Understanding the Role of the Development Team in Scrum

In Scrum, the Development Team plays a vital role in turning ideas into real, working products. Whether we’re talking about software, scientific research, or space engineering, the people creating the solution—the developers—are the backbone of the project.

Let’s dive deeper into what this team does, how they estimate work, and how they help drive the project forward.

Who Are the Developers?

In software projects, they’re IT engineers writing code.
In pharmaceutical research, they’re scientists running experiments.
In aerospace, they’re engineers building and testing physical systems.

These professionals are domain experts. They understand the technical side of the problem better than anyone else on the team.

That’s why, during planning and brainstorming sessions, they don’t just sit back and listen. They actively contribute by asking and answering key questions:

• How much time and effort is needed to implement a requirement?
• Is the requirement technically feasible?
• Are there alternative, possibly better, solutions?

From Ideas to Products

Once the project kicks off, the Development Team is responsible for bringing the product to life. This involves:

• Building the features defined in the backlog.
• Ensuring high product quality according to requirements.
• Adapting to changes (which are a normal part of any project!).

Development Team & Backlog Estimation

After the stakeholders and Product Owner have defined the user stories and prioritized them, the Development Team steps in to evaluate them from a technical perspective.

Here, effort estimation comes into play.

In Scrum, effort is measured using story points — not hours or days. This is important because story points focus on the complexity and amount of work, not on the exact time something will take.

Example:
A user story with 2 story points requires twice the effort of a story with 1 point.
If one developer can deliver 1 story point per week, then a 2-point story will take two weeks to complete.
If another equally productive developer joins, they could complete the same story together in one week.

Why Story Points Matter

Once every user story has an assigned number of story points, the Product Owner and stakeholders can use that information to re-evaluate priorities.

Let’s say two user stories are equally important.
If one requires 2 points and the other 8, it might make more sense to start with the smaller one.
This approach helps the team deliver value faster, especially early in the project.

Team Velocity

Now we introduce another important concept: velocity.

Velocity = number of story points a team can deliver per sprint.

For example, if you have three developers, and each can deliver 1 story point per week, then:

• Weekly velocity = 3 story points
• Sprint (2 weeks) velocity = 3 × 2 = 6 story points per sprint

Knowing the team’s velocity allows for realistic sprint planning. You can answer questions like:

What can we deliver this sprint?
How many sprints do we need to reach MVP?

Let’s Do the Math

Say your MVP includes 9 user stories with a total of 22 story points.
If your team’s velocity is 6 story points per sprint, how many sprints will it take?

📘 Answer:
22 ÷ 6 = 3.7 → so you’ll need 4 sprints to complete the MVP.

Parallel Work in Real Life

In our examples, we assumed that developers work on one user story at a time.
But in real life, things are often more dynamic.

Larger teams can work on multiple stories in parallel, especially when stories are independent of each other. This increases productivity and allows better use of the team’s full capacity.

Final Thoughts

The Development Team is not just a group of coders or technical experts—they are key contributors to planning, decision-making, and successful delivery.

They:

• Advise on feasibility and effort
• Estimate story points
• Help shape realistic plans
• Adapt to change
• Bring the product to life

Understanding how effort estimation, velocity, and backlog management work gives the entire Scrum Team the clarity needed to deliver value consistently and effectively.

Quiz: Test Your Knowledge

1. What is the primary responsibility of the development team in Scrum?

A) Managing project timelines
B) Writing documentation
C) Delivering a high-quality product
D) Assigning business priorities

2. What do story points measure?

A) Developer experience
B) Number of lines of code
C) Amount of effort
D) Exact duration in hours

3. If a team has a velocity of 6 story points per sprint, how many sprints are needed to complete 22 story points?

A) 2
B) 3
C) 4
D) 5

4. Who estimates the story points for each user story?

A) Product Owner
B) Scrum Master
C) Stakeholders
D) Development Team

5. When are story points most useful for the Product Owner?

A) During the daily stand-up
B) While re-evaluating priorities
C) During product release
D) After sprint review

✅ Correct Answers

1. C) Delivering a high-quality product
2. C) Amount of effort
3. C) 4
4. D) Development Team
5. B) While re-evaluating priorities