Handling Cross-Functional Teams

Cross-functional teams require coordination across different disciplines with varying workflows and tools. GitScrum's flexible board configurations, role-based views, and unified project spaces help designers, developers, QA, and product managers collaborate seamlessly while maintaining their specialized workflows.

Cross-Functional Team Structure

Workflow Coordination

STAGGERED WORKFLOW APPROACH

          Sprint N-1    │    Sprint N    │   Sprint N+1
                        │                │
Design:   [Feature C]   │  [Feature D]   │  [Feature E]
          Designing     │   Designing    │   Designing
                ↓       │        ↓       │
Dev:                    │  [Feature C]   │  [Feature D]
                        │   Building     │   Building
                        │        ↓       │
QA:                     │                │  [Feature C]
                        │                │   Testing

BENEFIT: Each role has work in their sprint
         No waiting for handoffs within sprint

Visualizing Cross-Functional Work

SWIMLANE VIEW BY ROLE

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Sprint 12 Board                                        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│         To Do      In Progress    Review      Done      │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Design  │ [F5 UI]  │ [F4 Review] │           │ [F3 Done]│
│         │          │             │           │          │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Dev     │ [F4 API] │ [F3 Build]  │ [F3 PR]   │ [F2 Done]│
│         │          │ [F3 Front]  │           │          │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ QA      │ [F2 Test]│ [F2 Auto]   │           │ [F1 Done]│
│         │          │             │           │          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Each role can see their pipeline
Bottlenecks visible by swimlane fullness

Capacity Planning by Role

CROSS-FUNCTIONAL CAPACITY PLANNING

Sprint 12 Capacity (in story points or days):

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Role        Capacity   Planned   Available     │
│  ─────────────────────────────────────────────  │
│  Design      20 pts     18 pts    2 pts         │
│  Frontend    40 pts     38 pts    2 pts         │
│  Backend     40 pts     35 pts    5 pts         │
│  QA          25 pts     25 pts    0 pts ⚠️      │
│  DevOps      10 pts     8 pts     2 pts         │
│  ─────────────────────────────────────────────  │
│  Total       135 pts    124 pts                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

ISSUE IDENTIFIED: QA at full capacity
ACTION: Developers help with test automation

Handoff Process

DEFINITION OF DONE FOR HANDOFFS

DESIGN → DEVELOPMENT HANDOFF:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  ☑ Final designs in Figma (linked to task)      │
│  ☑ All states designed (empty, error, loading)  │
│  ☑ Mobile responsive specs included             │
│  ☑ Design system components identified          │
│  ☑ Designer available for questions             │
│  ☑ Acceptance criteria updated                  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

DEVELOPMENT → QA HANDOFF:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  ☑ Code complete and code reviewed              │
│  ☑ Unit tests passing                           │
│  ☑ Deployed to staging environment              │
│  ☑ Test scenarios documented                    │
│  ☑ Known issues documented                      │
│  ☑ Developer available for bug fixes            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

QA → RELEASE HANDOFF:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  ☑ All test cases executed                      │
│  ☑ No P1/P2 bugs outstanding                    │
│  ☑ Regression testing complete                  │
│  ☑ Performance verified                         │
│  ☑ Sign-off documented                          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Best Practices

1. Plan work in advance so each role has work ready
2. Stagger by one sprint between disciplines
3. Visualize by role to spot bottlenecks
4. Daily standup includes all roles for sync
5. Cross-train for flexibility when roles blocked
6. Clear handoff criteria reduce back-and-forth
7. Shared retrospectives improve whole process
8. Rotate pairing between disciplines

Anti-Patterns

✗ All design in sprint 1, all dev in sprint 2
✗ QA only involved at end (bug flood)
✗ Roles not communicating until handoff
✗ No flexibility between role boundaries
✗ Separate standups per discipline
✗ Blaming other roles for delays

Related Solutions

• Managing Cross-Functional Teams Effectively
• Cross-Functional Team Management
• Improving Cross-Team Communication