Knowledge Base / Scrum Team / Developers / How are the Developers?
Developers are collaborative
In their day-to-day work, the Developers on a Scrum Team collaborate with each other continuously, on equal terms and sharing accountability. Regardless of the areas of knowledge and primary activity of each one, there are no defined roles or accountabilities among them, nor designated hierarchies or leaders. Everyone works together, implementing the Sprint Backlog items based on the highest order, thus seeking to realize each Sprint Goal and the Product Goal.
At any time during a Sprint, the Developers may seek, whenever necessary, to communicate and collaborate with people who can help them clarify, detail, make decisions or obtain early feedback on items in the Sprint Backlog – that is, those chosen for implementation. Frequently they look to the Product Owner for this. However, depending on the context and availability, the Developers may reach out directly to the customers and other stakeholders.
To make such collaboration possible, these people ideally make themselves sufficiently accessible and available. Otherwise, the Developers may have to stall the implementation of one or more items while waiting for these interactions, which becomes an impediment. Another possible consequence is that the Developers could need to make decisions about the product without having enough information to do so.
Sometimes the Scrum Master intervenes to facilitate this access. The Scrum Master is also present, when necessary, to encourage collaboration and ensure the quality of interactions among the Developers, between them and the Product Owner and between them and other people when necessary.
At the Sprint Planning meeting, the Developers and Product Owner collaborate to clarify, refine, and prepare the items that will be implemented during the Sprint. During the course of the Sprint, the Developers, Product Owner, and possibly the customers and other stakeholders can anticipate this preparation work and conduct Product Backlog Refinement sessions, preparing items for the next Sprint (see the chapter Product Backlog Refinement (additional)) . The Developers collaborate with the Product Owner, the customers, and other stakeholders at the Sprint Review meeting to get feedback on the results of work done during the Sprint. Finally, the Sprint Retrospective brings together the Developers, Product Owner and Scrum Master to collaboratively seek improvements in the way they work.
Discussion: Are there specific roles or accountabilities among the Developers?
The Developers are fully responsible for implementing at least one done Increment of the product in each Sprint, according to the Definition of Done. To do this work, they should have all the necessary skills and knowledge between them. However, there are no defined roles or accountabilities among the Developers. Each of them is simply a “Developer.”
For example, the product development work should necessarily include all activities needed to ensure its quality. Thus, based on the above definition, all the skills needed to conduct these activities should be present among the Developers, either in one or more individuals, and either well-defined or dispersed among them. However, even if these skills are focused on specific Developers, the accountability for the quality of the implemented Increments does not rest solely with them. Even if, according to traditional definitions, these Developers were formerly characterized as “quality control” or “testers,” such roles do not exist in Scrum and the accountability is shared among all the Developers.
The same principle applies to other knowledge and skills required to develop the product. These should all be present among the Developers of a Scrum Team, whether in one member or more of them, but never concentrated in defined roles focused on the specific area. Bear in mind that the only roles defined by the Scrum framework are Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Developer.
There are also no separate teams doing parts of this work, either in advance or after the Developers. All the work necessary to develop the product is conducted iteratively and incrementally by the Developers.