Ran across this the other day on the home page of www.poppendieck.com:
Deliver a Complete Product
Develop a complete product, not just software. Complete products are built by complete teams.
Just because the business analyst is done writing requirements, it doesn’t mean they are done with the project. Just because the developer is done implementing, it doesn’t mean they are done with the project.
The converse is true as well. Just because testing of implemented code hasn’t started, doesn’t mean QA is not part of the project.
By having all participants on the project team throughout the entire project lifecycle, more knowledge is shared. This allows the team to work toward a common goal, not individual goals. It promotes better collaboration for a better product. It eliminates the obligatory hand-off meeting and finger pointing later on. More importantly, it empowers the complete project team to deliver a complete product together.
In the end, isn’t the success of the product a reflection of the complete team, not an individual?