The Agile “Team”

Team – the team is the most difficult to define in my experience.  Why?  Because just about everyone has experience that was not Agile.  They know about Business Analysts, Dev Leads, UI/UX, DBA, etc.  How do they fit?  The general definition in Agile of "The Team" is a small group of committed individuals that possess all of the necessary competencies, whether technical or business.  Their individual role is less important than results.

If the result is most important, then it makes sense that each team member have multiple skills to insure the needed results get completed.  So let's ask ourselves what should be considered.

1. What is a Dev or QA Lead in Agile? – all teams should have a someone they could seek out for answering questions and assisting when needed.  Most teams not only have senior members, but mid and junior level developers and testers.  The lead is the go-to person for those that are still gaining talent.  The lead on the other hand should not be either the decision maker or direct the team.  See article on when to worry about the lead with too much power.
2. The Business Analyst – this position can hold many positions.  The BA actually is very similar to the Product Owner and could be considered outside of the actual "Team" and work closely with the PO to define and plan the future sprints – usually at a more technical level.
3. Should the BA's stories be included in the capacity – I say no.  But, it depends on the team.  The capacity is an estimate on how much bandwidth the team has during the sprint to finish the features they have committed to.  The BA is usually working on future features, so I suggest that their estimates are not included just like the PO's work in usually not included.
4. When would you add the PO/BA work to the teams capacity – Sometime a team likes to see the board represent analysis and design before it gets to their plate – this is popular in Kanban – usually there are columns just for the design and analysis.  It is a team's preference and should be discussed up front during the Forming stage of the project.  It should be as consistent as possible.
5. Where do UI/UX members fit on the team?  UI/UX experts are definitely important to the team, similar to the architect, an overall vision and consistency are imperative to a great user experience.  Many times, this is not a full time position once the team gets the overall design and components, so the Designer like the architect could be heavily involved at the beginning then move to another project once the design is in place.