I once worked in an organization where we needed to grow from one Scrum team into many Scrum teams by staffing up. These teams would support one single Product and would be supporting a single Product Owner and Product Backlog. I suggested that as new staffing joined us, we should let them self-organize into their own Scrum teams.
Is a team new to Scrum ready to self-organize?
To reach this kind of growth, we were planning to hire externally. Some of our hires would not have Scrum experience and many would have limited Scrum experience. Some leaders asked the question: are people who are new to Scrum going to be ready to self-organize?
The short answer is yes. Self-organization is not something that needs to be earned. And besides that - to be honest - deciding what teams' people will work on is not rocket science either. By trusting the team to own how they work together to deliver the product, the organization is empowering them to figure out the best way to deliver the product. By helping the team to self-organize, we would actually be taking the first step to building a high performing team.
Why Self-Organize?
We need to create an environment that fosters a team grounded in empiricism—one that continually learns and is united around improving customer outcomes. Our focus should be on building a learning team. High performers rarely thrive under micromanagement, and excessive limits on self-organization can hold them back. Instead of questioning whether a team is “ready,” leaders should concentrate on hiring people who are motivated to do great work and then shape an environment that empowers them and aligns everyone around delivering value to customers.
If you hired a team of contractors to redesign your kitchen, you wouldn't tell them how to work together. You've hired their expertise. The same can be said of software developers or anyone working together to deliver complex work. You've hired them for their expertise, now let them figure out the best way to deliver their work. Including how their teams should be structured, and how the Scrum teams will work together to deliver the product. *(I am not talking about reporting structure, I am talking about which Scrum team each person should be on within the product team.) What does a self-organization session look like? Check out our recent article, How to roll-out Scrum in your organization.
What does leadership do?
Leaders should focus on removing impediments, ensuring the Scrum team is working together well and that they are using empiricism to inspect and adapt so that they can be always learning and growing. Set the guardrails within which the teams will be allowed to self-organize and give them the training and resources that they need to do their work.
What does self-organization look like?
We asked the team how they preferred to move forward. They chose to begin by forming two large Scrum teams, each made up of a mix of newly onboarded staff and long-tenured employees.
After one Sprint—during which the new team members became familiar with our environment—we held a self-organization session with roughly 30 participants. Leadership opened the meeting by emphasizing the importance of the product and the impact we aimed to create for our customers. The Product Owner then shared her product vision, the Product Goal, and an overview of the upcoming features she hoped to deliver.
The Scrum Masters followed by explaining the guardrails for self-organization: leadership wanted teams capped at 10 people per team, and all teams would work from a single Product Backlog while maintaining their own Sprint Backlogs. Team members were then invited to decide how many Scrum teams we should form, and ultimately determine the composition of each team.
For more details on the self-organization agenda, take a look at this recent article.
The result
The team became one of the highest performing teams in the organization within just six months. They were able to deliver faster and higher quality work than anyone had expected, and they created a culture that was empowered, positive and really felt like a team.
These outcomes weren’t the result of tighter control or more oversight—they were the natural consequence of ownership, alignment, and empowerment.
The teams had chosen who they would work with. They had defined their own working agreements. They were invested—and it showed.
Why Self-Organization Works
1. It Builds Ownership and Accountability
People commit more deeply to decisions they make themselves. When a team forms by choice, not assignment, accountability becomes intrinsic.
2. It Surfaces Real-World Dynamics Leaders Can’t See
Working relationships, communication styles, individual strengths—these factors become visible only when people are free to organize around them.
3. It Accelerates Learning and Adaptation
Teams learn faster when they are experimenting, reflecting, and adjusting together. Self-organization encourages continuous improvement at every level.
4. It Builds Trust—The Foundation of High Performance
When leaders say, “We trust you to form your own teams,” they send a message that sparks motivation and psychological safety.
Six Months Later: A Powerful Proof of Empowerment
About six months after the initial self-organization, the Product Owner shifted priorities to new areas of focus. The teams realized that their current structure wasn’t ideal for the new direction.
And then something remarkable happened:
They completely re-organized themselves—without being asked and without needing permission.
They held the discussion during a Sprint Retrospective, decided what configuration would enable them to deliver the new priorities more effectively, and implemented the change immediately.
No escalation. No approvals. No micromanagement.
Just empowered professionals solving their own problems.
This is what real Agile maturity looks like.
The Leadership Mindset Shift
Leadership’s role in Scrum is not to direct, arrange, or control the work. It is to remove impediments, provide clarity, and create an environment where teams can thrive.
High-performing teams don’t emerge from top-down structures. They emerge from trust, autonomy, and continuous adaptation.
When leaders step back, teams step up.
Conclusion
The story of this 30-person group demonstrates a simple truth:
If you want high-performing Scrum teams, you should let them practice self-organization. Within months, they delivered measurable improvements in customer satisfaction and lead time. Within half a year, they were confident and empowered enough to re-organize on their own, in response to shifting priorities—without any managerial intervention.
This is the promise of Scrum. This is what happens when leadership stops managing the work and starts focusing on building the team.
Find steps to self-organize your team here: How to roll-out Scrum in your organization
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