Cross-Functional Teams

Correct Answer: Skills should overlap moderately while maintaining distinct specialized expertise

The optimal skill relationship in a cross-functional team involves moderate overlap while maintaining specialized expertise because: Team members need enough shared understanding to collaborate effectively and fill in when needed, yet retain deep expertise in their specific domains. This balance enables: - Effective communication between specialists - Backup capabilities when team members are unavailable - Innovation through combining different perspectives - Efficient resource utilization Why other options are suboptimal: - Complete skill separation creates silos and communication barriers - Full skill overlap is inefficient and unrealistic; it diminishes the value of specialized expertise - Focusing solely on technical expertise neglects crucial non-technical aspects like business analysis and user experience design Moderate overlap with distinct specializations creates the ideal environment for: - Knowledge sharing - Cross-pollination of ideas - Risk mitigation - Team resilience - Enhanced problem-solving capabilities

Correct Answer: Implement a mentoring system where experienced members guide and support newer team members

Implementing a mentoring system is the most effective solution for balancing workflow in this scenario for several reasons: 1. Knowledge Transfer: It enables natural knowledge sharing between experienced and new team members 2. Skill Development: New team members can learn best practices and techniques from experienced colleagues 3. Team Unity: It promotes collaboration and prevents the team from splitting into separate groups 4. Long-term Solution: It addresses the root cause by helping new members become more proficient Other approaches are less effective because: Documentation alone is passive and doesn't provide real-time guidance or context-specific learning Separate workflows would create team division and potentially lead to silos, contradicting Agile principles of team unity Random rotation might frustrate both experienced and new members, potentially reducing overall team productivity and morale while not addressing the underlying skill gap

Correct Answer: Rotate programming pairs regularly based on skill complementarity and learning objectives

Rotating programming pairs regularly based on skill complementarity and learning objectives is the most effective approach because: It promotes: - Maximum knowledge sharing across the team - Exposure to different coding styles and perspectives - Prevention of knowledge silos - Enhanced team collaboration - Balanced skill development Why other options are less effective: Mentoring system is less collaborative and creates a hierarchical structure that may limit peer-to-peer learning and equal participation. Detailed documentation is passive learning and doesn't address the interactive nature of pair programming or solve the immediate team dynamics issue. Weekly technical workshops are supplementary activities that don't address the daily pair programming dynamics and provide less hands-on learning compared to active pair rotation.