Building an Agile Team Structure: A Complete Overview

Agile is one of the most widely accepted ways-of-working to approach a project in recent times in the industry. Organizations are choosing agile over other approaches to reap the benefits of increased customer satisfaction, responding to market changes, and staying relevant in the VUCA world. Agile is a different way of looking at a project. That means there are a lot of benefits in delivering incrementally and iteratively versus a big bang release. This requires a change in the way we plan and deliver and the way we group the people who work in this environment.

Functional silos, restricting work with designation, waiting for someone to resolve or help, just going by the document provided, and waiting for sign-offs are some of the major drawbacks for a team or project to be successful, especially now when time is money.

To resolve this major bottleneck, how do we form teams which can:

1. Deliver value continuously
2. Take collective ownership
3. Have all skill sets to deliver value
4. Work in harmony
5. Reduce overheads with external dependencies

The answer to all these questions which are very relevant in an agile environment is to form a team with an agile team structure. Agile teams are cross-functional teams who have all the skills to convert a requirement into a software or outcome. They are self-managing teams and usually comprise all capabilities to deliver value. This blog aims to explore all aspects of Agile team structure. Let’s understand in detail:

1. What is an agile team?
2. What is Agile team structure and its topologies?
3. What are the roles and responsibilities in an Agile team structure?
4. What are key agile team structure and roles?
5. How to build an Agile team?
6. What are the factors to consider when building an agile methodology team structure?
7. Is there a quick reference for an agile team structure diagram?
8. How to improve team collaboration?
9. What is a typical agile team composition?

What is an Agile team?

An Agile Team is a cross-functional group of typically ten or fewer individuals with all the skills necessary to define, build, test, and deliver value to their customers. Agile Teams may be engineering teams focused on building digital solutions, business teams delivering business functions, or both. An Agile team structure typically includes all skill sets required to convert a requirement into value delivery, be it in the form of software or solutions incrementally.

An agile team structure is formed with an emphasis on flexibility, collaboration and customer-centricity, working in short iterative cycles to continuously improve and deliver value. Since they have all the skill sets required to deliver value continuously, the nature of the team becomes or is expected to be self-managing and long-lived. They are together accountable for continuous value delivery to the customers or the stakeholders.

When it comes to agile methodology team structure, there could be different types of teams drafted based on either capabilities or what their end value is. Some of them include:

1. Stream Aligned / End user-centric agile teams: These are end customer-aligned and are capable of performing all the steps needed to build end-to-end customer value
2. Complicated subsystem teams: These teams are organized around critical solution subsystems. They focus on areas of high technical specialization, which limits the cognitive load on all the teams
3. Platform teams: Provide application services and APIs for stream-aligned teams to be able to leverage common platform services
4. Enabling teams:  Provides tools, services, and short-term expertise to other teams

Why does agile need specific team structures?

Agile as mentioned earlier, is a way of working with just enough planning and incremental and iterative development. In this case, the end state of the project is not clearly defined and the requirements also vary based on the feedback from the customer or the stakeholders.

Agile methodology team structure needs a different way of looking to support the core values and practices of agile, ensuring that teams can deliver high-quality products quickly, adapt to changes efficiently, and continuously improve. Some of the key reasons include:

1. Iterative and incremental delivery – Agile teams work in short, iterative cycles (sprints) to deliver incremental improvements to the product. This structure allows for regular reassessment and pivoting.
2. Reduces handovers and dependencies – Agile teams are composed of members with different skills and expertise (e.g., developers, testers, designers, business analysts). This diversity allows the team to handle all aspects of product development without relying on external departments.
3. Ensures autonomy – Agile teams are self-organizing, meaning they have the autonomy to decide how to accomplish their work and manage their processes. This structure empowers team members to take ownership of their tasks and responsibilities.
4. Promotes transparency – Agile emphasizes regular, structured communication practices such as daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. This structure promotes transparency and continuous improvement.
5. Fosters efficient teams – Agile teams are typically small (Below 10 people) to maintain high levels of communication and coordination. Stability in team composition helps build trust and a strong team dynamic.

Agile team structures

Agile team structures can be designed based on the specific skills and roles of team members. Different agile team structures offer unique advantages and can be chosen based on the specific requirements of the project and the organizational context. Some of the popular agile team compositions include:

1.    Generalist Agile Teams

Structure Ideology

Team members have broad skill sets and are capable of performing multiple roles (e.g., coding, testing, design). There is less specialization, and individuals can switch between tasks as and when needed.

Highlights

1. 1. High sense of flexibility as anyone in the team can pull in any work or fill in for anyone
   2. Can quickly respond to changing requirements since team members are not limited by particular roles

2.    Specialist Agile teams

Structure Ideology

In this agile methodology team structure, Team members have deep expertise in specific areas (e.g., front-end development, back-end development, QA). Each member focuses on their specialized tasks.

Highlights

1. 1. High expertise in different areas results in better quality of the product
   2. Clear expectation of roles and responsibilities results in efficient workflow and output

3.    Cross-functional Agile teams

Structure Ideology

The team includes members with different specialized skills that together cover all aspects of product development (e.g., developers, testers, UX designers, business analysts). Ensures that all skills needed to deliver a complete product increment are present within the team.

Highlights

1. 1. Reduced dependency as the team has all the skill sets needed to deliver
   2. The team can handle end-to-end development and delivery of features or product increments

4.    Agile Product Sub Teams

• Component Teams

Structure Ideology

Focuses on specific components or subsystems of a larger product (e.g., database team, UI team). Team members specialize in particular parts of the system.

Highlights

1. 1. A great amount of knowledge of specific components, leading to high-quality component development.
   2. A clear scope of work helps manage complexity within large systems

• Feature Agile Team

Structure Ideology

Responsible for delivering complete features or user stories from start to finish. Team members possess diverse skills necessary to develop, test, and deliver a feature

Highlights

1. 1. Aligns closely with user needs by focusing on delivering complete, user-facing features
   2. The team takes full ownership of features, ensuring high quality and accountability

5.    Hybrid Agile Teams

Structure Ideology

This agile methodology team structure combines aspects from various team structures (e.g., a mix of generalists and specialists). Tailored to fit specific project needs and organizational needs.

Highlights

1. 1. Adapts to the unique needs of the project and organization.
   2. Provides flexibility of generalists with the deep expertise of specialists.

Agile team: Key roles and responsibilities

In an agile methodology team structure, each member has specific roles and responsibilities with the intention to promote collaboration, accountability, and deliver high-quality products efficiently. Here are the primary roles in agile teams:

1.    Scrum Master

A Scrum Master is a person who ensures teams are following scrum guidelines effectively. A Scrum master is accountable for educating teams on scrum, roles, and ceremonies and also helps teams practice them by constant coaching, hand-holding, and training

A SM is a servant leader, who enables teams to make the best use of their skillset to deliver value to the customer. SMs are facilitators who act as a coach to the team with respect to Scrum and its framework. Scrum masters are servant leaders who resolve dependencies for the team and promote clean collaboration between the development team and the product teams.

Some of the responsibilities include:

1. Facilitation of Sprint ceremonies like Sprint Planning, DSM, Reviews, Retro and Refinement
2. Resolving or helping teams resolve blockers
3. Training and mentoring teams on Scrum and its practices
4. Helps teams realize and deliver maximum value to the customer
5. Define and help PO user stories and maintain product backlog
6. Help the team derive DOR and DOD and adhere to it
7. Coach teams on becoming Self-organizing and cross-functional
8. Block external pressure on the team
9. Facilitation of collaboration between teams and external stakeholders if need be
10. Remove barriers between teams and stakeholders with effective communication

2.    Product Owner

The Product Owner is the visionary of the project or product. A person who owns the backlog. A person is solely responsible for managing the product backlog. A PO is a person who is accountable for maximizing the outcome delivered to the custom or the consumers.

A product owner is a person who is business-oriented and customer/consumer-centered. A PO is a person who makes decisions based on stakeholders/business needs and can take help from others but is solely accountable for the outcomes delivered.

PO’s responsibilities include:

1. Product Visioning
2. Empathy mapping and customer understanding
3. Creating backlog ( User stories, Epics )
4. Prioritization of the backlog
5. Creating / Setting sprint goals
6. Deciding the increments
7. Ensuring the product backlog is visible to everyone
8. Reviewing the work done by the development team
9. Communicating to the stakeholders about the progress and other business metrics
10. Collecting feedback from the users/customers

Agile Team Structure Diagram

3.    Development Team Member

The development team is the actual doers in an agile team structure. They play a vital role in converting a requirement into working software. They could have various skills like frontend developer, backend developer, tester, UI/UX designer, etc

Some of the responsibilities of the development team include:

1. The primary responsibility is to deliver potentially shippable product increments at the end of each sprint
2. Collaborates with the Product Owner during sprint planning to understand the priorities and scope of work
3. Breaks down user stories into tasks and estimates the effort required to complete them
4. Ensures that the increments meet the definition of done, which includes coding, testing, and any necessary documentation
5. Works with the Product Owner to refine and clarify product backlog items
6. Ensures that the product meets quality standards through testing and validation
7. Demonstrates the completed work to stakeholders during the sprint review meeting
8. Actively asks ways to improve their work processes, tools, and techniques

4.    Stakeholder

Stakeholders play a crucial role in agile teams, as they are the people or groups who can be influenced by the project or can influence its outcome. Their involvement and feedback are essential for the success of the project.

There could be one or more types of stakeholders in an agile project. For example, End users, business sponsors, product managers, business owners, competency/portfolio managers, business unit heads, etc.

Some of the main responsibilities include:

1. Share their vision, direction, and pain points to help shape the product backlog
2. Offer feedback on product increments during sprint reviews or through user testing
3. Help prioritize features and improvements based on their importance and impact
4. Provide financial resources and support for the project
5. Ensure the project aligns with business goals and strategies
6. Make key decisions regarding scope, budget, and timelines

How to build an Agile team structure?

Let’s understand the fact that building an agile methodology team structure is not complete just by grouping a few people with appropriate skills. It requires an environment to be set up where people can collaborate easily, people can make decisions by themselves, there is trust between people and there is a culture of continuous improvement. Here is a step-by-step guide on building an agile team structure:

1. Define the purpose of the team – Clearly articulate the purpose and vision of the agile team and define measurable objectives
2. Form the team – Assemble a cross-functional team with all necessary skills (e.g., developers, testers, designers, and business analysts). Keep the team size below 10
3. Identify the roles – Identify SM, PO and set necessary expectations on their responsibilities
4. Set up appropriate Environment – Identify if the teams are co-located or remote, identify tools for collaboration and information radiators like JIRA, Trello, etc
5. Educate the team on the process – Select the framework to be used and train the teams on the framework.
6. Define the process – Derive workflow, define  team policies, working agreements and ensure all the members have a common understanding
7. Define and measure metrics – Use agile metrics like velocity chart, burndown chart, etc to understand team performance and identify areas for improvement
8. Set up a culture of continuous improvement – Provide enough opportunities for the team to innovate, set up fail-safe environment

How to improve team collaboration?

Building a collaborative culture requires effort, time, and commitment from all team members and stakeholders. Improving team collaboration in agile teams is crucial for enhancing productivity, creativity, and overall project success. Here are a few pointers on ways to improve collaboration in your teams:

1. Ensure that all team members understand and align with the project goals and vision
2. Give everyone in the team a chance to share their ideas and feedback
3. Define practices like decentralized decision-making which helps teams build trust within
4. Ensure that each team member understands their roles and responsibilities
5. Conduct agile ceremonies such as daily stand-ups, sprint planning, sprint reviews, and retrospectives

1. Involve the entire team in sprint planning and backlog refinement
2. Use tools like Jira, Trello, or Asana to track tasks, user stories, and progress
3. Implement pair programming and regular code reviews.
4. Establish team norms or agreements on how to handle conflicts and disagreements
5. Recognize and celebrate team achievement
6. Establish a feedback loop where team members can provide feedback on processes, collaboration, and team dynamics

How can Agile consultants help in building a team?

Agile consultants are subject matter experts who bring hands-on knowledge and experience to help organizations effectively transition to an agile environment. By helping to set up agile team structures, hands-on coaching, implementing best practices, and promoting a culture of continuous improvement, an agile consulting and coaching company ensure that agile methodologies are effectively adopted leading to improved project outcomes and organizational agility. Here are some ways in which agile consultants can help teams:

1. As Is Assessment – Perform a gap analysis to understand the differences between current practices and agile best practices, identifying specific areas for change also analyze the existing workflows, team structures, and practices to identify areas that need improvement. Curious to know more about assessment and how are they conducted? Check our blog on agility health assessment.
2. Awareness trainings – Consultants can help teams to understand the various aspects of agile ways of working and train people on roles, practices, intent, and the way to work, check our blog on how to develop an agile training plan for specific pointers which need to be considered while designing your agile awareness training program
3. Framework suggestion – Consultants help design an agile framework tailored to the organization’s needs, whether it’s Scrum, Kanban, or a hybrid approach. In case you are also looking to pursue business agility, various scaling like scaled agile are explored to find the right fit as part of the agile transformations SAFe consulting services.
4. Expectation Setting – Consultants help define clear roles and responsibilities within the agile team, such as Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Development Team members
5. Hand Holding and Coaching – Consultants train teams on how to effectively conduct agile ceremonies like sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives
6. Unbiased Leadership Buy-in – They also work with leaders and managers to help them understand their role in supporting agile teams and fostering an agile culture
7. Setting up Metrics and KPIs – They help define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to measure the effectiveness of agile practices and identify areas for improvement. We have covered some of the key agile metrics we think are important to measure the success of any agile transformation in our blog – key agile transformation metrics
8. Common Heartbeat – They ensure that agile practices are consistent across teams while allowing for flexibility to adapt to specific team needs

Conclusion

A well-structured agile team is not just about adopting new methodologies but about cultivating an environment where continuous improvement, open communication, and a shared vision drive success.

Building an agile team structure is a journey that empowers organizations to respond fast and effectively to sustain changing market demands. By setting up a collaborative culture, defining clear roles and responsibilities, and embracing agile practices, teams can achieve enhanced productivity, innovation, and customer satisfaction.

Different types of agile teams cater to different needs, as the project or the system demands. While creating an agile team, organizations need to ensure the purpose of forming an Agile team and choose the type of teams that best cater to them.

While there are certain hurdles you need to overcome while creating or setting up an agile team structure, the main challenges surface while the team is in action. It takes a lot of energy, time, and focus to sustain, and continuously improve the team’s agility post setting up the team.

With this, our blog on “Building an Agile Team Structure: A complete Overview” comes to an end and we hope this blog has helped you with adequate insights about the topic. Please write to us at “Consult@benzne.com” for any feedback or suggestions

Frequently Asked Questions

1.    What is the recommended size for a scrum team?

An ideal recommended size of an agile team from 5 to 9 people. This ensures better facilitation, collaboration, and communication among the team members. And also encourages team members to open up to share ideas and feedback more effectively.

2.    What is the best organizational structure for agile?

The best organizational structure for agile is one that promotes and supports flexibility, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Agile organizations typically move away from traditional hierarchical structures and adopt more flat, networked, and value-driven, team-centric models.

3.    Why does agile fail in organizations?

Often, agile fails in an organization because of one or the more below mentioned reasons:

1. Lack of Awareness – Teams and management may not fully understand agile principles and practices, leading to improper implementation
2. Half-baked Knowledge – Viewing agile as a set of procedures rather than a mindset and culture can hinder true adoption
3. Resistance – Organizational culture that is resistant to change can hamper agile adoption
4. Leadership Buy-in – Successful agile transformation requires commitment and support from top management
5. Siloed org structure – Lack of collaboration between different departments can create chaos in the cross-functional nature of agile teams
6. Not implementing the lessons learned – Failing to conduct or act on sprint retrospectives prevents teams from identifying and addressing areas for improvement
7. Instant Gratification – Expecting immediate results from agile adoption without understanding that it takes time to see significant benefits

4.    Does Agile have a work breakdown structure?

No, agile methodologies, such as Scrum and Kanban, do not use a traditional Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) as found in Waterfall or other traditional project management approaches. Requirements are written and detailed in the form of Epics (Huge requirements) and User Stories.

5.    What is the biggest problem with Agile?

Agile ways of working can be chaotic or problematic in a context because of 3 main reasons:

1. Misunderstanding – Agile principles can be misunderstood, leading to poor implementation. For example, the flexibility in agile may be interpreted as a lack of planning or structure
2. Misapplying Agile – Teams may adopt agile practices superficially without truly embracing the underlying principles. This can lead to “doing agile” rather than “being agile.
3. Myths and Misinterpretation – Agile is a way of working. It is not a process that you can just apply and wait for miracles to happen. For example, just by applying agile, a 9-month project cannot be delivered in 3 months.