure of an ideal Agile team. In simple words, sprints are smaller parts of the project, also called iterations. Each sprint consists of tasks that are necessary to reach the final project. So, the team is working on sprints, and when they finish, they move on to the next sprint. In case of the necessity of changes, they can return and make the required changes, adapting to what the end-user needs.

• Sprint planning

Sprint planning is nothing but a general discussion of dividing appropriate work among team members. The Product Owner should communicate with the members about their vision and what’s their approach towards the iteration of this upcoming sprint. Sprint planning includes the discussion regarding breaking down the project into manageable tasks & making sure it is completed within the deadline.

• Daily Scrum

Every day, the Agile team should meet (online/  offline) for 15 minutes. Make sure that every member is present during meeting. In daily scrum, Each member presents what they did yesterday, what they intend to do today, and what are the road-blockers in their process. The Scrum Master will help the group eliminate these road-blockers. This daily scrum helps every individual in the Agile team because from this-every individual understands their short-term goal.

• Team Retrospective

The Scrum Master typically facilitates the retrospective after the completion of sprints. The things going our way, the things that need to change & keep doing these things in upcoming sprints- These are the key objectives to accommodate a team retrospective. Along with the scrum master’s thoughts, every member’s opinion/feedback matters in the retrospective meeting.

Tools used during the process

Flexibility is one of the most helpful assets of success. The best way to get success is to arrange tools that help track the project and organize the team’s progress. For communication purposes Agile team works with- MS Teams, Google chats, flock, Stack & many more. For Project management purposes: they are working with Asana, Monday, Jira, Zoho projects, Wrike & many more.

The Blobstation way

Blobstation: Our aims to provide better responsiveness to changing business needs. And thus focuses on enabling teams to deliver in workable increments. We have a pool of in-house resources that enables flexibility in work, increases agility & enhances communication to fasten your software development process. To achieve our goals in communication, we use Google chat. To keep up a standard flow for project management, we use Jira.

If You want to know more about our working pattern & approach towards the project, Request us to book a discovery call at contact@blobstation.com.

In ending,
There’s no such thing as a comparison between an Agile team & a traditional working team. Nowadays almost every software development company has its Agile team that maximizes the output. Having an Agile team boosts your productivity & reduces turnaround times. It helps to build a seamless development process.

Did you know the reasons behind the startup failures? Is it because they don’t have an Agile team? Don’t be part of the 70% of startups that struggle. Let us help you!  If you need talented developers who understand your process better, contact us! We will make your choice worthy!

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