Module #3: Roles

The majority of adoptions of an Agile approach have common roles identified which, for some, mean a major change in how they envision their work while not as much for others.

Product Contact, Facilitator, and Manager: While many Agile adoptions use the terms Product Owner and Scrum Master, more generic terms are used here. This topic covers

• the Product Contact’s fundamental role in defining and communicating customer requirements,
• the Team Facilitator’s responsibilities and challenges in helping teams become more effective, and
• the often not discussed, but important, role of Managers in an Agile adoption, including the change in the Project Manager role.

Development Team Roles: The members of a Development Team include anyone who has specific contributions to the delivery of value to the customer(s) by meeting their expectations. This topic covers

• basic team rights and responsibilities,
• the (changing) role of developers,
• the (expanding) role of Quality Analysts,
• the (growing) role of Business Analysts, and
• the roles of Technical Writers and User Experience Designers.

 Module #4: Teams

While some basic team ideas were covered in the Roles module, there is much more to say about developing effective teams.

Team Interaction Models: Several models of team development and interaction exist. This topic covers

• teams in the organizational hierarchy and their impact on one another,
• the Drexler-Sibbet model, and
• the Tuckman model.

Establishing Effective Teams: A key consideration for all the roles mentioned in the prior model is the development of effective teams. This topic covers

• team “dysfunctions,”
• team working agreements,
• high performance team characteristics and memorable teams, and
• team behavioral “challenges.”

Communication and Collaboration: Two of the critical concerns for growing effective teams are how well people communicate and collaborate with one another. This topic covers

• a classic problem in successful product delivery,
• the many ways communication happens,
• considerations of communication effectiveness and richness,
• dialogue vs discussion, and
• the power of face-to-face communication.

Distributed Teams: Though collocated teams are strongly encouraged, the reality is that almost every organization has some form (or forms) of team distribution. This topic covers

• the reality of distributed teams,
• challenges for team distribution, and
• distributed team ideas.