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In recent years, the number of new words related to agile methodologies has not stopped growing. Being in “fashion”, everyone tries to give it a spin and tries to create their specific model to differentiate themselves a bit from the rest and thus add a new term. As for starting to hear a new word repeatedly, it already happened to me a couple or three years ago when OKR was reverberating all over the place . Something similar is happening with the SQUAD .
Last week I attended a UNIR talk where they talked about DevOps and Cloud Computing and it happened again. Everyone agreed that terms like SQUAD were becoming more and more common in hallway conversations between tech teams. Of course, that made me decide shortly after watching the webinar to do some more research on the word in question.
After reviewing several blogs (I leave a couple of them in the sources section), the best summary I can offer is that it was born in the Spotify company and that it comes from SCRUM , although it has a series of characteristics that make it special. Because, the number of members ranges between 6 and 9, it is also a multidisciplinary team and is independent in its performance with respect to other SQUAD teams . Honestly, the approach seems correct to me, although it does not revolutionize the way of working within agile methodologies. It is more the interpretation that a company makes of SCRUMso that it fits perfectly in their way of working, and it will be difficult to replicate the model in other companies with totally different casuistry.
That is, I agree with José Ignacio Herranz from Paradigma, when he focuses on what they are, the culture and values of the companies, the starting point of the digital transformation journey and not wanting to shoehorn something, just because it is a concept new or “trendy”.
So let’s not lose our minds and apply common sense. Let our teams evolve and interpret their own way of working, the one with which they feel most comfortable and are most efficient. This is important to emphasize, because you cannot be a SCRUM tyrant , that “there are them.”
Sources :
Slashmobility. “Squad Methodology to not get lost in the chaos”, December 5, 2018. [online]. https://slashmobility.com/blog/2018/12/metodologia-squad-para-no-perderse-en-el-caos/#:~:text=Los%20Squads%20son%20un%20peque%C3%B1o, misi% C3% B3n% 20using% 20la% 20methodolog% C3% ADa% 20SCRUM .
HERRANZA, José Ignacio. “Your company does not need tribes or squads”, 2019. [online] https://www.paradigmadigital.com/techbiz/tu-empresa-no-necesita-tribus-y-squads/
