Do you know the dysfunctional team?
The team where nobody knows what the “business” wants.
Communication
Even though the team spends the majority of their time talking to each other, they don’t actually communicate. The Product Owner does not seem able to relay useful or timely information. The devs only talk to QA to say something is ready to test. When decisions are “made”, they are revisited in every other meeting.
Nobody knows what the customer wants. Who even knows who the customers are? Product does not represent the business, or the customers. Developers spend their time debating what-if scenarios, because they do not have anything concrete.
Effectiveness
Sometimes, a dysfunctional team is hard to spot. They may have fantastic metrics. The team completes stories on time, and has a great velocity. They seem tight-knit and to work well together.
Yet, you can still spot this team by their results. Even though each sprint goes well, with each iteration they do not seem to converge on the final product. They do not get any closer to a final product. Or the convergence to a final product is stepwise and sporadic. Progress is not smooth.
Make the Team Functional
How do you take a dysfunctional team and make them a truly functional team? Drastic measures of course could be taken, such as breaking the team up. This is not the only action that can be taken though.
Introducing a new Scrum master will be less disruptive, and can provide needed guidance to the team’s situation. This new member may be able to spot the areas of dysfunction and suggest ways to fix them.
Even though the team appears happy on the outside, there will definitely be members of the team that are not happy with the team’s results. They know the problem. They are unhappy that progress seems to be going so slowly. Take these members and give them the tools and guidance they need to start turning the team around.