In my last post I used the metaphor of a rowing team to describe the potential implications of having more than one Product Owner per product. In this post, I’d like to use a similar metaphor to show what might happen if a Developer works on more than one Scrum Team at a time. It’s one of the most asked questions in every Scrum training.
Here's the metaphor
Imagine your Scrum Team is the crew of a rowing boat. There’s the person holding the rudder, the people at the oars and the person helping everyone create and maintain rhythm.
The boat is your Scrum Team. The person at the rudder is your Product Owner. The people doing the hard work of rowing are your Developers, and the person facilitating rhythm is your Scrum Master.
Imagine the Developers really putting their backs into it and doing their best. You can feel their focus to meet the Sprint Goal.
Working on more than one team?
Now, imagine one of the rowers has to switch boats and join another crew. Take a minute and think about what that might mean for the crew and their boat. Picture it before you read on!
Does your mental picture look like this?