Many still seem to doubt the capabilities of small agile teams. Small agile teams go against conventional wisdom – they might be able to handle simple problems but for real problems you need big teams, you couldn’t build a team of only high ability people, they wouldn’t be capable (due to character clashes etc) of self organizing and working together – so the arguments go.
The British SAS are arguably the most highly regarded special forces unit in the world. A team in the SAS:
- consists of a small number of highly motivated individuals
- is made up of generalizing specialists – each team member has an area of expertise but is more than competent in other fields
- is self organizing, able to respond as the situation changes
- given a problem the team will amongst themselves work out how to tackle it, they are responsible for their own plan
If you don’t think such a team can work you can go and pick an argument with the SAS.
The above description is also an accurate description of an agile software development team*.
When the SAS was formed it went against conventional wisdom and many doubted its worth. Time has taught us otherwise.
* As I sit here comfortably in front of my PC I am well aware that the problems and risks I face day to day are nothing like those faced by those in the armed services. I don’t mean to cause offence to anyone in the armed services, I just think it’s an unusual but powerful example of “individuals and interactions over processes and tools“
The SAS comparison might seem a bit whimsical but one of there fundamental rule’s of their active units is that the teams are of a very small size that promotes camaraderie between within the group and precise communication. Both for which are vital in teams that have to respond rapidly and correctly to change.