Agile Software Development and Job Enrichment

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Vertical  Loading and Natural Work Units

A large number of organizations rely on a hierarchical organizational structure or top-down approach; Scrum advocates a bottom-up approach. In Scrum, the primary role of management and senior leadership is to grow the business and remove any impediments that prevent work teams from delivering their products. Work teams self manage based on outstanding requirements and the work backlog; this bottom-up approach has a number of positive influences on a work team, including task identity and skill variety.

Together, teams evaluate the requirements in a sprint planning meeting and determine which requirements can be completed within the allotted sprint time. This determination is made by rating requirements on complexity and the level of effort required. Each team member has a vote on what he or she thinks the complexity and level of effort are for a given task. Allowing each team member a vote creates a situation in which each member can voice his or her opinion on why he or she thinks a requirement is either a high or low level of effort. As a team, debate and voting continue until there is a consensus about the level of effort for a given task and product. This process promotes a team-like atmosphere, encourages participation from the entire team, and allows potential problems to be identified and discussed at the …

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