Agile by Design

Chapter 8Analytic Scrum Roles and Responsibilities

The team is the most important component of the Scrum framework, and its goal is simple: Deliver value to the customer. One of the fundamental differences in the agile development team approach is the focus on people skills over role definition. Scrum development teams self-organize around the work to be done and are cross-functional in nature. They are responsible for determining how the work is done and self-manage as the work is being performed.

As we noted earlier, the Scrum team composition is surprisingly simple, comprised of three key functions: the product owner (or sponsor), ScrumMaster, and the development team. The product owner determines what features the product will contain and the sequence for developing those features. The ScrumMaster guides the team in following Scrum processes. The development determines how features will be delivered based on the product owner's guidance. While there may be additional roles on your particular Scrum team, these are the three required roles within the Scrum framework. Figure 8.1 outlines people and process considerations for defining your new analytic Scrum team.

Figure 8.1 Analytic Scrum Role and Responsibility Considerations

Product Owner Description

In a typical Scrum project, the product owner provides the central point of product leadership and retains single authority ...