I doubt your Scrum Team has all the expertise it needs…
(And that’s fine—as long as it’s learning fast enough.)
From the Scrum Guide: “… who collectively have all the skills and expertise…”
From Cambridge Dictionary: Expertise: “a high level of knowledge or skill.”
Last week, I covered “skill.”
Now knowledge enters the picture—defined as: “Understanding of or information about a subject that you get by experience or study.”
So, if skills are what you can do,
expertise is what you deeply understand—and can explain, adapt, and apply in context.
Let’s unpack that.
Scrum Teams need more than technical chops. They need expertise in multiple domains:
- Understanding users, clients, and markets
- Understanding what value means—both to customers and the organization
- Understanding the impact of business and technical decisions
- Understanding technologies, systems, and their interdependencies
- Understanding relationships—with stakeholders, partners, and within the team
- Understanding data—how your product is used, and what improvements truly matter
- Understanding …
That’s a lot to understand. The list seems endless.
And you won’t get there by accident or osmosis. Expertise has to be cultivated deliberately.
Scrum provides the perfect structure for that:
- Each Sprint Review helps teams deepen expertise in user needs and market feedback.
- Each Retrospective grows expertise in collaboration, flow, and problem-solving.
- Each Increment expands expertise in the product and technology itself.
- Each Daily Scrum raises expertise in the problem space.
Each session you team has should grow understanding about something.
And expertise isn’t static—it evolves.
What your team knows today will not be enough tomorrow.
So, have a look at your team’s expertise landscape:
- Which areas are essential to deliver value each Sprint?
- Where is expertise abundant—and where is it missing?
- Who’s eager to grow?
- Who’s ready to teach?
Expertise grows through curiosity, collaboration, and—just like skills—practice.
So, how’s your team doing?
Is it merely “doing work,” or building the expertise needed to make better decisions, faster?
Because in complex environments, it’s not the team that knows the most that wins—
it’s the team that learns the fastest.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
I hope you find value in these short articles and if you are looking for more clarifications, feel free to make contact.
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Wishing you an inspiring read and a wonderful journey.
Scrum on!
