A good agile team should exhibit the following qualities: strong communication and a collaborative mentality, cross-functional composition, pride in self-organization and a focus on customers’ needs. Find out how Ceiba exemplifies this.
A good agile team is the perfect blend of five key qualities
Software engineering in agile teams has revolutionized the way digital products are developed – but there are some secrets to ensuring its success.
Agile is a mindset and set of principles that puts its trust in those who develop the product, bringing specialists together in flexible, adaptive, highly responsive teams.
Ceiba’s teams organize around digestible deliverables and continually monitor results and requirements, responding to any issues as soon as they arise.
The only way an agile team can perform to its true potential is to operate in an environment that truly embraces the agile team structure, as we do at Ceiba.
Here we explain why a good agile team should exhibit the following qualities:
Which five quality practices apply to agile teams?
-
A good agile team must be communicative
High-performing agile teams excel at effective communication – between the people who make up the team and between managers and the team itself.
A good agile team will continually monitor and adjust the way its members communicate, acting swiftly to make any necessary adjustments.
Managers in an agile-conducive environment will encourage team members to share their opinions on the project’s progress, as well as offering supportive feedback.
Communication will be open and constructive about solutions as well as goals.
Incremental development is key to our meetings at Ceiba. If something isn’t working, there is no need to start again. We determine what does work and build from there.
-
An agile team needs to be collaborative
Agile teams focus on working towards digestible deliverables – sometimes known as ‘sprints’ – which means successful collaboration is a top priority.
The flexibility to respond quickly and adapt immediately means effective collaboration needs to occur between teams that don’t usually work together.
A good agile team will internalize the fact that projects cannot simply be passed from one team to the next, in an old-fashioned ‘waterfall’ approach.Instead,
everything is connected. Our success at Ceiba rests on working with fully collaborative and interwoven teams, rather than individual, isolated pieces. -
Agility only works when teams are cross-functional
A cross-functional team is one that comprises people from different functional areas, each of them bringing their own shared and complementary skill sets to the team.
Working with colleagues from different specialisms generates mutual appreciation and respect for the various contributions each person will make to the product.
It’s also a vital tool that helps agile teams balance their workloads and help one another with specific challenges and features, as well as always maintain their motivation and cohesiveness
You might also be interested in: Why and how is agile development the key to successful IT nearshoring
-
Self-organizing is top among agile team qualities
Players in a good agile team need to be self-starting and self-organizing, preferring to determine their own tasks rather than depending on micro-management.
At Ceiba we have seen that self-sufficiency is the secret to consistent performances and excellent results, and our managers support our teams in their independence.
Although Ceiba’s project managers dedicate themselves to clients’ objectives and take the lead in planning, designing, executing, and monitoring the software
development process from start to finish, they do so with an intrinsic belief in agile philosophies.Daily meetings ensure everyone in the team is up-to-date and each person feels able and encouraged to share which aspects are complete and which face challenges
-
Top agile teams believe in their processes
Ceiba measures a project’s progress based on the digital product it results in, rather than schedules or metrics.
For us, the key objective is to deliver a viable, functional product that continues to improve over time.
We show confidence and faith in the way our software development progresses, which makes it easier for our clients to see real progress and benefits, even in the preliminary stages.
That’s why a good agile team should exhibit the following qualities
Communication, collaboration, cross-functionality, faith in the product and a self-organizing mentality are the secrets to the success of a good agile team.
Find out today how Ceiba’s high-performing teams can help your business succeed.
You may also be interested in:
Why custom mobile app development is essential for your business
The IT staff shortage: How to win in the global race for tech talent
Why businesses are racing to nearshore their custom software development
Sources:
https://www.bairesdev.com/blog/5-elements-of-a-high-performing-agile-team/
https://digital.ai/catalyst-blog/what-are-the-qualities-of-highly-effective-agile-teams
