Summary

In Scrum, Developers are cross-functional members of the Scrum Team who self-organize to deliver a potentially releasable Increment each Sprint, without being told how to do their work.

Abstract

The concept of Developers in Scrum extends beyond technical roles to include all members of the Scrum Team who contribute to the creation of a product increment. These individuals are collectively referred to as Developers, regardless of their specific skills or departmental origin, such as legal, marketing, or operations. They are responsible for planning their work, adhering to a Definition of Done, and adapting their plan to achieve the Sprint Goal. The Developers select items from the Product Backlog and forecast their work based on their past performance, capacity, and Definition of Done. They collaborate daily during the Daily Scrum to inspect their progress and adapt their Sprint Backlog to ensure they meet the Sprint Goal. The Scrum Guide 2020 emphasizes that Developers are accountable for creating the Sprint Backlog, instilling quality, adapting their plan, and holding each other accountable as professionals.

Opinions

Telling Developers what to do is counterproductive in Scrum; they must have the autonomy to decide how to execute their work.
The Developers' work is not constrained to a fixed number of hours; instead, they forecast their work based on their velocity, capacity, and Definition of Done.
The term "Developers" is used to simplify roles within the Scrum Team, not to exclude non-technical contributors.
Daily Scrum meetings are essential for Developers to self-manage and stay focused on the Sprint Goal.
The Sprint Goal is a commitment made by the Developers, and they

In Scrum: Who are Developers? What are their Accountabilities?

What’s the one thing you should not do?

is to tell a Developer what to do.

You might ask, if no one is telling the Developers what to do, then how will they execute the work?

Glad you asked.

How will the chosen work get done?

For each selected Product Backlog item, the Developers plan the work necessary to create an Increment that meets the Definition of Done.

How this is done is at the sole discretion of the Developers. No one else tells them how to turn Product Backlog items into Increments of value. (Ref. Scrum Guide 2020. Page 8)

Developers — Who are this people?

We use the word “developers” in Scrum not to exclude, but to simplify. (Ref. Scrum Guide 2020. Page 1)

The term Developers is not limited to technical people, such as, software engineers, testers, architects, and DevOps.
Anyone and everyone who is part of Scrum Team are called as Developers, they can be from legal, marketing, or operations team.
There are no titles for the Developers, regardless of the type of work they do.
Developers are cross-functional, with all the skills as a team necessary to create a product/product increment.
Developers are the people in the Scrum Team that are committed to creating any aspect of a usable Increment each Sprint.

The specific skills needed by the Developers are often broad and will vary with the domain of work. (Ref. Scrum Guide 2020. Page 5)

Did you know:

*The Developers select items from the Product Backlog to include in the current Sprint*

The Developers select items from the Product Backlog to include in the current Sprint.

How much work the Developers should do during the Sprint?

Some might say 40hrs since the working week is 40hrs. Developers fulltime job is to develop a product and nothing else, right?

Wrong, fixing the quantity of work can be challenging for most part of the sprint, but Developers can give a forecast of their work if they know about their past performance, their upcoming capacity, and their Definition of Done.

Let me explain. As you are aware sprint is a time-boxed activity in which a team works on a set of tasks.

How do you estimate the work to be done?

Do you agree with me that estimate is a guessing game. To the best of your knowledge and ability, you can come up with a value.

Now to make a prediction how much work team can realistically accomplish in a sprint?

To help with this, developers can use a technique called Forecasting, which involves using data from previous sprints, such as the Velocity which is the number of tasks completed per sprint and the Capacity, which is the amount of time available for work, as well as the Definition of Done which is the criteria that determine when a task is finished.

For example, if a team has a velocity of 25 tasks per sprint, a capacity of 100 hours per week, and if each task takes about 5 hours to meet the Definition of Done.

Then the forecast for the next sprint is going to be 25 tasks. This way, they can avoid overcommitting or underdelivering on their work.

How do Developers work together?

Developers inspect the progress of their work during the Daily Scrum, they adapt the Sprint Backlog if it is deviating from the Sprint Goal.

Daily Scrum is conducted at same time and same place every day, this creates focus and improves self-management.

Did you know: The Product Owner and Scrum Master should participate as a Developer in the Daily Scrum if they are actively working on the items in a Sprint Backlog.

How do Developers achieve their objective?

The primary objective for the Developers is the Sprint Goal, they focus on progress toward the Sprint Goal and produces an actionable plan. As the Developers work during the Sprint if the work turns out to be different than they expected, they collaborate with the Product Owner to negotiate the scope of the Sprint Backlog within the Sprint without affecting the Sprint Goal.