What Makes a Scrum Team Cross-Functional and Self-Managing?

Scrum teams look—and work—very differently from teams on traditionally managed projects. In this Scrum Foundations lesson, Mike Cohn explains the two defining characteristics of high-performing Scrum teams: cross-functional skill sets and self-management. You’ll learn: • Why Scrum replaces siloed test, design, and development groups with one unified, cross-functional team • How this dramatically reduces handoffs, waiting time, and dependency bottlenecks • The myth (and reality) of cross-functional skills—why individuals don’t need every skill, but the team does • What “self-managing” really means in Scrum (and what it doesn’t mean) • How leadership indirectly shapes how a team self-manages—through team composition, challenge size, rewards, and tolerance for mistakes • Why empowered teams show stronger ownership, pride, and accountability If you're trying to understand how Scrum teams function—or if you’re preparing for CSM/CSPO certification—this lesson gives you a clear, practical foundation for how modern agile teams organize and operate. Continue learning: Explore deeper agile training inside the Agile Skills Video Library: 👉 https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/training/courses/agile-skills-video-library?utm_source=YouTube Chapters 00:00 How Scrum Teams Differ From Other Teams 00:41 What is a Cross Functional Team? 02:09 What is a Self-Managing Team?