I saw this posted today on LinkedIn, and think it's a fantastic little chart. I was introduced to the idea of the "agile" process back in 2006, and have seen its good and bad sides.
In the cases where I've seen it crash and burn hard, it's because at least one of those middle roles -- most often the project manager -- was never identified. It seems like all too often, there's an idea that if you have the right process, you don't need anyone to actually manage it. For very small teams of individuals (like founding startup teams) this may be true, although usually, it's just that one person is taking on that role in an ad hoc fashion. Without recognizing that the role is already being filled, if that person leaves, or if the team expands beyond their ability to perform the task of project manager in their "spare cycles", the team starts to falter. The development process drags out as questions go unanswered, people get blocked on requirements that nobody's pursuing answers to, etc. And that uncertainty and confusion, over time, can really eat away at not only your team's productivity, but their morale. I know, I've seen it happen.
In your development team, can you identify who in your team is acting in each of those capacities? It's okay if one person is doing more than one role, but you should be able to identify who is doing each of those jobs. Did you identify someone as the project manager? Do they realize they're the de facto project manager? Does everyone else in the team know who that person is?
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