Assembling your first agile team in a traditional non-agile organization has challenges, and the purpose of this article is to highlight certain questions that can be asked to break through the challenges and ensure you form the best, most qualified team possible.

When considering who is the best fit for an agile project, managers may struggle to know what to look for. The pool of candidates usually consists of people with varying agile experiences and opinions. And, the most experienced agile candidates may not even be available. You want experienced team members who can mentor and model agile principles effectively for others. Additionally, you want to make sure less experienced candidates are the right fit for introducing into an agile environment.

Here are examples of questions to consider for determining the right fit:

1. Do you have Scrum certification (CSM, CSPO, etc.)? If not, why?
2. How have you dealt with changing requirements during a project? How do you feel about changing requirements?
3. What does it mean to you to be on a cross-functional team? How have you seen that work effectively?
4. What project management tools were used on your project? Do you think they were the right tool to encourage team agility? Why?
5. What examples of effective scrum masters, product owners or team members have you seen?

These are examples of questions you can ask that should give insight to help gauge whether candidates’ experiences, attitudes and mindsets will be a good fit for your agile project. You need team members with certain skill sets, but you also need team members with certain attitudes, values and team experiences that align with agile principles.

Asking the right questions will help you find the right fit for an agile environment.