Agile – How to use Scrum with a freelance team

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I'm working in a start-up. I have a background with teamwork and management, but I'm currently the only developer. We have a project that will involve a few developers in the form of 2 freelancers. I will function as a developer as well as the ScrumMaster. The project is scheduled to last three to four months. The 3 developers (myself and the two freelancers) have never worked together before.

Would it be possible or advisable to use Scrum to manage this type of project? Would there be any problems organizing or running the team using Scrum?

Best Answer

Since you will be the scrummaster then I believe the answer to "is it possible to organize..." is really one best answered by you; you know your personality, management and organizational skills better than we do. Any methodology is do-able given sufficient understanding and commitment from all parties (that's often the hard part - does everyone in this startup understand what "Agile" and Scrum mean; short iterations with partial functionality added at each and lots of customer feedback?).

Also to be considered is this - is everyone involved already experienced with Scrum? If not, and especially if there is an appreciable amount of skepticism or animosity toward Agile/Scrum, perhaps a 3-month project is too short a window to be a)gelling as a team, b)getting the "real work" done, and c)learning a new methodology.

No matter what methodology you choose, Team relationships are an excellent place to start, btw.

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