Agile roles and multishoring

Read this interesting post from Agile: In a Flash http://agileinaflash.blogspot.com/2010/06/agile-roles.html about Agile Roles.  If you are working with an agile software development model, you may struggle with how to map the agile / scrum roles to your teams, both on and offshore.

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Jeff Langr proposes a simplified view of the agile roles, such as :

• Customer
• Programmer
• Tester
• Tracker
• Coach
• Coordinator

These roles should be mapped both to your onshore and offshore teams, and ideally you would have one of each in each location. This is often not practical, but it is important to know who all of these roles are , and have a well-defined description for each.

The Coordinator or Coach roles often are mapped from Project Manager or Scrum Master, but also can be combined with the offshore liaison role to follow up and coordinate issues for the offshore team.

However you use these roles, the most important thing according to the article is to focus more on producing a quality product then the formal titles of the team. Everyone on an agile team should be able to step into any of these roles at any time to help the team thrive.