How To Build an Awesome Agile Software Development Team

Last updated on May 26th, 2023

Because modern business environments are adopting the flexible structure of agile, it’s not wrong to say that: The agile software development team structure is here to stay for a long time.

According to the 15th state of the agile report, the adoption of agile methodologies by companies’ software development teams was 37% in 2020 and 86% in 2021.

The tech giants like Microsoft and IBM are huge supporters of agile methodology. These companies totally agree that an agile approach enables them to grow as well as scale faster than others.

Agile practices easily decrease several such hidden costs, which states their quick adoption in diverse industries. The outcome? Enhanced flexibility and faster delivery, team productivity and product quality.

However, as valuable as this approach may appear, using this methodology to a great extent needs training as well as restructuring the team as well as transforming the status quo of how you do business.

With this in mind, let’s find out how to build an agile software development team!

Agile Development Team: What is It?

Before jumping straight away to the way to build an agile development team, we want you to dive into the basics for better understanding.

Agile software development can be described as the software engineering approach that allows collaboration between cross-functional teams and end users, prioritizing adaptability.

What makes the agile methodology different from different methods is its sole focus on how software developers do teamwork. In the agile method, collaboration is important to find instant solutions.

Team members are self-confident. Some management is essentially involved in it, but the manager is responsible for leadership, not micromanagement. 

In the world of technological advancement as well as ongoing innovation, agile methodology follows the adaptable approach to arising transformations as well as challenges. Instead of putting a complete focus on the entire project as well as delivering it at once, it just targets client satisfaction as well as around-the-clock delivery on the project. 

Principles of an Agile Software Development Team

1. Communication and feedback
2. Trust
3. Adaptability
4. Engagement
5. Collaboration

The agile software development team comprises a cross-functional group of experts that are equipped with all the essential capabilities and enough kills to produce a functional product. The team size may differ, however, the main roles remain the same – product owner, team leader, team members and other stakeholders.

An agile software development team is built upon these 5 principles:

• Communication and feedback – Continuous work revision takes agile software development projects from one stage to the other without experiencing huge feedback. Giving and getting feedback makes software engineers make the product faster.
• Trust – transparency needs every team member to trust the remaining stakeholders there in the development process and give them a safe environment to establish mutual trust. 
• Adaptability – fast-paced agile methodology needs its team members to be flexible and quickly adapt to the evolving requirements without interruption in the development process.
• Engagement – Being prepared to face changes and always ready to learn from others and respect their viewpoints is what allows agile teams to move swiftly.
• Collaboration – the agile software development team is successful when they collaborate to come up with the best solutions and ensure that the entire team has access to new knowledge. 

Agile Software Development Team Structure

• Team members
• Team lead
• Product owner
• Stakeholders

As mentioned above, The agile software development team is completely cross-functional. Usually, this group involves specialists with the abilities that are required to develop a fully functional product. Besides, The agile team structure is also collaborative and non-hierarchical 

While the size of the agile team structure may vary based on what specific methodology you use. Generally, you will find at least these four roles specified below:

• Team members: The team members may include experts in various spheres. For instance, team members are commonly designers, programmers, QA engineers, and many other individuals in software development.
• Team lead: This specialist holds the responsibility of coordinating with the team processes. When it comes to the Scrum methodology, this role is well-known as a Scrum master.
• Product owner: This person is responsible to share the client’s requirements and making sure that they are followed in the development process.
• Stakeholders: They are not a direct participant in the project, but they have the power to influence the project itself. This group involves end users and investors.

Advantages of Agile Software Development Teams

Companies are opting out of this “agile” not because it’s a buzzword in the IT world today, but because of all the advantages it has to offer. Below you can read some of them:

• Bring the possibility to achieve the top-notch quality of software products because of consistent delivery as well as iteration approach
• Assure customer satisfaction because of the client’s participation in a decision-making process
• Boost control, predictability, and transparency
• Sustained improvement
• Great flexibility
• No risk of project failure 

Agile Methodologies for Software Development Team

• Scrum
• Kanban
• Lean Development
• Crystal
• Extreme Programming

There are a plethora of agile methodologies that are different from each other, but all of them follow a similar Agile mindset of constant improvement. Here is the list of the most popular agile methodologies:

1. Scrum

This is the most well-known methodology, which is characterized by owning small development cycles such as sprints. 

Advantages:

• Continuous focus on high-quality results
• Set priorities, putting the sprints in the first place that haven’t been finished yet
• Smaller sprints encourage software developers to complete the task within the deadlines

Disadvantages:

• Within the team, roles are not well-defined 
• Team members may lose track of the project

2. Kanban

The key focus of the Kanban methodology is consistent delivery. This methodology utilizes transparency and ensures clear communication to sustain the “just-in-time” workflow without overloading. It improves the workflow and optimizes the processes:

Advantages:

• Organize task
• Provides features faster
• Changes allowed in mid-cycle
• Allows balancing the tasks that team members are handling 
• Do quick changes in requirements

Disadvantages:

• The tasks can be misinterpreted
• Delays in delivery due to no time frames

3. Lean Development

This type of methodology helps optimize software efficiency by removing unnecessary waste. 

Advantages:

• Allows focusing on important tasks
• Set priorities to shorten the delivery time

Disadvantages:

• Documentation is required to avoid errors at the time of the development process

4. Crystal

The methodology states that teams and people with different skill sets can build the final product without any strict guidance. 

Advantages:

• Promotes clear communication within the team 
• Allow frequent deliveries to ensure the product quality
• The adaptable approach allows implementing changes easily

Disadvantages:

• No pre-defined plans 
• Increasing need to communicate and share information 

5. Extreme Programming

Extreme Programming or XP works on the principles of communication, simplicity, and feedback. XP is the same as the scrum methodology. The only difference is in the sprint: scrum utilizes 2 weeks to 1-month sprints, whereas XP utilizes up to 2 weeks. 

Advantages:

• Continuous testing of the product 
• Short timeframe 
• Coding is simple and faster 

Disadvantages:

• No fast-paced communication
• More focus on the code results in a weak design

These are a few of the agile methodologies that have become popular among software developers. Pick the right one once you evaluate your team’s capabilities and the project requirements.

How To Build an Agile Software Development Team

1. Avoid Rushing 
2. Get Every Team Member Involved
3. Accept Changes
4. Collaboration Within Team Members

When you think of an agile software development team, you may envision a team of professionals that work like a proper oil machine with excellent efficiency and superior delivery speeds.

There is no secret or perfect solution to creating a highly-effective agile team, but we have some tips for you that can assist you to put together a strong team.

1. Avoid Rushing 

People take time to get used to each other. Build a trustful environment and get to know about the ways the members of your teamwork. Well-organized operation as well as harmonious work come as a result of your mistakes, failed attempts, and misconceptions combined with resilience, determination and engagement.

Learning continuously and adapting is what the agile approach is all about. The same applies to individuals when they are ready to work together. Instead, focus on a single grand success that will make your team focus on a few improvements as well as achievements that show your team is progressing.

2. Get Every Team Member Involved

Although every member in the agile team should have their own duties as well as responsibilities everyone plays their role to ensure the success of the final product. In an organization, when everyone works towards a common goal, it results in good collaboration as well as engagement towards getting solutions.

Knowing about everyone’s efforts whether that is peer acknowledgement or applauding from leadership is crucial in maintaining a continuous cycle of feedback as well as engagement.

3. Accept Changes

Agile mainly pays attention to the results of the project instead of overthinking processes. This implies there are continuous changes that must be made to serve the end product.

An agile software development team that has the ability to respond to recurring changes is highly important than sustaining the status quotient. Great flexibility among the team members needs often reevaluating priorities as well as modifying processes appropriately.

All the changes are ultimately done to boost the final product. Agile team members should accept changes and not fear them.

4. Collaboration Within Team Members

Successful collaboration is no doubt one of the extremely important attributes of an effective agile software development team. Encouraging collaboration with the team members is required to ensure your business runs smoothly.

Defining and overcoming challenges altogether help cross-functional teams bring more productive solutions where only software developers would be overwhelmed. Proper collaboration within agile teams requires daily and personalized communication between team members.

Related Article: How to Hire an Agile Software Development Team From iTechnolabs

Do You Want to Build an Awesome Agile Software Development Team for Your Organization?

If you want your upcoming project to be successful, you might think of the Agile Software Development Team approach. The agile approach specializes in collaboration as well as meeting the requirements of your consumers. There are certain ways to go about utilizing an agile approach, however, regardless you have to ensure to develop a team that is communicative, adaptable, and engaged.