Chapter 2
Build the Cross-Functional, Collaborative Team

Here’s a familiar situation: You have a Very Important Customer waiting for a feature. The developers are done. The testers are not. Why? Because they’re backed up with other work, testing other fixes, trying to keep up with projects, support requests, and who knows what else.

Maybe the lack of testers isn’t your problem. It could be that you don’t have enough UX people or DBAs working alongside the developers. You are missing the one element vital to a successful agile project: a fully skilled, cross-functional, collaborative team.

The cross-functional team is the heart of an agile approach. Cross-functional teams can deliver working product. When you don’t have a cross-functional team, delivering anything seems impossible. Let’s see how to create the cross-functional team your project needs.