Team
This guide defines the ideal squad setup to ensure clarity, fast delivery, and effective collaboration with clients. Every squad consists of discovery and implementation functions, supported by cross-functional rituals.
Squad Overview: Roles and Allocation
| Role | FTE | Responsibilities | Reports To | Ideal Personality (MBTI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Owner (PO) | 0.5–1.0 | Stakeholder mgmt, roadmap, priorities | PMO / Stakeholders | ENTJ / ENFJ |
| Business Analyst (BA) | 1.0 | Workflows, story clarity, backlog mgmt | PO (functional) | ISFJ / ENFJ |
| Tech Lead (TL) | 1.0 | Delivery driver, coordination, squad velocity | Stakeholders | ESTJ / ENTJ |
| Solution Architect | 1.0 | Architecture, integration flows, mentoring | Tech Lead | INTJ / INFJ |
| API Engineers | 1–3 | API services, DB schemas, tests | Tech Lead | ISTJ / INTP / ENFP |
| UI Engineers | 1–3 | UI components, OpenAPI client integration, UX polish | Tech Lead | ISTJ / INTP / ENFP |
| Designer | 0.5 | Flow diagrams, edge cases, usability feedback | PO / BA | INFP / ISFP |
| DevOps | 0.5 | Release pipelines, deployment safety, test gates | Tech Lead | ISTP / ESTJ |
| QA | 0.5 - 2 | Manual QA with conversion to QA-Automation. Regression, Smoke, Exploratory testing | Tech Lead | ISTP / ESTJ |
Discovery
Every squad has a core "discovery" team which prepares the workload for the rest of the team. Inspired by "3 Amigos", which is essentially a dialog from 3 Points of Views. Expected output: Clear stories with acceptance criteria and flow diagrams.
- Business PoVs
- PO: Owns backlog and priorities
- BA: Breaks down workflows into actionable stories
- Implementation PoVs
- Designer: Provides edge cases and experience validation
- TL: Technical feasibility, pre-spike
- SA (mandatory): Validates architecture early
- Quality PoVs
- QA: Provides edge cases and experience validation
Rituals & Ownership
| Ritual | Driver | Backup / Replacement | Goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Standup | Tech Lead | The next most organized person. No one on the call for the first 10 minutes? Write the report in the chat and move on | Blocker resolution, next steps |
| Planning | PO | BA + TL | Clear sprint goal, split tasks |
| Grooming (3 Amigos) | SA | TL (if SA not available) | Stories clarified and acceptance set |
| Demo | PO | TL + Devs | Stakeholder feedback on live product |
| Retrospective | TL | The next most organized person | Actionable insights for improvement |