Pods: A Lightweight Delivery Approach
Not sure how to structure your team for delivery? This simple model can help most teams get started and deliver effectively. Prerequisites: A cross-functional team (not "just backend") and visibility into quarterly objectives (quarter feature list). Over the past six months, we've transitioned from Scrumban to a Pods model and saw great results. Here's how it works: Pods: Split team into 2–3 small, autonomous groups per quarter, each solving one business problem. Quarterly Focus: Think and plan by quarters. Cancel Sprints. Pod Lead: Breaks down work, assigns tasks to pod members, decides who does what and is accountable for delivery. Pod Weekly Sync: To stay aligned. Dedicated Channel: Each pod has its own Teams space where discussions occur. Micro Interactions: 3 people max (4 with TL) - for both pods and meetings. Keep interactions small. Get Things Done: No Sprints, planning or backlog management. Work without interrupts. Ideas for future: Pod to work against defined business goals (and not feature specs). Add an Analyst to each pod. Big thanks to Jona Harris and Gilad Naor for your advice along the way :)
Not sure how to structure your team for delivery? This simple model can help most teams get started and deliver effectively.
Prerequisites: A cross-functional team (not "just backend") and visibility into quarterly objectives (quarter feature list).
Over the past six months, we've transitioned from Scrumban to a Pods model and saw great results. Here's how it works:
Pods: Split team into 2–3 small, autonomous groups per quarter, each solving one business problem.
Quarterly Focus: Think and plan by quarters. Cancel Sprints.
Pod Lead: Breaks down work, assigns tasks to pod members, decides who does what and is accountable for delivery.
Pod Weekly Sync: To stay aligned.
Dedicated Channel: Each pod has its own Teams space where discussions occur.
Micro Interactions: 3 people max (4 with TL) - for both pods and meetings. Keep interactions small.
Get Things Done: No Sprints, planning or backlog management. Work without interrupts.
Ideas for future:
Pod to work against defined business goals (and not feature specs).
Add an Analyst to each pod.
Big thanks to Jona Harris and Gilad Naor for your advice along the way :)
