Who Would You Remove From Your Scrum Team?

Imagine you’re about to build a Scrum Team for a critical project.

You have room for only four people.

Then someone shows you this picture.

An older woman.

A pregnant woman.

A young man using crutches.

A mother carrying a sleeping child.

And asks one uncomfortable question:

Who would you remove from your Scrum Team?

Don’t answer just yet.

Because the answer probably says more about your assumptions than about the people in the picture.

We Judge Before We Know

Our brains are incredibly efficient.

Within seconds, we categorize people based on what we see.

Older people must struggle with technology.

Pregnant employees won’t be available.

Someone using crutches probably has limitations.

A parent with a young child must be too busy.

We rarely say these things out loud.

But unconscious bias doesn’t need to be spoken to influence our decisions.

The problem is that those same assumptions often follow us into hiring, promotions—and even building Scrum Teams.

Scrum Doesn’t Ask the Same Questions

One of the biggest misconceptions about Scrum is that successful teams are built by finding “ideal people.”

They’re not.

Scrum asks a completely different question.

Not:

Who looks like the perfect team member?

Instead:

Do we collectively have everything we need to deliver value?

That single shift changes everything.

Let’s Build a Scrum Team Together

Imagine your company needs to develop a mobile application for public transportation.

Before looking at any candidates, what questions should we ask?

Can users buy tickets?

Can the system integrate with legacy infrastructure?

How will payments be secured?

Will the app be accessible to people with disabilities?

How will real-time bus locations be displayed?

Can it scale during peak hours?

Notice something interesting?

Not once have we asked:

• How old is the developer?
• Is someone pregnant?
• Does anyone have children?
• Does someone use crutches?

Because none of those questions help solve the problem.

Now We Know What Skills We Need

Once we’ve understood the problem, the conversation changes completely.

We need:

• Mobile developers
• Backend engineers
• UX designers
• Security specialists
• Testers
• DevOps engineers
• Someone who understands the transportation business

That’s exactly what the Scrum Guide means when it says that Scrum Teams are cross-functional.

A Scrum Team isn’t made up of identical people.

It’s made up of people whose skills complement one another so the team can deliver value every Sprint.

Think Like a Software Tester

Great testers have an interesting habit.

They question assumptions.

Whenever someone says,

“That can’t happen…”

The tester asks,

“How do we know?”

The same mindset applies when building teams.

How do we know the older woman isn’t the company’s most experienced software architect?

How do we know the pregnant woman isn’t the Product Owner who understands customers better than anyone else?

How do we know the mother isn’t the strongest facilitator on the team?

How do we know the developer using crutches isn’t the only person who understands your legacy systems?

We don’t.

We’re making assumptions.

The Sprint Planning Surprise

Now, imagine Sprint Planning begins.

The team is excited.

Everyone is experienced.

Everyone has impressive résumés.

Then the first Product Backlog Item appears.

It requires integrating the new application with a twenty-year-old ticketing system.

Silence.

Nobody knows how.

Except for one person.

The same person many people would have quietly removed before the project even started.

Without that knowledge…

There is no Sprint Goal.

No Increment.

No release.

The project doesn’t fail because of the person’s appearance.

It fails because the team overlooked the capability that mattered most.

The Real Lesson Behind the Picture

This picture isn’t really about age.

Or pregnancy.

Or disability.

Or parenthood.

It’s about something much more important.

It’s about how quickly we confuse visible characteristics with professional capability.

Scrum teaches us to think differently.

Don’t start with people.

Start with the problem.

Identify the skills required to solve it.

Then build a cross-functional team capable of delivering value together.

Because the best Scrum Teams aren’t built from perfect individuals.

They’re built from complementary strengths.

One Final Question

Look at the picture one more time.

Who did you eliminate first?

Now ask yourself a better question.

What assumption made you eliminate them?

Because in your next Scrum Team, the person you almost overlooked might be the one who makes the entire Sprint successful.