What are the software project team members’ roles and responsibilities?
Updated: Dec 8, 2023
Project team members have duties that extend beyond just hiring developers and team leaders in the group. It’s a complex blend of different professionals engaged in a particular phase of the development and production cycles. Nearly 50% of IT projects don’t meet their goals, leading to lost time and resources. However, recruiting skilled professionals and delegating the tasks to the proper team member roles in a group can protect your business. Read on to find out who should be on the crew and what are their duties.
The business benefits of software development dedicated teams
Increased development speed
An experienced team already has a set way of working, so you can jump right in. In contrast, with an in-house expert, there’s a need to start from scratch. Plus, it’s easier to adjust or swap members in a dedicated team structure. This makes the project move faster and boosts its worth.
Cost efficiency
Usually, it’s more cost-effective to bring on a dedicated team than to employ in-house. Onboarding new staff comes with extra expenses. Additionally, sourcing a team from a distance can be a smart way to save, as specialist rates differ by country.
Faster time-to-market delivery
A dedicated project team structure allows significantly speed up work. By dividing the duties among members, each person handles a portion, ensuring tasks are completed on time.
Bring more talent to the project
If your business is experiencing a shortage of skilled professionals, consider the dedicated development team as an ideal remedy. Such an approach offers access to a vast pool of international software developers, ensuring a swift and seamless hiring process. With a diverse range of technical expertise, varying experience levels, and excellent English communication skills, you’ll assemble your ideal crew promptly.
What are project team members’ roles and responsibilities?
In a standard software development team, the roles typically encompass:
Project Manager. Responsible for project planning, resource management, and monitoring progress.
Tech Lead. Offers technical guidance and leadership to the developer team.
Software Developers. Responsible for coding and implementing the software.
Quality Assurance. Ensures the software meets set quality standards through testing.
UX/UI Designers. Create the user interface's graphical and dynamic components.
DevOps Engineers. Oversee deployment, continuous integration, and delivery processes.
The team members' roles in a group
Project Manager
A project manager is an expert responsible for planning, organising, and overseeing projects, adhering to budgetary and time constraints. They guide teams, set project objectives, liaise with stakeholders, and ensure successful project completion.
PM oversees each phase of the software development process, ensuring your specifications are met and desired outcomes are achieved. The person plays a pivotal role in streamlining product development and enhancing the process’s efficiency. The significance of a PM in the development journey can’t be understated.
Effective project management can weave together collaborative efforts, intricate coding, and a robust business concept into a product that impresses, serves, and remains relevant over time. Whether a project involves two or 200 experts, a project manager is indispensable.
Development Team Lead
A development team lead steers the software team, often progressing from roles like developer, QA tester, or product manager. As proactive problem solvers, they address team challenges head-on and aren’t hesitant to dive into coding when necessary. To gain a clearer perspective on their role, here are their key responsibilities:
Mentorship. Coach and guide the software development teams.
Project Management. Handle multiple projects concurrently.
Technical Insight. Possess deep technical knowledge and contribute actively at the code level.
Collaboration. Works closely with the Development Project Manager to ensure accurate requirement fulfilment.
Estimation. Provide realistic projections for project timelines, from conception to delivery.
Communication. Regularly update on project statuses, addressing any requirements, issues, or adjustments.
Quality Assurance. Uphold high software quality by instilling best practices within the team.
Evaluation. Review various software products and offer peer feedback on related code.
Lifecycle Management. Outline stages in the product lifecycle, defining key activities and milestones.
Documentation. Implement processes for recording project events, risks, or other necessary reports.
Meetings. Engage in project review sessions, sharing updates on advancements.
Coordination. Liaise with internal departments to guarantee smooth integration of existing and new systems.
Software Developers
Software developers are instrumental in shaping and stabilising products and addressing technical challenges throughout the development process.
A software developer is responsible for coding, though they aren’t the sole contributors. There are specialised roles within this field.
Front-end developers design the user interface, ensuring seamless interaction regardless of the device, platform, or operating system.
Back-end developers focus on the product’s core functionalities, crafting algorithms and business logic. Seasoned back-end developers often take on architectural roles, designing app structures and overseeing essential integrations.
Full-stack developers are versatile, and capable of managing tasks across the spectrum—from client interfaces to server management, databases, and integrations.
Quality Assurance (QA) Engineers
As the ultimate phase before deployment in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), testing plays a pivotal role in ensuring that the software is functional, secure, and aligns with business objectives. Entrusted with this task, Quality Assurance or Software Testers scrutinise the software at various stages, aiming to uncover glitches and confirm its usability.
Testing is not limited to functionality alone. It encompasses aspects like the application’s response time, adaptability across various platforms, efficiency, and reliability, even in extraordinary situations.
The key responsibilities of a QA Assurance Lead/Tester are:
Evaluating requirements to determine potential implications.
Crafting a comprehensive test strategy that encompasses diverse scenarios.
Designing both positive and negative test cases for each scenario.
Executing functional tests to gauge software user-friendliness.
Undertaking integration tests to ensure harmonious interplay between software components.
Running regression tests to ensure that new updates don’t adversely affect existing functions.
Assessing test outcomes and conveying findings to the development team.
UI/UX Designers
A UX/UI designer is essential in translating a product’s vision into accessible and engaging designs. They craft user pathways to optimise both the experience and conversion rates.
Product design is twofold: user experience (UX) and user interface (UI). UX focuses on mapping out the user’s journey with the product, encompassing activities like user research, persona creation, information structure, wireframing, and prototyping. UI, on the other hand, is based on creating user interfaces that are both logical and eye-catching.
A UI/UX designer plays a continuous role in the development process, supporting the achievement of business goals through efficient and innovative experiences. They also assess, refine, and enhance these experiences over time.
DevOps Engineers
DevOps emphasises automating processes, continuous testing, and efficient code deployment. By adopting DevOps, you can streamline operations, and cut down both time and product expenses. Using these practices can also reduce the need for numerous testers, establish new guidelines, and automate essential procedures.
Development and operations teams can occasionally operate in silos. DevOps engineers fill the gap, enhancing and automating the software deployment process. Their goal is to strike a harmony between rapid changes and sustaining application consistency.
A proficient DevOps engineer possesses a comprehensive understanding of both development and operations, coding, infrastructure oversight, system administration, and familiarity with DevOps tools.
In-house or dedicated: cost factor to consider
Keeping an in-house development staff might be costly. This is especially true in the UK market, where software development positions are in great demand and consequently pay well. The bunch of professionals from England may cost you up to £80,00 per year only for a few members of the crew. Add expenses to cover office space, incentives, instruction, and training.
Dedicated team providers, like JEVERA, often have specialised skills and experiences that may not be readily available in-house. For instance, the project budget may cost you as low as $50,000. External teams can often scale more easily to meet project needs, whereas in-house teams may require time-consuming and expensive recruitment processes to scale up.
