The Developer's Role in Agile Organizations

It's been quite a while since the word "agile" became everyday vocabulary in the IT industry. Sprint, scrum, kanban, backlog—these terms have become familiar. But when asked what role a developer should play in an agile organization, it's not easy to answer readily.

Writing code. Of course, that's right. But that's what developers do in any organization. What an organization with the name "agile" expects from developers is probably a different dimension.

From Someone Who Receives Requirements to Someone Who Defines Them

In traditional development organizations, there was clear division of roles: planners organized requirements, developers implemented them. When documents came over, you just built accordingly. But in agile, these boundaries blur.

During sprint planning when discussing backlog items together, developers don't just answer "How long will this take?" They're expected to offer opinions like "Do we really need this feature?", "Wouldn't doing it this way achieve the same effect more simply?", "This part is technically uncertain, so I think we should verify it first."

Developers end up participating in what was thought to be the planning domain. It might feel like overstepping, but in agile, this is actually natural.

Prioritizing Learning Over Completion

In waterfall methodology, perfect design was pursued from the start. Predicting and planning everything before starting development was considered virtue. But agile acknowledges uncertainty. Under the premise that you can't know everything, building quickly and learning quickly is valued.

From this perspective, the developer's role changes too. Rather than trying to write perfect code from the start, making working code quickly and getting feedback becomes more valuable. Refactoring becomes not something shameful but a natural process.

An organization where "What did we learn this sprint?" is a more meaningful question than "You should have done it right from the start"—that's the direction agile aims for, I think.

Not My Code, But Our Product

Among developers, we often use the expression "my code." It's an expression of attachment and responsibility for code you've written. But in agile, this boundary becomes a bit uncomfortable.

With pair programming, you can't distinguish whose code it is. When others' opinions are reflected through code review, it's even more so. In teams doing mob programming, all code becomes the team's collective output.

What developers need in this environment is to let go of possessiveness. Not feeling bad when code you wrote is modified by someone else. Rather, being happy together if it became better code. It's not easy, but I think it's a mindset needed for good collaboration in agile organizations.

The Courage to Speak About Technical Debt

Since deploying quickly and getting feedback is important, technical debt sometimes accumulates. Code implemented hastily under schedule pressure, parts postponed saying "we'll refactor later." Sometimes these things are left unattended under the name of agile.

The developer's role becomes important here. Being able to tell the team that technical debt is accumulating, and saying that time is needed to resolve it. Honestly saying in sprint retrospectives "I think we're sacrificing quality for speed"—this is also a role developers should play in agile organizations.

Just quickly processing business requirements isn't everything. Maintaining technical health for sustainable pace—developers' voices are essential for this balance.

Ultimately, It's About Communication

The first value in the Agile Manifesto is "Individuals and interactions over processes and tools." Ultimately, the core of agile is communication between people. Developers are no exception.

The era of speaking only through code has passed. Talking with planners, discussing with designers, sharing opinions with other developers. Clearly sharing your situation in standup meetings, asking for help when you're stuck—all of this is what agile organizations expect from developers.

There are many developers who find communication awkward. I was too, and I'm still not perfect. But if you work in an agile organization, communication skills become as important as coding skills. Perhaps even more.

In Closing

Agile isn't a cure-all. It doesn't fit every organization or every project. But the values agile pursues—fast feedback, continuous improvement, collaboration and communication—I think these are meaningful regardless of what methodology you use.

If I summarize the developer's role in agile organizations in one phrase, it would be the expansion from "someone who writes code" to "someone who builds the product together." That expansion might be burdensome, or it might actually be fun. Either way, thinking about your role in a changing environment is definitely worthwhile.