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Who is in Charge of an Agile Team?

Last Updated September 11, 2019

A bunch of co-workers sitting at a table talking with a banner at the bottom of the image that reads "Agile Teams - Who is in charge?".

These days, many companies are embracing the Agile methodology in an effort to stay ahead of consumer and client needs. The Agile approach provides project flexibility in order to grow and adapt to consumer needs. It keeps the development process iterative, adaptable and on-track.

For Agile to work effectively, teams need to have heightened senses of accountability, project awareness and collaboration. These traits stem from strong team leadership and authority. One of the areas that separates Agile from other traditional methodologies is the levels of authority afforded to each role in an Agile team.

Every role in the development process falls under a point of authority who has unique responsibilities, and each of these leaders is integral to a project’s success.

Product Owner

In many projects, the Product Owner has authority over several overarching criteria. An attentive and authoritative Product Owner works to:

  • Prioritize backlog – This means clearly expressing backlog items, making sure it is clear to everyone, ordering items in the backlog to most efficiently achieve goals and resolving any confusion the team might have surrounding the backlog.
  • Accept user stories into the baseline – In many ways, this is an early quality assurance measure. It involves validation that the story meets all the criteria required to be accepted and labelled complete.
  • Liaison with external sources and stakeholders – Product Owners often act as a go-between for teams and external stakeholders. This typically means they communicate thoughts and challenges, address progress updates and shifts in development and keep communication lines as clear as possible between parties.

Most Product Owners, however, don’t have any stake in tasking individual team members or assigning work in a Sprint. Their authority typically involves high level strategy and planning.

Scrum Master

The Scrum Master is the owner of the process. It is their duty to guide the team and ensure Agile is being implemented properly. The Scrum Master is a lot like the team coach – implementing process-based strategies and ensuring processes are being properly followed. But this role doesn’t typically have the authority to make resource changes or tactical alterations during a project.

Scrum Team

The authority granted to the team is one aspect that differentiates Agile from other methodologies. Scrum Teams are usually self-organizing and versatile, and the team itself is in charge of strategizing workloads and making progress on projects.

Competencies are represented within a single team and everyone is considered to have an equal level of authority. Leadership is organic, meaning those who truly understand a task should generally be the ones to lead it to completion. When Agile is properly implemented, Scrum Teams are afforded the authority to solve problems and handle issues.

Leadership and authority help set Agile apart from the crowd. By letting Product Managers and Scrum Masters plan and guide the process, Agile relies on the strength, ingenuity and creativity of individual contributors to bring projects to close. Everyone practices the methodology a little differently, but the results are hard to ignore. Self-governing teams filled with strong and resourceful people can make for efficient and effective project strategies.

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