Cross Functional Teams



Definition

Cross functional teams is a common technique in which teams are composed of multiple roles representing different functional areas (e.g., requirements engineering, architecting, testing).

Discussion

Different roles bring different personal characteristics, expertise, training, and experience to bear when performing tasks. Often, no single role is adequate for properly and optimally performing a task. This leads to more potential solutions being raised and more iteration being performed. This, in turn, leads to the better performance of tasks, higher productivity, and increased quality of the resulting work products.

Objectives

The typical objectives of cross functional teams are to:

Preconditions

Cross functional teams can typically be used when the following preconditions hold:

Completion Criteria

Cross functional teams is typically complete if the following postconditions hold:

Steps

When using the cross functional teams technique, various rolls typically perform the following steps:

Work Products

Cross functional teams typically results in the following work products:

Limitations

Cross functional teams is typically subject to the following limitations:

Guidelines