What does the term "functional team" mean?
A functional team is a group of specialists in one area, performing similar tasks within their professional expertise. Each member is responsible for their own narrow part of the work, not for the whole product.
Example
- A frontend developer team that only builds the interface.
- A QA team responsible only for quality checks.
- An analyst team that deals exclusively with requirements.
Characteristic features
- Narrow specialization - members have deep knowledge in one area.
- Clear division of roles - each person only does their own type of tasks.
- Dependency on other teams - releasing the product requires interaction with designers, testers, DevOps, and so on.
- Focus on efficiency within the function, rather than on the overall value of the product.
Difference from a cross-functional team
| Team type | Who is in it | Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Functional | specialists from one area | improving expertise and processes within the function |
| Cross-functional | developers, testers, designers, and others | shipping a finished, working product |
Conclusion
A functional team is strong in depth of expertise, but weak in speed of delivering results. In Agile, cross-functional teams are more often created, combining different roles to deliver value faster and more autonomously.
Short Answer
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