The Difference Between Theory and Practice Is In Practice

How do you perceive the team’s cross-functionality in a scrum team?

Let’s say you have 1 UI developer, 1 backend developer and 1 Tester – together they have all the skills they need to produce a product increment. But if you take away 1 component – you have a single point of failure.

Another example. Let’s say you have the same 2 developers and 1 tester – but developers are full stack – if one is absent, another can pick up and they all can do testing if tester is away.

See the difference?

In practice though, it is challenging to achieve a complete cross-functionality when team members have multiple skills at the same time. It depends on technology, on market conditions (if such specialists are easy to find), on individual team member aspirations and development plans.