Any Scrum project is led by a Scrum Master but the most important and crucial members of a Scrum project are Developers in that Scrum Team. Developers are the real people who bring the product to life and complete the Sprint Goals on time. 

Any Scrum Developer needs to be a quick learner, fast in adapting transitions or changes and should understand the importance of deadlines. As Scrum is always member-bound and time-bound projects, every member of the team should be the best at their work. Each Developer should understand the importance of time in Scrum projects and should tend to fast-paced work.

A Scrum team certainly involves many Developers working on the project but that doesn’t mean any one of those can enjoy less work or some have to do more work. The work in Scrum projects for each Developer is distributed equally and they all have to perform an equal amount of tasks in the progress of the work. 

The Scrum Master and the Product Owner in the project are dependent on the performance of the Developers and they are required to fulfill each demand made by the two in the given amount of time. There are certain Scrum Developer roles and responsibilities in every Scrum project to make the project successfully within the timeframe decided for the Sprint. 

What Role Does A Scrum Developer in Scrum Projects?

A Scrum Developer has several roles in a project for every Sprint to prepare the deliverables or the asked product for that particular Sprint. These roles involve:

Understanding the Requirement

The very first and most important role of a Scrum Developer is to understand the requirements of the product decided by the Product Owner. Once the Product Owner has defined the requirement or the goal of Sprint, the development team sits down for discussion. To make it more clearly understandable by each member of the development team so that they can start distributing the work. 

Understanding the requirement is important for the Developer because if the requirement is not clear to any of the Developers then how will he/she be able to work efficiently on it. A clear understanding of the requirement helps a Developer define his own framework and at what pace he/she has to perform his tasks to complete it on the defined time. 

The whole development team discusses the requirement and makes a development plan for the requirement for each Developer to follow. This session is important to raise any query or confusion about the order so that it doesn’t become a problem in the latter part of the development. 

Estimation of User Stories 

Another important role for a Developer is to estimate the user stories listed in the backlog. Estimating the Sprint backlog of user stories helps the team define the priorities for the Sprint. Keeping an estimate is vital in keeping the track of the project. This helps in defining the progress they have made with each Sprint and what is the next most important thing they should focus on. 

Estimation maintains the workflow of the project and accommodates the team with the list of the backlog they have left to finish before the deadline. There isn’t anything more important for a Developer to deliver the product in the asked time. In order to achieve that keeping an estimate of the backlog of user stories helps them know whether the workflow required for the project is maintained or not. 

Development of the Product

The above two mentioned roles are the initial roles for a Scrum Developer, now the most important and their real task of the Scrum project arrives. The reason why they are the development team is that they are solely responsible for the development of the required product. In Scrum, the development team, not more than 9 members are responsible for developing the whole product from scratch to its final stage. 

The Scrum Master or the Product Owner is only there to guide them but the real work has to be done by the Developers. So it is important for every Developer to know the significance of the Sprint deadline and should be able to complete it before the deadline. 

The development of the product involves product analysis, programming, testing, web designing, etc. All these tasks are distributed between the development team and all of them have to be completed within the timeframe decided for the project. 

A good grasp of all the Scrum Developer roles and responsibilities makes a quality Developer and helps him in achieving his tasks with ease and on time. 

Responsibilities a Scrum Developer Has to Perform 

There are various responsibilities of each Scrum Developer to perform in each Scrum project with his/her best efforts for the best results. Every Developer is responsible for certain tasks in the project and it is important to understand the significance of each. So they shouldn’t make any mistakes while performing them. 

Achieving the goal: 

Out of all the Scrum Developer roles and responsibilities, the first and foremost responsibility of a Developer is to achieve the goal for each Sprint at any cost. This goal is set in a particular amount of time and the Developers have to make sure that they achieve it within the timeframe with the best quality of results. 

Attending Daily Scrums: 

Daily Scrums are the daily team meeting held with the members of the project. It takes place for 15 minutes to discuss the daily progress the team is making concerning the project. It also includes the discussion of complications in the project which need to be taken care of. 

Assuring the Work Is Going on Track: 

The Developer needs to assure the Product Owner and the Scrum Master the work is going as planned and there is no delay in the daily work. For the Product Owner and the Scrum Master, it is essential to have confidence in the Developers. Developers can gain that confidence by assuring them that they are on track and they will be able to achieve the goal on time.

Providing Inputs for the User Stories: 

A Developer is someone who works closely with the software and understands what addition can be beneficial for the user. The input from Developers for the User Stories created by the Product Owner is an essential responsibility of a Developer. The suggestions are always taken into consideration by the Product Owner. 

Bringing Clarity to Epics & Personas: 

Epics & Personas are one of the key elements to define the needs in Scrum projects. So the Development team gets to know what exactly is required and how they can achieve it. Every Developer should consider understanding the Epics and Personas as clearly as possible for defining the requirements of the project. 

Reporting Complications: 

Every Sprint comes along with several complications. Whenever a Developer faces any complication in the development of the product, he/she should always communicate it to the Scrum Master immediately. The whole team and especially the Scrum Master needs to know about such complications so that it doesn’t do bigger damage to the project. The Scrum Master will communicate the complication to the Product Owner and he will start working on solving it right away. 

Agreement on the Sprint’s Length: 

A Scrum Developer never works alone, there is a team of Developers in Scrum projects. Every Developer needs to work collaboratively and collectively with the team. So whatever the length of a Sprint is decided by the team every Developer has to agree with it. He should avoid being the laid-back one and should take the length as a challenge. 

Create the Sprint Burn-down Chart & the Sprint Backlog: 

The burn-down chart of Sprint and the backlog chart are very crucial for a successful Scrum project. The backlog chart includes the details of the items which need to be worked upon. The burn-down chart has the details about the items that have been successfully developed and delivered by the team. 

Final Words

The tricky thing about the Scrum framework is that it cannot have more than 9 Developers and due to that each Developer in the team should be extraordinary. It is very essential to consider the significance of Scrum Developer roles and responsibilities in order to the best Scrum Developer. 

Scrum Developers have so much work to do in a limited period that if they take their roles and responsibilities for granted then the project can suffer due to that. So they do not have the luxury to take them for granted and should give their best efforts towards the project. In the end, it’s Developers who create the product so they all have to be the best of the best.  

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