Josh Conley JrScrumMaster| HobsonsAlexandria, Va, United States
Hey fellow PMs. I have a question. I have a situation in which 2 small scrum teams are being merged into one. However they need to maintain their independent road maps for the time being. Any ideas on how I could accomplish this efficiently without causing mass confusion with the teams? Saving Changes...
Josh Conley JrScrumMaster| HobsonsAlexandria, Va, United States
Sep 04, 2020 3:24 PM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
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Josh -
What's the leadership model going to look like for the two teams? Will there be a single Scrum Master supporting both? Is the Scrum Master also going to be the people manager for both sets of team members? Assuming "no" to the latter question, then I see little harm in letting them continue to run as two virtually distinct teams with just reporting relationships and costing being done jointly. This is no different than a department which has multiple teams within it but everyone reports to the same executive and they all bill to the same cost center. Each team would continue to define their own unique ways of working...
Kiron
Kiron - The teams will report into one single engineering manager and will also have 1 scrum master. However each team has it's own set off product owners as their roadmaps are completely different and wont overlap. The business is pushing these teams to become one team for the sake of how many teams reflect on their datasheet. That said, everything points to the fact that the teams should stay as individual teams but the business is pushing hard to combine them. Eventhough this is not preferred do you have any suggestions on how I may be able to make this singular team work?
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1 reply by Andrew Soswa
Sep 08, 2020 12:40 PM
Andrew Soswa
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I felt that was happening.
It's a classic case of top-down org structure and lack of understanding of Agile Principles by top mgmt. Fortunately, Agile is adjustable and with a little bit of pain, you'll be able to implement one of the above suggestions.
Saving Changes...
Andrew SoswaTechnology leader| Leading global financial institutionElk Grove Village, Il, United States
Sep 08, 2020 8:58 AM
Replying to Josh Conley Jr
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Kiron - The teams will report into one single engineering manager and will also have 1 scrum master. However each team has it's own set off product owners as their roadmaps are completely different and wont overlap. The business is pushing these teams to become one team for the sake of how many teams reflect on their datasheet. That said, everything points to the fact that the teams should stay as individual teams but the business is pushing hard to combine them. Eventhough this is not preferred do you have any suggestions on how I may be able to make this singular team work?
I felt that was happening.
It's a classic case of top-down org structure and lack of understanding of Agile Principles by top mgmt. Fortunately, Agile is adjustable and with a little bit of pain, you'll be able to implement one of the above suggestions. Saving Changes...
Put the spin on it for the senior leaders who want to see them as a single team, but for all practical purposes, treat them as two. The engineering manager will do their performance evaluations as a group, but I'd suggest they would want to get feedback from the other team members on an individual's performance as well as the Scrum Master.
A Scrum Master handling two separate teams on two separate products isn't unheard of but I would just ensure that they are able to put in sufficient "face time" with both to maximize osmotic learning and opportunities for them to help them team with improving their ways of working and removing impediments.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Wayne MackRetired| RetiredSouth Riding, Va, United States
Do the teams need to maintain independent road maps or is it the products need to maintain independent road maps. By combining the teams, it should now be easier to rebalance workload between the products as needed.In the best case, both products can benefit. In the worst case, things will remain the same and people will operate as two independent sub-teams. Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Tough situation. If two products, hence, two distinct product backlogs, merging the teams will not solve any issues, except budgetary (temporary), rather create new/different issues.
Will the Product Owner role be reduced to one? Is that individual competent to support the 'other' product? As in, what is the risk that is being introduced? Is there a larger risk appetite with the budget savings? How about the other roles (don't know the specifics of the product in question)? Will the roles and individuals still be part of the team to satisfy the product needs? Lots of questions. Saving Changes...
