How To Handle Development Team Members That Are Only Needed for Very Specific Tasks and Sprints
Hi,
My scrum team will rely on developers with very specific development skills in future sprints for 1-2 sprints in total. For the rest of the work, the regular development team holds all the necessary skills. The development team is not entirely cross-functional. However, I do not think that it makes sense to fully integate the developers with the specific skills from the beginning.
How would you handle this situation? More specifically:
- Would you include the specific developers in the scrum-ceremonies? And if yes, then from which point on and until when?
- What else needs to be considered in this case?
Thanks!
My opinion is that if that anyone contributing to the valuable increment is a Developer on the Scrum Team even if it is a short duration. And the Scrum Team participates in all of the Scrum events. Remember that the Sprint itself is an event and they will be participating in that event, so why would they not participate in all of the events? And if they did not participate in all the events, how would their work be transparent to the others?
I would also suggest to the Developers that someone pairs with those that have specific skills in order to expand the knowledge of the core team. This could help in the future if the work done by the visitors needs to be modified.
Anyone whose industry is needed to help craft a Done Increment is technically a Developer. It doesn't matter if it is required for one or two Sprints or for one or two minutes. Their work is needed, and if they don't share the Developers' commitment, we can expect problems.
To handle developers with specific skills needed for 1-2 sprints:
- Identify the tasks and sprints requiring those skills.
- Plan ahead and inform the developers in advance.
- Include them in Scrum ceremonies for transparency.
- Encourage knowledge sharing between team members.
- Define clear roles and responsibilities.
- Consider skill diversification for the regular team.
- Continuously evaluate and improve the team's composition.
I think it would be good to discuss with the Scrum Team how they see those additional developers' participation.
Also, it would be good to discuss with the current developers the possibilities of absorbing the missing skills into the Scrum Team for the purpose of the long-term solution
Similar to other comments. When the specialised developers join, then I believe they should be full members of the team even if only for a couple of sprints. The team should be given the capability to self-organisation, or at the very least be part of the discussion.