“Collectively” does not mean that everyone knows everything!
From the Scrum Guide:
“Scrum engages groups of people who collectively have all the skills and expertise to do the work and share or acquire such skills as needed.”
From Cambridge Dictionary:
Collectively: “as a group; together.”
Sounds simple enough, right? Yet this is one of the most misunderstood ideas in Scrum.
Cross-functional does not mean every individual must have every skill. Your front-end developer doesn’t need to be a database wizard. Your tester doesn’t need to master UI design. Collective means the team as a whole has the skills needed to deliver value.
The myth that “everyone must do everything” probably came from a well-meaning but misleading promise that Scrum Teams are “fully interchangeable.” They’re not. While I love Lego blocks, people aren’t Lego blocks.
So then, what does it mean?
- If a skill is needed to deliver value, at least someone in the team should have it.
- If only one person has it, that creates fragility. Work will slow down if that person is unavailable.
- If multiple people have it, resilience increases. Pairing, mentoring, and curiosity help spread knowledge over time.
Growing collective skills:
This isn’t about cloning people - it’s about raising the team’s overall capability.
Some practical questions for your next Retrospective:
- Which skills are absolutely essential to deliver value each Sprint?
- Where are we over-reliant on one person?
- Who *wants* to grow into a new skill? Who *wants* to coach?
- How do we make learning visible and intentional?
When skills are distributed collectively, not only does delivery become more reliable, but collaboration deepens. Teams stop playing “handoff tennis” and start solving problems together.
Cross-functionality is a journey. It starts with one person holding a skill. It grows as others learn, share, and acquire it. And it never ends—because technologies, markets, and customer needs keep changing.
So… next time you hear “collectively,” don’t picture identical skillsets. Picture a group of different strengths, overlapping just enough to cover for each other, learning together to become more resilient and effective.
Your turn: what’s one skill your team is too dependent on today? And who could be the next person to start learning it?
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!
