“Cross functional teams are a stupid idea – no one can do everything “
Are you serious? — episode 37
We do Scrum but…
Are you serious? — episode 37
If I got a dime for every time someone said something like:
“Cross-Functional? You mean that I now need to learn how to code? And that Ed needs to learn how to be a DB admin?”
“I love what I do! I hate it that you expect me to do that boring stuff that Tim does”
“A developer can’t be doing incidents! That’s non-compliant!”
I’d be rich.
Those people have major issues with the following:
“Scrum Teams are self-organizing and cross-functional.” — SG
It’s just that… they are wrong! Here’s what the Scrum Guide says:
“Cross-functional teams have all competencies needed to accomplish the work without depending on others not part of the team.” — SG
Every competency required to accomplish the work should be within the team. In theory this means that it would be enough if there’s one person per competency required. It doesn’t mean that everyone should be cross-skilled, able to do everything.
The purpose of cross-functional teams is to overcome traditional silos. It is to avoid dependency from someone outside the team resulting in delay or possible quality issues. When this purpose is understood it is rather obvious that this Scrum requirement isn’t intending to make everyone do everything.
It is the idea of making best use of everyone’s strengths, allowing synergy.
There certainly are benefits to having cross-skilled people within the Scrum Team. It makes you less dependent on one person because someone else can step in if needed, allowing the team to proceed. There are benefits to having T-shaped people in your team:
Why T-shaped people?
A T-shaped person is capable in many things and expert in, at least, one.link.medium.com
But this is a possible added benefit. The Scrum Guide’s pivotal reason for cross-functionality remains this:
Cross-functional: Every competency required to accomplish the work should be within the team.
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