a·gen·tic a·gil·i·ty class·i·fic·at·ion

Product Developer: Driving Collective Accountability for High-Quality Increments in Scrum

Exploring the skills, mindsets, and collective responsibilities essential for building, improving, and delivering valuable product increments in complex environments

Product Developer is a role and accountability focused on creating, researching, inspecting, and adapting releasable Increments with cross-functional skills and collective responsibility for Sprint Goals.

Image
https://nkdagility.com/resources/product-developer/
Subscribe

Overview

Product Developer is both a role and an accountability within modern product development frameworks. All Product Developers together should possess all the skills needed to create Increments, with their combined skill set often referred to as cross-functional.

A Product Developer may be human or automated. Human Product Developers are committed to creating, researching, inspecting, and adapting any aspect of a releasable Increment each Sprint. Their primary focus is on the current Sprint, though some capacity is often invested in future-looking refinement and examining result feedback, side effects, or other learning.

Product Developers adhere to the Definition of Output Done and strive for net improvement. They achieve the best results when they focus solely on one Product. If, at a given point in time, the Product Owner or Scrum Master actively works on items in the Sprint Backlog, they perform that work as Product Developers.

Behaviors and Responsibilities

Product Developers should adopt appropriate behaviors depending on the situation, including (but not limited to):

At least one Product Developer should be human. Multiple human Product Developers often improve cognitive diversity, which is helpful for addressing complexity.

Collective Accountability

Product Developers are always collectively accountable for:

Professional Standards

Context matters, and it is crucial to consider the specific circumstances. But as a rule of thumb, a Product Developer who is neither willing nor ready nor able to be a professional should step down as a Product Developer.

This accountability emphasizes the importance of both individual contribution and collective responsibility in creating valuable, releasable Increments that advance the Product Goal within complex, adaptive environments.

Views:
Subscribe
Scrum

A clear summary of Scrum’s framework, roles, events, artefacts, and values, explaining how teams use Scrum to deliver value and adapt to complex …

Guides Guides
Read more about The Scrum Guide
Scrum

Professional Scrum Teams prioritise software quality, accountability, and continuous improvement, ensuring each release is reliable, defect-free, and …

Blog Blog
Read more about Professional Scrum teams build software that works
Engineering Excellence

Explains why staggered iterations harm software delivery, increasing technical debt, and recommends cross-functional teams, test-first, and working …

Blog Blog
Read more about A better way than staggered iterations for delivery
Scrum

Explains why regular backlog refinement is essential in Scrum, how to make backlog items ready for Sprint Planning, and ways to measure effective …

Blog Blog
Read more about If your backlog is not refined then you are doing it wrong
Scrum

Explains how to integrate Design Sprint activities within Scrum by embedding design and UX work into regular sprints and backlog refinement, avoiding …

Blog Blog
Read more about How do you incorporate a Design Sprint in Scrum?
Scrum

Guidance for running effective Daily Scrum meetings, focusing on collaboration, transparency, and actionable planning to help teams achieve their …

Recipes Recipes
Read more about Daily Scrum Recipe

Our Happy Clients​

We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.​

Graham & Brown Logo

Graham & Brown

Freadom Logo

Freadom

Microsoft Logo

Microsoft

Philips Logo

Philips

Akaditi Logo

Akaditi

Slicedbread Logo

Slicedbread

ALS Life Sciences Logo

ALS Life Sciences

Slaughter and May Logo

Slaughter and May

Trayport Logo

Trayport

Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG) Logo

Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG)

Genus Breeding Ltd Logo

Genus Breeding Ltd

Big Data for Humans Logo

Big Data for Humans

Boeing Logo

Boeing

Healthgrades Logo

Healthgrades

Teleplan Logo

Teleplan

Hubtel Ghana Logo

Hubtel Ghana

Schlumberger Logo

Schlumberger

Alignment Healthcare Logo

Alignment Healthcare

Department of Work and Pensions (UK) Logo

Department of Work and Pensions (UK)

Royal Air Force Logo

Royal Air Force

Washington Department of Enterprise Services Logo

Washington Department of Enterprise Services

Ghana Police Service Logo

Ghana Police Service

Washington Department of Transport Logo

Washington Department of Transport

Nottingham County Council Logo

Nottingham County Council

Higher Education Statistics Agency Logo

Higher Education Statistics Agency

Microsoft Logo

Microsoft

YearUp.org Logo

YearUp.org

Milliman Logo

Milliman

Sage Logo

Sage

Slaughter and May Logo

Slaughter and May