Software Development Team: Key Roles & Structure

15 Mar 2023

A dedicated software development team holds the fate of a software project in its hands. Hence, it is important for organizations to configure a multidisciplinary team who endure professionalism and have the potential to deliver good results.

Proper guidance of the team members is essential to move the software projects in the right direction. Every team member of the development team is equally important. However, they reveal their best self when they are managing responsibilities that appropriately fits their capabilities. Therefore, it is important to build a perfect team to get the perfect results.

Every team member in the software development process is assigned different roles and responsibilities and we have decided to dig deeper into that and explore what each professional does. But before that let’s take a look at the structure of the software development team.

Structure of Software Development Team

• Business Analyst
• Product Owner
• Project Manager
• Team Lead
• Software Architect
• Scrum Master
• Developers
• QA Team
• UX/UI Designers
• Testers

Key Roles & Responsibilities of A Development Team

Business Analyst

The job of Business Analyst is to translate business requirements and ensure that these requirements are documented properly before a solution is drafted and implemented. Business analysts work as a communicator, transfer data and requirements between product owner and developers. Additionally, the analyst is also responsible for keeping track of the project status and communicating technical requirements.

Responsibilities

• Define, analyze, and manage technical and business requirements throughout the whole project cycle.
• Accompany the customer throughout the entire software development process to clear up any questions, propose improvements, define the scope and prioritize it, and provide technological solutions.
• Make decisions and guide the team in the software development process based on priorities previously agreed on with the client.
• Carry out team meetings.
• Be the guardians of the project’s methodology and main promoters of quality.

Product Owner

The product owner is someone who has a clear vision of the product and represents both the client and the end users. They are the primary source of contact for all decisions pertaining to the project.

Responsibilities

Project Manager

The Project Manager controls the activities of the software development team and is there for them whenever the development team encounters any hurdle. A project manager knows the entire project plan, moreover, he drafts the strategy in a way that the project goals are achieved within a stipulated period of time. They are also in charge of supervising the development team and effectively communicating with the stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Develop a project plan.
• Develop functional specifications.
• Plan, estimate, and manage resources and the project budget.
• Keep track of the project.
• Identify necessary adjustments to the plan.
• Provide regular updates to the senior management.

Team Lead

Experienced senior developers, testers, architects are the perfect choice for the role of a Team Lead. Senior members of the development team possess leadership qualities, and know how to keep team members focused on tasks. A Team Lead is the mentor that guides its team and provides them with all the resources.

Responsibilities

• Guide the team development towards successful project delivery.
• Provide technical leadership to team members through coaching and mentorship.
• Prevent and solve any conflict or issue that may arise.

Software Architect

The software architect defines the complete architecture and design of the software project. They make high-quality and high-level designs with the help of tools. The design of the software architecture is based on the non-functional requirements and also defines coding standards.

Responsibilities

• Define the technical and functional architecture of the overall system.
• Guide developers in the design and implementation of the solution.
• Develop the most critical components of the system.
• Make suggestions about the best alternatives, considering engineering and business aspects.

Scrum Master

The Scrum Master is one of the key roles of the Agile methodology. They are the team facilitators and address issues that may disrupt software development processes. Scrum Master uses Scrum methodology to assist software development team, as a result, development team can focus on the most valuable activities and results avoiding external interruptions and distractions.

Responsibilities

• Be a facilitator to serve the team to make sure that they follow Agile values and implement the correct methodology.
• Lead, plan, and follow up all Agile meetings.
• Teach the team about all the best practices and concepts of Agile.
• Be the buffer between the team and the Product Owner or any outside participator.
• Follow up on team impediments and facilitate clear obstacles.
• Help the product owner maintain product backlogs.

Developers

Developers give shape to the project by using their coding skills and tech knowledge. They also send updates about the project to the Project Manager. To keep a cohesion in the team, they work closely with other team members such as- testers, QA team, designers.

Three kinds of developers:

• Full-stack Developer
• Front-end Developer
• Back-end Developer

Responsibilities

• Develop the features laid out in the Sprint.
• Update the status of the software project to the Project Manager or Tech Lead.
• Estimate the amount of time needed to deliver a given task.

QA Team

The QA team consists of a group of professionals that has enough experience in software development. The QA team members assist the software development team by making sure that adequate practices are followed during the development process. Their goal is to check the quality of the project at the development stage.

Responsibilities

• Analyze the implementation of processes and production of deliverables according to the defined software process.
• Identify and document deviations in the use of standards and procedures.
• Give feedback about the results of the quality assurance tasks to take corrective actions.

UX/UI Designers

UX/UI designers design the user interface for the project. User interface is critical in engaging the audience, hence, at the time of hiring make sure that designers you are choosing to invest in have a thorough knowledge of the design process. They study the project and examine its functionality and characteristics intended for final users. They work on the project’s navigation model, interface design, interaction sequences, visual organization of contents, and graphic style.

Responsibilities

• Analyze functional requirements intended for the users.
• Define the information architecture and navigation model.
• Generate prototypes for the validation of the proposal throughout the design process.
• Participate in the implementation of web and desktop interfaces.
• Document every interface design decision.

Testers

The goal of testers is to ensure that the software solution is fulfilling the company's all needs and identify any bugs, defects, or weaknesses in the project. Before delivering the project, the testing team works extensively to check the quality of the software product and guarantees that the product complies with the quality standards.

Responsibilities

• Understand what the system’s requirements are in order to create and review adequate test cases.
• Alert functional consultants about inconsistencies in the specifications.
• Create and execute test cases to detect bugs and report them in the tracking tool.
• Use automation tools to facilitate regression tasks.

Conclusion

A successful software development team is a structure of a group of people who work rigorously towards a single goal. A high-performing team needs to be synchronized in order to act smoothly and efficiently.

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