What is the Agile team? What is the Product backlog? What are they for and why are they important?

Posted on by suyoangliang

In this blog, I will be focussing in what is an agile team, why they are important, and I will also describe what is the product backlog.

What is the Agile team?  

Image Source:http://agileatlas.org/images/uploads/Scrum_Framework_figure_02.png.

Agile software development methodologies promote teamwork. An Agile team is a cross-functional group of people with complementary skills that are committed to the purpose and are mutually accountable. Agile team members, which are acknowledged to be equals in team positions, can exchange roles or be in more than one role over the project process, depending on the team styles and needs; However, roles and processes tend to be alike (Ambler & Holitza, 2012, p.11 ). As a team, they work together to deliver a solution by planning, analyzing, defining, building, and testing the product in short timeframe iteration. The process is repeated in sprint cycles until the user stories are finished. The Agile Team is formed with a product owner, project manager and the developers and testers.

  • The product owner: The product owner is a means of communication between the stakeholder community and the agile delivery team. It is the person responsible for maintaining and prioritizing the user story list of work items that the team will have to implement (Ambler & Holitza, 2012, p. 12 ).
  • The team lead or project manager: Team lead is the team guide in managing the activities. The team leader is the servant-leader that upholds the conditions for the team to success (Ambler & Holitza, 2012, p. 13).
  • The team of developers and tester: Team of developers and tester are a group of experienced people on the field of software development that work together on a project. They are required to have a common focus, mutual trust and respect, to be collaborative and to be able to deal with ambiguity (Cockburn & Highsmith, 2001, p. 132 ).
Image Source: http://www.wilsisney.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ScrumBasics.png

The most popular agile methodology is Scrum due to its flexibility and simplicity.  Many companies make the transition to Agile methodology with Scrum Agile methodology.

What are they for and why they are important?

Image Source: http://www.cardinalsolutions.com/content/cardinal/blog/agile/2013/02/the_people_leaderro/jcr%3acontent/par/image_0.img.png/1361303728175.png

Software development depends significantly on teamwork performance.  Agile teams are characterized by self-organization and intense collaboration (Cockburn & Highsmith, 2001, p. 131 ).  Each member is not only responsible for their task but also responsible for collaborating with other members that are having difficulty. Teamwork increased productivity, innovation, and employee satisfaction.  It also encourages team members to be listening and responding to other teams members view.  It provides team members support by recognizing team members interests, effort and achievement (Moe, Dingsøyr, & Dybå, 2010, p. 480 ).  Agile methodology of team members focuses on developing members’ talents by benefiting on each team members’ strength; as a result, developing more competence teams.

Image Source: http://www.agile-ux.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/agile-values-card.png

 

What is the product backlog?

The product backlog is the collection of all the user stories or the full list of features functionality that define the product. It is a prioritized feature list that contain a short description of the product functionality. The product backlog can grow and change, as the prototype is delivered. The Product backlog is a very important collection because it describes the user stories we are trying to deliver in more deep detail. It also shows how we are advancing in the product that we are working. The product backlog for each sprint might change, depending if all the task are done or delayed.

Image Source: http://www.romanpichler.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/VisionStrategyBacklog.jpg

References

  • Ambler, S. W., & Holitza, M. (2012). Agile For Dummies (p. 11–13.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
  • Cockburn, A., & Highsmith, J. (2001). Agile Software Development: The People Factor. Software Management, (November), 131–133.
  • Moe, N. B., Dingsøyr, T., & Dybå, T. (2010). A teamwork model for understanding an agile team: A case study of a Scrum project. Information and Software Technology, 52(5), 480–491. doi:10.1016/j.infsof.2009.11.004.

Images

3 thoughts on “What is the Agile team? What is the Product backlog? What are they for and why are they important?”

  1. Hi Su, it is very good that you write single paragraph for each topic, which is very organized. I also liked the detailed diagrams that explains the system. It also explains each team members’ roles and responsibilities. It’s already explaining everything enough and I liked the article, but even more of a plus if you can clarify the first picture that says “BA is team member”?

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  2. Hi Su, it is very good that you write single paragraph for each topic, which is very organized. The definition of each phase is very clear. I also liked the interesting many detailed diagrams that explains the system. It also explains each team members’ roles and responsibilities. It’s even more of a plus if you can clarify the first picture says “BA is team member”. And another plus if you can add the citations for the images?

    Like

    Reply

  3. Hi Su, it is very good that you write single paragraph for each topic, which is very organized. The definition of each phase is very clear. I also liked the interesting many detailed diagrams that explain the system. It also explains each team members’ roles and responsibilities. It’s even more of a plus if you can clarify the first picture says “BA is team member”. And another plus if you can add the citations for the images?

    Like

    Reply

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