Scrum Team Size: The Ideal Number for Agile Teams

The Scrum method is used across industries to structure workflows and increase efficiency in agile teams. Important in Scrum is a clear distribution of roles, through which each team member knows exactly what he has to do. A Scrum team should be neither too large nor too small.

How large is the ideal Scrum team?

The distribution of roles in Scrum also takes into account the size of a team. In addition to a product owner and scrum master, in most cases the development team should consist of no less than three and no more than nine people. A Scrum team must remain small enough to work flexibly and large enough to work through important sprints efficiently. While large teams usually result in overly complex interactions, a Scrum team that is too small is often not productive enough to meet the requirements of the Scrum method.

Disadvantages of a Scrum team that is too large

A Scrum team with more than ten members often results in some degree of counterproductivity:

• It is harder to build trust and cohesion in a team.
• Members focus only on their task instead of also taking on roles outside their area of responsibility.
• Working in Scrum teams that are too large also ensures a reduced acceptance of mutual responsibility.