Scrum Metaphor: DevTeam as a Soccer Team

Do you watch or play a Soccer game? Have you noticed how different players do their “job” and their tactics change during the game depending upon opposing team irrespective of what they thought of before of start the game?

DevTeam is like a soccer team where some members are specialized for certain type of tasks (e.g. defender or forward or even super specialized like a goalie) but almost everyone can play each other’s position.  The team has a coach who helps the team to lay down the strategy to win the game but during the play, it is the team which makes the decision.

Team Manager’s role is to collect all resources and make available to the team, so the team can do the best – soccer game.

The team as a whole win or lose, not the individuals even the coach and manager. A consistently winning team has members who gel with each other and in the team for a long time. Almost each team member understands each other – professionally as well as psychologically.

Each member pursues its specialization but also learns how to fill the gap if some team mate is not available due to some reason.