What is the Best Team Size for Scrum? – Detail Guide

It is always a challenge to identify the best scrum team size. The optimum team size depends with various factors like the nature of the work, complexities, dependencies, requirement clearness, and team knowledge. However, experts suggest that the best team size for scrum is between 4 to 9. This article presents a deep-dive into this topic so that you will get the best understanding of how many members required for your team.

Experts generally agree that the optimum size of a Scrum team is crucial for effective performance and collaboration. Here are some key facts regarding Scrum team size:

1. Recommended Size: The Scrum Guide suggests that Scrum teams should be small enough to remain nimble but large enough to complete work within a sprint. Typically, this means a team size of 3 to 9 members, excluding the Scrum Master and Product Owner.
2. Flexibility: While 3 to 9 is a guideline, the optimal size can vary based on the complexity of the project and the team’s specific needs. Teams should be large enough to include all necessary skills but small enough to facilitate effective communication and collaboration.
3. Communication Efficiency: Smaller teams tend to have better communication and coordination. It is easier to ensure everyone is on the same page with fewer people, reducing the risk of misunderstandings and delays.
4. Cross-Functionality: A Scrum team should be cross-functional, meaning it should have all the skills necessary to complete the work without needing to rely on external teams. This often requires a balance between team size and the range of expertise required.
5. Self-Management: Smaller teams are often better at self-management. It is easier for the team to make decisions quickly and manage their own work effectively with less number of team members.
6. Team Dynamics: Research shows that team size can impact team dynamics. Teams that are too large may struggle with cohesion and conflict resolution, while teams that are too small may lack the necessary skills to complete complex tasks.
7. Productivity: Some studies suggest that productivity can decrease with team sizes larger than 7 to 9 members due to increased communication overhead and coordination challenges.
8. Scrum Master and Product Owner: The Scrum Master and Product Owner are not counted in the team size. However, their roles are critical in supporting the team and ensuring the Scrum process runs smoothly.
9. Evolution and Scaling: As projects scale, multiple Scrum teams might be needed, but each should ideally adhere to the small team size principle. Frameworks like Scrum of Scrums can help manage coordination between multiple teams.
10. Real-World Variations: In practice, some teams operate effectively with sizes outside the 3 to 9 range, but they often implement additional strategies to manage the challenges associated with larger or smaller teams.

These facts shows a balance between theory and practical application for you to understand what to consider when determining the team optimal size.

Who are Part of Scrum Team

Following are the members of a Scrum Team,

• Scrum Master (1) – Ensures scrum team operates as effectively as possible with scrum values.
• Product Owner (1) – Ensures the scrum team aligns with overall product goals or the roadmap
• Development and Testing Team (4 to 7 as best practice) – Set of professionals who do the hands-on work of completing the tasks in a sprint. Typically software engineers, quality engineers, designers, data analysts, or whoever will contribute to achieve the product roadmap.

Factors to Consider for Scrum Team Size

The below given are some key factors to consider when determining the optimal size for a Scrum team,

1. Communication Overhead – Smaller teams generally have less communication overhead, making coordination faster and easier.
2. Team Maturity and Experience – Experienced teams might manage with fewer members, while less experienced teams might need more support and thus might be slightly larger. Teams that have worked together effectively before might handle different sizes more easily.
3. Collaboration – A team that is too large might struggle with effective collaboration, while a smaller team might find it easier to work closely and share knowledge.
4. Product Backlog Size and Complexity – A larger or more complex backlog might necessitate a larger team to ensure that all items are addressed effectively within the sprint.
5. Remote or Onsite Teams – If the team is distributed across different locations or time zones, this might impact communication and collaboration, potentially influencing the ideal team size. Better to start with a small team and ramp-up the team when things settle down.
6. Complexity of the Project – More complex projects might require a diverse set of skills, which can arise the need to justify a larger team. A larger project might need more team members to handle the increased workload and specialization required.
7. Skills and Knowledge Needed – Ensure the team has a good mix of skills. A balance of developers, testers, UX/UI designers, and other roles may be necessary depending on the project’s needs. Scrum teams should be cross-functional, meaning they can handle all aspects of the project without needing to rely on external resources.
8. Self-Organization – Scrum teams are expected to be self-organizing. Most likely larger teams struggle with self-organizing while smaller teams typically are more agile and adaptable.
9. Team Autonomy – A smaller team might be better at making decisions quickly and adapting to changes.
10. Stakeholder and Customer Involvement – If there’s a need for frequent stakeholder or customer interaction, it might affect team size as additional roles or time may be needed for communication and feedback.

Communication Bottleneck when Teams Gets Large

There is a considerable number of potential communication paths between and among team members that grows exponentially with the number of people in the team. More the team members in the team, larger the communication paths become.

This can be calculated bases on the following formula:

n = the number of team members

Number of potential communication links = n x (n-1)/2

Following chart and table shows how the communication links increase drastically when one member is added to the team,

X Axis = Number of Team Members
Y Axis = Number of Communication Links

No of Team Members	Number of Communication Links
3	3
4	6
5	10
6	15
7	21
8	28
9	36
10	45
11	55
12	66

What Happens When Teams Gets Large – According to Amdahl’s Law?

Amdahl’s Law is a formula that helps us understand what is the maximum improvement we can achieve by adding more resources (like team members) to a process. Imagine you’re cooking a meal, some tasks you can share, like chopping veggies, but others, like actually frying them, have to be done by one person. Amdahl’s Law explains that if there are tasks that can’t be split up or shared, then adding more people only helps up to a point. There will always be a “bottleneck” that limits how much faster you can get things done even-though you keep adding resources.

In Scrum, if you keep adding people to a team, they won’t necessarily be able to speed things up endlessly because of dependencies, communication needs, and other constraints that take time regardless of team size. According to Amdahl’s Law, adding more people helps up to a point, but beyond that, the extra coordination required between team members may actually slow down the overall progress rather than speeding it up.

While Amdahl’s Law doesn’t give a single “best” number, it suggests that a team size of about 4–7 people often strikes the right balance. In this range, you can keep coordination simple, while still benefiting from having multiple people tackle different parts of a project. The communication overhead tends to grow if the team size is more than 7, and makes it harder to work efficiently.

Signs that Team is Getting Too Large

1. Communication Breakdowns

Maintaining effective communication becomes difficult when a Scrum team grows too large, . Team members may miss crucial updates or misunderstand key points because there are simply too many people to keep in sync. Information can get lost in the shuffle, and repetitive questions or unintentional miscommunications become more common. This indicates that people aren’t able to align effectively, slowing down the team’s progress.

2. Longer Meetings

Meetings like daily stand-ups, sprint planning, and retrospectives tend to drag on when the team size grows. More people need time to give updates, share thoughts, and discuss issues, which can make meetings feel more like a lengthy reporting session. These prolonged meetings drain energy, reduce focus, and may hinder the team from quickly aligning on goals and priorities, as intended in Scrum.

3. Increased Coordination Overhead

Managing and coordinating tasks becomes harder as team size increases. Additional time and effort are required to keep everyone aligned, manage dependencies, and handle overlapping responsibilities. This increased coordination overhead diverts attention away from actually completing the work, often leading to bottlenecks and slowing down the overall team efficiency.

4. Fragmented Ownership of Tasks

Tasks may get divided into very small parts, leading to a lack of ownership. Individual team members might feel less accountable for specific outcomes since responsibilities are spread too thinly with a large team. This often results in work quality issues, as no one has clear responsibility over a piece of work from start to finish, reducing both engagement and accountability.

5. Difficulty in Reaching Consensus

In a larger team, decision-making becomes challenging as there are more opinions to consider and often conflicting viewpoints. The process of reaching a consensus takes longer, which can delay important decisions and slow down project progress. This can also create frustration among team members who feel their voices aren’t heard or their input is diluted.

6. Decreased Cohesion and Team Morale

When a team becomes too large, a sense of cohesion can fade. Team members may not interact closely with everyone, resulting in cliques or a reduced sense of belonging. This impacts team morale, and people may feel less engaged or less connected to the team’s objectives, potentially impacting productivity and motivation.

Signs that Need More Members to the Team

1. Overwhelmed Team Members

When existing team members consistently report feeling overwhelmed by their workload, it may be a sign that the team is too small for the project scope. Team members might be juggling too many tasks, leading to stress and burnout, which can ultimately impact the quality and speed of delivery. Adding new members could help balance the workload, allowing the team to operate more sustainably.

2. Persistent Backlogs

If the product backlog grows faster than the team can handle, it could indicate a need for more hands. When work accumulates faster than it’s being completed, deadlines can slip, and team members might feel they’re constantly behind. A larger team can help tackle the backlog more effectively and keep the project on schedule.

3. Consistently Missed Deadlines

When the team frequently struggles to meet sprint deadlines or has to roll over tasks into the next sprint, this may suggest they need additional support. If the team is already working efficiently, but time constraints remain an issue, adding new members can provide the extra capacity needed to stay on track.

4. Limited Skill Set

If the team lacks certain expertise or technical skills, it might mean that more specialized members are needed. For example, if a team lacks a UX designer or a QA specialist, it could create bottlenecks in areas like design or testing. Adding members with the required skills ensures the team has the resources to handle each aspect of development effectively.

5. Quality Issues or Increased Bugs

When a team is stretched too thin, quality can suffer, leading to more bugs, defects, or rework. If quality issues are becoming more frequent despite the team’s best efforts, this can signal a need for additional members. By distributing the workload, the team can spend more time on quality assurance, leading to better outcomes.

6. Reduced Innovation and Stagnation

Team members may focus only on completing basic tasks, leaving little time for creative problem-solving or innovation when the team is too small. If the team seems stagnant, with few fresh ideas or approaches, bringing in new members can bring fresh perspectives and new ideas, helping to reinvigorate the team’s energy and creativity.

7. Team Morale and Engagement Issues

When team members feel perpetually overworked, morale can drop. They may become disengaged, frustrated, or unmotivated. Adding more people can relieve some pressure, creating a healthier workload and a better work-life balance, which can help to restore morale and engagement.

Benefits of Large Scrum Team

While the ideal Scrum team size is often between 4-7 people, a larger team can bring unique benefits in certain scenarios. For one, larger teams bring a wider range of skills and expertise to the table, allowing them to tackle more complex projects and distribute specialized tasks across members.This diversity can also lead to creative solutions, as team members bring different perspectives, experiences, and ideas, fostering innovation.

Larger teams are also better equipped to handle a high volume of work, meaning they can accelerate the completion of big, multi-faceted projects. Additionally, with more people to share the workload, the team has greater resilience against disruptions, such as a team member needing time off or dealing with unforeseen issues.

This can improve continuity and reduce delays. While there are challenges to manage, when structured and organized effectively, large Scrum teams can offer both breadth and depth, enhancing productivity and allowing the team to scale efficiently for more ambitious project goals.

Drawbacks of Large Scrum Team

While large Scrum teams bring certain advantages, they often face notable drawbacks that can impact efficiency and team dynamics. One primary issue is communication challenges, with more people, it becomes harder to keep everyone aligned on goals and tasks, leading to potential misunderstandings and information loss. Scrum ceremonies tend to drag on, consuming valuable time and reducing the team’s overall productivity.

Additionally, larger teams struggle with coordination overhead. More members mean that aligning on tasks, managing dependencies, and ensuring everyone’s contributions fit together requires extra effort. This coordination can slow down decision-making, as reaching a consensus or discussing solutions takes longer with more voices in the room.

Large teams also often see a decline in individual ownership and accountability. When tasks are broken into smaller pieces to accommodate a large group, team members may feel less responsible for the end result, impacting the quality of work. This can lead to a “too many cooks” situation, where no one person feels entirely accountable for certain tasks, causing delays and potential rework.

Lastly, team cohesion and morale can suffer as the group expands. When the team grows too large, members may not interact closely with everyone, creating a less tight-knit dynamic. Smaller Scrum teams often thrive on collaboration and a strong sense of shared purpose, which becomes more difficult to maintain in a larger group. This can result in disengagement or frustration, especially if team members feel their contributions are diluted or their voices are less heard.

Benefits of Small Scrum Team

Small Scrum teams offer several advantages that align well with Agile principles, creating a highly efficient, collaborative, and adaptable work environment. One of the primary benefits is enhanced communication. Everyone stays better aligned on goals, tasks, and updates, making daily standups, sprint planning, and retrospectives quicker and more effective with fewer people. Small teams can make faster decisions and adapt to changes seamlessly, as there are fewer voices to consult and less room for miscommunication.

Another significant advantage of a small Scrum team is greater individual ownership and accountability. Each team member often has a clear set of responsibilities and a tangible impact on the project’s outcome. This increases both engagement and motivation, as each person feels a strong connection to the team’s progress and success. Team members can take full ownership of specific tasks, leading to higher-quality work and reduced need for rework with fewer people involved.

Small teams also benefit from a stronger sense of team cohesion and morale. Team members tend to form closer bonds, collaborate more effectively, and support each other through challenges. This creates a positive, supportive atmosphere that boosts morale, encourages open communication, and fosters a culture of trust.

Additionally, with fewer people, there is less coordination overhead, meaning the team can focus more on delivering valuable work rather than managing complex workflows or dependencies. This often leads to faster sprint cycles and higher productivity, making small Scrum teams ideal for projects that require quick pivots, rapid feedback, and iterative development.

Drawbacks of Small Scrum Team

Small Scrum teams, while efficient and closely knit, can encounter certain limitations that impact their ability to handle projects of greater scope and complexity. One of the main drawbacks is limited capacity and skill coverage. With fewer members, the team may lack specialized expertise in key areas, such as UX design, quality assurance, or data analysis. This can lead to bottlenecks if certain skills are missing, making it challenging to complete diverse or technically demanding tasks. When team members have to wear multiple hats, it can stretch their capabilities and slow down delivery.

Another challenge for small Scrum teams is higher risk of burnout. With fewer people to share the workload, team members may end up managing a broad range of tasks, which can lead to increased stress and pressure. In a fast-paced Scrum environment, where each sprint requires focused and timely work, this can easily lead to burnout, impacting morale, productivity, and even retention.

Small teams also experience limited resilience to disruptions. If one or two team members are unavailable due to illness, leave, or other unexpected events, it can significantly disrupt the workflow. Each person’s contributions are more critical to the sprint’s success, so any absence or delay can cause setbacks that are difficult to absorb in a small team.

Lastly, reduced diversity of ideas and innovation can be a drawback. Small teams, while cohesive, may lack a wide range of perspectives, which can limit creativity and problem-solving approaches. With fewer voices contributing, the team might lean on familiar approaches rather than exploring fresh, innovative solutions, potentially limiting the value of their work.

Best Options to Split the Team – if your Team is Large

If you’re dealing with an oversized Scrum team, splitting it into smaller, more focused groups can boost productivity and efficiency. Here are some effective ways to split a large Scrum team:

Option 1 – Split by Feature or Component

One common approach is to divide the team based on specific features or components of the project. For example, one sub-team might focus on front-end development, while another handles back-end tasks. This allows each team to build specialized expertise in their assigned area, leading to faster, more efficient development and a clearer sense of ownership over their work.

Option 2 – Split by Product Functionality

If the product is complex with multiple distinct functionalities, it’s often helpful to organize teams around each function. For instance, one team might focus on the user interface, while another team handles the data processing aspects. This helps reduce inter-team dependencies, enabling each group to move independently and reducing bottlenecks.

Option 3 – Split by Cross-Functional “Mini-Teams”

In this approach, each smaller team includes a mix of skills and expertise needed to complete a project end-to-end. These cross-functional teams might have developers, designers, testers, and even UX specialists, creating self-sufficient units that can independently deliver features. This approach is ideal for teams working in parallel on different features of a product and fosters close collaboration within each team.

Option 4 – Split by User Journey or Customer Workflow

If the product is built around a particular user journey, like onboarding, checkout, or customer support, teams can be organized around these workflows. This way, each sub-team can focus on perfecting their assigned journey, ensuring each piece of the customer experience is optimized. This setup works well for customer-centric products where user experience is a high priority.

Option 5 – Split by Sprint Focus (Maintenance vs. New Development)

Another option is to split teams based on sprint focus. For example, one team could be responsible for new feature development, while another handles maintenance, bug fixes, or technical debt. This approach ensures that new development is always progressing while maintaining the stability and quality of existing features.

Option 6 – Split by Geographic Location (If Distributed)

For geographically distributed teams, it may make sense to split based on location to account for time zones, work hours, and regional considerations. Each team can be structured to maximize overlap in working hours, facilitating more efficient collaboration and faster responses to issues.

Option 7 – Split by Project Phase (Planning, Development, Testing)

If the project requires a high degree of coordination, teams can be divided by project phase. For example, one team could focus on planning and requirements, another on active development, and a third on testing and quality assurance. While not ideal for every Scrum setup, this approach can work for projects with highly segmented development stages.

Each of these approaches has its benefits, so the choice depends on your team’s structure, project complexity, and development goals. A key to any successful split is ensuring that each smaller team has a clear focus, well-defined goals, and the necessary resources to operate independently. Regular cross-team syncs can also help maintain alignment across the project.

Conclusion with My Experience

With my overall experience, I think that the sweet spot for scrum team size is 6. High skilled 6 members are good enough to get a significant productive work done within the sprint. Also it is not too large to have problems like communication in-efficiencies and accountability issues. You can get a good productive output if you have a team around 6 members with having their skill set matching to complete the product backlog.

Tips to Boost Scrum Team Productivity?

Boosting Scrum team productivity involves fostering a collaborative environment where team members can work efficiently and effectively. One key strategy is to ensure clear roles and responsibilities, enabling team members to understand their contributions and accountability within the team.

Regularly conducting sprint planning sessions allows the team to prioritize tasks and set realistic goals, ensuring everyone is aligned and focused on delivering value. Encouraging open communication through daily stand-ups promotes transparency, allowing team members to share progress, address challenges, and seek assistance when needed.

Additionally, implementing time management techniques, such as timeboxing meetings and setting clear deadlines, can help maintain momentum and minimize distractions. Fostering a culture of continuous improvement through regular retrospectives enables the team to reflect on their processes, identify areas for enhancement, and implement actionable changes. Lastly, investing in team-building activities can strengthen relationships among members, leading to improved collaboration and morale.

By combining these strategies, a Scrum team can significantly enhance productivity, deliver higher-quality work, and adapt more swiftly to changing project requirements.

FAQs of Scrum Team Size

FAQ 1 – What is the ideal size for a Scrum team?
The Scrum Guide recommends a team size of 3 to 9 members, including developers, the Scrum Master, and the Product Owner. A team within this range typically maintains efficient communication, collaboration, and decision-making while minimizing coordination overhead.

FAQ 2 – Why does Scrum emphasize small team sizes?
Smaller teams foster quicker decision-making, closer collaboration, and more efficient communication. They minimize overhead from meetings and coordination, allowing members to focus on delivering value. This size also helps build a sense of ownership and accountability, as each team member plays a significant role in the team’s outcomes.

FAQ 3 – Can a Scrum team be too small?
Yes, teams with fewer than three members can struggle with skill gaps and have difficulty covering all aspects of development, testing, and design. Small teams are also more vulnerable to disruptions if a member is unavailable, which can impact sprint goals and timelines.

FAQ 4 – What happens if a Scrum team is too large?
Large teams often face challenges with coordination, communication, and effective decision-making. Meetings can run long, team cohesion can weaken, and productivity may drop. In these cases, it’s often beneficial to split the team into smaller groups working on different features or components of the product.

FAQ 5 – How do you determine if you need more members on a Scrum team?
Signs you might need more team members include frequent missed deadlines, a persistent backlog, overwhelmed team members, skill gaps, or a need for specialized knowledge. Expanding the team can bring in needed skills, balance workloads, and improve delivery speed and quality.

FAQ 6 – Can a Scrum team work effectively with more than nine members?
While it’s possible, teams larger than nine members tend to experience diminishing returns in productivity and agility. Coordination challenges grow, and the team may struggle with alignment and communication. Large teams are usually best split into smaller, cross-functional teams focused on distinct features or functions.

FAQ 7 – Should the Scrum Master or Product Owner be included in the team count?
Yes, the Scrum Guide includes the Scrum Master and Product Owner in the overall team size. However, some teams exclude these roles when calculating their team count, especially if they’re not involved in the day-to-day development work. Adjustments can be made based on the team’s workload and structure.

FAQ 8 – How does team size affect sprint planning?
Larger teams can make sprint planning more complex and time-consuming due to the number of tasks and dependencies. Smaller teams tend to have shorter planning sessions, as there are fewer tasks and simpler coordination. In large teams, consider splitting into smaller groups for focused sprint planning or dividing the sprint planning into phases.

FAQ 9 – What are some strategies for splitting a large Scrum team?
A large Scrum team can be split by feature, product functionality, user journey, project phase, or specialized skill sets. The key is to create independent, cross-functional teams that can deliver increments of value without heavy reliance on other teams, maintaining agile principles while scaling up.

FAQ 10 – What if we only have a small team but a large project scope?
Small teams with large scopes may need to carefully prioritize tasks and work incrementally, focusing on delivering the highest-value features first. If project requirements and deadlines demand faster delivery, expanding the team or bringing in additional, specialized resources may be necessary.