Planning to build software for your business? This is a task that may seem daunting to begin with. With a large number of tech stacks, best practice and roles to take into account, it's often difficult to know where to start.
However, one great place to start is understanding software development team structures. This can inform you on how to find the development style and team roles best suited for your project.
To help aid success, you must assemble the right software development team structure.
What are the various roles in a software development team and what are the most common software development structures? In this article, we will explain the roles and responsibilities of everyone in a software development team.
Looking for a software development outsourcing company to help you build the right team structure? At Deazy, we intelligently match you with the right experts to help build your software. Book a call with us today!
Key Points
- The structure of your software development team is affected by your project requirements and complexity, how long it takes to complete the project and your budget.
- The ten important members of a software development team are a business analyst, product owner, software architect, software developer, project manager, QA engineer, UI/UX designer, team lead, DevOps engineer and the engineering manager.
- No two software development projects are the same, so your team size should reflect your project requirements. A large development project may require up to 10 team members, while a small one may require between four and five.
- To assemble the right development team, you must analyse your software requirements, choose between specialist, generalist or hybrid team structure and ensure you cover all required roles.
What Determines the Structure of a Software Development Team?
The software development team structure depends on various factors, including your project's complexity, the required time and budget.
Project Requirements and Complexity
If your project is small, you don't need a large team to get the job done. A small project will likely use a generalist team where each member has a broader skill set and can handle various tasks.
A large software development project requires a large team structure where each member specialises in handling different tasks. The complexity of your project can also determine the number of team members.
A team of four experts may be enough if you are building a software prototype. But if you are launching new software with several complex features, you need up to ten specialists.
The Required Time
How soon you need to turn the software around will influence the team structure and size. There is only so much a few team members can do if you have a large project and a tight deadline.
So, if you have an idea that needs to be developed from scratch and within a short time, you might have to assemble a team of senior developers who can deliver results quickly and efficiently.
Budget
The budget allocated to your software development project affects several factors, including the number of experts in the team and the seniority level. A large project requires a large team and more money.
Since senior programmers charge more than junior and mid-level, you can expect to pay more for your project if your software is complex. To cut costs and maintain quality, consider the Agile project management methodology, which delivers in increments and focuses on high-priority features.
10 Important Members of a Software Development Team
The software development team is a squad of experts that includes a software developer, project manager, software architect, business analyst, product owner, QA engineer, engineering manager, UI and UX designer, DevOps engineer, and team lead. Let's consider the roles and responsibilities of each team member.
Business Analyst
The business analyst act as a bridge between the product owner and the other team member. This expert analyses the client's business needs and translates them into requirements.
The requirements are later translated into the objectives that the software has to meet. Also, the business analyst monitors the project status and communicates the technical requirements.
Responsibilities
- Accompany the customers throughout the software development process, help define the project scope, and provide technological solutions.
- Suggest ways in which business needs can be turned into specific requirements.
- Define, analyse and manage technical requirements throughout the project life cycle.
- Guide other team members based on priorities agreed on with the client.
Product Owner
The product owner is a software development team member responsible for supporting the team by creating user stories and prioritising the product backlogs. Also, this expert acts as the main point of contact for all decisions regarding the project.
The product owner represents the client and is positioned to lead the development process toward a satisfactory final product.
Responsibilities
- Devise and manage the product backlog and ensure the development process flows without interruption.
- Ensure that the final product provides value and meets all the requirements.
- Establish effective communication between the client and team members.
- Communicate priorities, updates and feedback that emerge during the development process.
- Assess market demand and consider how the product addresses users' needs.
Project Manager
In software development, the roles of the project manager may include helping the team to design, execute, monitor and finish their work so that the clients will receive higher-quality software products.
Responsibilities
- Discuss the project and its requirements with clients and software developers.
- Assemble and lead the software development team.
- Create the blueprint for the project, including the scope, allocating resources, setting deadlines and laying out communication strategies.
- Supervising each stage of the software development project.
- Set the budget and ensure the project adheres to it as closely as possible.
- Tracking and communicating information regarding the project milestones, deliverables and change requests.
- Deliver the completed software to the client and regularly check its performance.
Development Team Lead
The team lead is responsible for the whole team and coordinates efforts to deliver the software successfully. This expert will provide technical and team leadership through coaching and mentoring other members.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate with the project manager to ensure that requirements are met and delivered accurately.
- Manage the dev team to ensure high-quality software by establishing good practices.
- Define phases in the software development lifecycle that include activities and milestones.
- Adhere to the standard of development principles and deliver timely and on-budget software products.
Software Architect
This expert defines the essential aspects of the software's internal structure and the technical aspects. Also, the software architect sets the technology stacks and standards and reviews the code to ensure it is high-quality and functional.
The software architect oversees functionality, performance, scalability, technology constraints, security and tradeoffs. And ensure that decisions are communicated to all stakeholders.
Responsibilities
- Create a high-level structure of the system, its main components and their interfaces.
- Defines how the various software components will interact with each other and with external systems.
- Select the technology stacks and deployment methods.
- Provide technical support at every stage of the software development lifecycle.
- Communicate with clients and the development team to ensure proper implementation of all requirements.
Engineering Manager
A software engineering manager is responsible for supervising the software development project by leveraging the abilities of the team members to their fullest potential.
Also, the engineering manager ensures team members follow the set regulations and goals. This expert has a thorough knowledge of the technical aspect of software development to manage the development process effectively.
Responsibilities
- Direct the work of developers to ensure best practices when building software.
- Prepare technical proposals and reports.
- Monitoring the performance of the development team.
Software Developer
The developer is responsible for writing the code and developing the entire software product. Aside from coding, a software developer is responsible for sending updates to the project manager and working closely with other team members, including the designer and QA engineer.
The kind of software developer you hire for your team depends on your desired software. If you want a mobile application, you need an iOS or an Android developer. However, if you want to develop a web application, you need a front-end, back-end or full-stack developer.
Front-end developer. This programmer is responsible for building the user interfaces and all the components that make up the front end of a web application. The front-end programmer is skilled in using coding languages and frameworks like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, ReactJS, VueJS and Bootstrap.
Back-end developer. The back-end programmer is responsible for coding that part of a website or application you can't see. This expert uses programming languages and frameworks, including PHP, MySQL, Java, Python, Ruby, Django, Laravel, and Kotlin, to build the server side, database and APIs that power the software.
Full-stack developer. The full-stack programmer has front and back-end skills and can build the user interface and the server side.
Android developer. An Android developer uses a combination of skills, including programming languages like Java and Kotlin and tools, to build apps for devices powered by the Android operating system.
iOS developer. This expert is responsible for using programming languages like Objective-C and Swift to develop apps for devices powered by Apple's iOS operating system.
Responsibilities
- Developing applications, programs and systems using programming languages and frameworks.
- Maintaining and updating software to keep it functional.
- Collaborating with other team members to ensure best practices when developing software.
- Report to the project manager about the progress of the software development.
UI/UX Designer
The UI/UX designer is a professional who designs the user interfaces of software products to create better user experiences. A UI/UX designer's tasks as part of the software development team include gathering requirements about the product, designing graphic elements and building navigation components. There are two kinds of designers; UI designers and UX designers.
The UI or user interface designer focuses on designing the part of the software users will interact with, including navigation, buttons, contact forms and graphics.
The UX or user experience designer ensures the end-user has the best experience while using the software. They analyse behaviours to know what users want when using the software product.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate with the product manager to gather and evaluate user requirements.
- Design elements and widgets like menus, tabs, buttons, contact forms and sliders.
- Illustrate design ideas using storyboards, sitemaps, and process flows.
- Develop UI mockups and prototypes that illustrate how the software functions and looks.
QA Engineer
The QA or quality assurance engineer creates tests that identify issues with software before it is deployed.
QA engineers monitor every phase of the software development process, including development, testing, debugging and delivery. They ensure that quality is maintained at every stage of the development process and that the final product meets the requirements.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate with stakeholders to understand and clarify software requirements.
Create development standards and procedures for the programmers to follow.
Confirm that the software meets the requirements before deployment.
Analyse the product to identify bugs and suggest changes to make them more efficient.
Develop and execute automation scripts using open-source tools.
DevOps Engineer
A DevOps engineer is a software development team member who works with the developer, engineering manager and QA engineer to oversee code release and deployment.
The DevOps engineer must know how to use different automation tools for developing continuous integration and continuous (CI/CD) deployment pipelines.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate with stakeholders, including the developer and QA engineer, to set up the CI/CD environment.
- Automate and improve the DevOps process.
- Providing inputs to the project manager and software architect for planning the DevOps activities.
- Developing and implementing new infrastructure and tools for coding, testing and deployment.
How to Assemble the Right Software Development Team Structure
Ready to build the right software development team structure? Here are some team-building tips to help you get started.
Analyse Your Requirements and Team Size
Start by evaluating your business goals, the project complexity, budget and deadlines to enable you to determine the most suitable approach to project management. After, estimate the number of experts you want in the team.
If you choose Agile project management, the right team size would be between four to ten experts. To avoid mismanagement, you can divide a large team into several small teams with a team lead to coordinate them.
Choose a Team Structure
Software development has three development team structures - generalists, specialists and hybrid teams.
- Generalists. In this team structure, team members have many skills and can perform multiple tasks across various areas. This structure is perfect for medium-complexity projects that don't require rare skills.
- Specialists. In this team structure, members are specialised or have a narrow area of expertise and can deliver high-quality software products. The specialist team structure is perfect for projects that need deep expertise in a specific area.
- Hybrid. This is a mixed team that consists of specialists and generalists. It is perfect for large-scale software development projects with tight deadlines.
Cover Essential Role
If you have a large and complex software development project, onboarding all the experts will be a good idea. Important team members include software developers, project managers, software architects, QA engineers, and UI/UX designers. If your project requires a business analyst and product owner, ensure you have them onboard too.
Facilitate Communication
Communication between team members is essential to complete the project on time and to produce higher-quality software. To make collaboration easy, you can set up popular communication and project management tools like Slack, Jira, Trello, Zoom, or Google Meet.
Let Deazy Help You Build the Perfect Software Development Team
Want to build the perfect software development team the easy way? At Deazy, we help businesses build the right team with all the experts to develop their software.
We have a large ecosystem of vetted, experienced global developers, project managers, QA engineers, DevOps engineers, UI/UX designers and business analysts who can help you build software that meets your business needs.
Not only will we find the right fit to build your software, but our delivery managers will also manage your project and ensure it is completed on time and with all the requirements.
Our experts are at the forefront of their specialisation and have the highest level of skills in the industry.
Have questions about our process? Book a call.
Conclusion
Getting all the skills needed to build your software is one step toward building a great product. Always remember that no two software development projects are the same.
That is why project complexity and the required time and budget affect the software development team structure and size. While most development projects require four or five experts, others may require up to 15.
If your software development is less complex, having a software developer, QA engineer, UI/UX designer and project manager on the team is a good idea. However, if you have large and complex projects, you will need a business analyst, product owner, engineering manager and a team lead as part of the squad.
Are you planning to create a solid software development team with all the roles covered? Deazy is your surest partner. We will help you build a strong software development team with the highest level of expertise and talent quickly.
Whatever roles you need for your project - from product owner to business analyst, software developer and architect and QA engineer - we will help you fill in the gaps.
Frequently Asked Questions
What roles are necessary for a software development team?
A typical software development team must include a product manager, team lead, and the main development team, including the software developer, QA engineer and UI/UX designer.
How do I build a software development team?
To build a good software development squad, consider your project requirements and complexity, the required time to complete the project and the budget. All these factors affect the number of developers you need in the team.
Who are members of an IT development team?
The members of a software development team include a product owner, project manager, UI/UX designer, business analyst, software developer, tech lead, QA engineer and scrum master.
