Skills Over Job Titles

Photo by Daniel Latorre

Sometimes I wish that job titles could be eliminated when teams start using scrum.  No more backend developers, frontend developers, UX designers, business analysts, QA testers, and certainly no leads of anything--they are all product developers.  Each team member is a person with certain skills.  Cross-functional teams are composed of people who have the skills needed to develop the product.

Don't think about what roles are needed on a team--think about what skills are needed.  Focus on the people.  Otherwise it's too easy to created bloated teams because each role appears to be needed.  

Allison Pollard

Allison Pollard is a coach, consultant, and trainer who brings the power of relationship systems intelligence to go beyond tasks, roles, and frameworks to create energy for change. She engages with people and teams in a down-to-earth way to build trust and listen for signals to help them learn more and improve. Allison focuses on creating alignment and connection for people to solve business problems together. Her experience includes working with teams and leaders in energy, retail, financial, real estate, and transportation industries to help improve their project/product delivery and culture. Allison currently volunteers as program director for Women in Agile’s mentorship program. Her agile community focus is championing new voices and amplifying women as mentors and sponsors for the next generation of leaders. Allison earned her bachelor’s degrees in computer science, mathematics, and English from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. She is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), a foodie, and proud glasses wearer. Allison is a prolific speaker at professional groups and international conferences, including Scrum Gatherings and the Agile Alliance Agile20xx conferences. Allison is co-owner of Helping Improve LLC.

http://www.allisonpollard.com
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Agile Smells: Iteration Zero

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The Right People in the Right Places