{"id":16317,"date":"2022-09-13T10:28:42","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T10:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.finoit.com\/?p=16317"},"modified":"2023-04-18T06:38:03","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T06:38:03","slug":"software-development-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.finoit.com\/articles\/software-development-team\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Make An Effective Software Development Team \u2013 A Complete Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

A software development team works as a productivity unit and assists in framing winning software-driven strategies. The choice of a software dev team can thus make and break your plans, which is why you must read through this guide and understand its various facets.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The idea of team building originated when Elton Mayo experimented with it at Western Electric Hawthorne Works<\/strong><\/a>, Cicero, Illinois, in the United States between 1927 to 1932. Mayo\u2019s research set a future course for forming employee groups and building effective teams.<\/span><\/p>\n

After going through multiple phases, team building became an educational process centered around productivity and quality. The rise of information technology brought into existence the concept of a software dev team, and the idea of a team underwent a sea change.<\/p>\n

Software has emerged as a well-known paradigm in the twenty-first century. Having a software application is an ambitious goal of each business today. Irrespective of whether they can manage the task in-house or need to bank on an outsourced software developer team<\/a>, businesses are determined to build a good product.<\/p>\n

Assembling experts with skills relevant to your projects is the foremost challenge when forming teams. Most businesses thus prefer to outsource their projects.<\/p>\n

As we move ahead, we dig deeper into discussing some crucial dimensions of a software dev team.<\/p>\n

What is a Software Development Team?<\/h2>\n

A team of experts who work together to achieve the common goal of developing a software product makes a software development teams. There are internal as well as external stakeholders in the team, each playing a certain role and accountable for some contribution.<\/p>\n

Since the evolution of software applications, software teams have evolved in terms of character and structure. Today\u2019s teams are agile and optimally composed. The focus is on optimizing resource utilization while maximizing productivity.<\/p>\n

A software dev team is just made up of developers and engineers is a constrained view. Non-technical professionals, too, play a vital role in software development project success. The imperative is that both technical and non-technical members have to be well-versed with the principles of software engineering.<\/p>\n

\"Software<\/figure>\n

Types of Software Development Teams<\/h2>\n

Based on the composition of team members and their skills, usually, software development teams assume three forms, which we discuss in brief, below.<\/p>\n

Generalists<\/h3>\n

A software dev team of \u2018generalist\u2019 nature as the term conveys comprises members who possess wide-ranging skills and knowledge. This sort of team works under ideal conditions where there is a flow of regular requirements and encountering deviations, the team needs to be reinforced with expert resources.<\/p>\n

An example would be a team in which all are developers, each having some knowledge of testing and project management. However, addressing hitherto unaddressed testing problems and obtaining precise project estimates might be out of the bounds for team members.<\/p>\n

Specialists<\/h3>\n

When a software delivery team has a highly expert professional for each of the required fields that are important to software development, the team becomes a team of \u2018specialists\u2019. Each member of the team carries vast exposure in the respective field and is an industry expert in the area.<\/p>\n

In a team of specialists, each member brings the best of the knowledge and improves the efficiency to deliver high-quality output. On the flip side, members may choose to work independently, leading to communication constraints and a lack of coherence amongst team members.<\/p>\n

Hybrid<\/h3>\n

A hybrid team is a combination of specialists and generalists. So, you don\u2019t want the project to suffer on the account of a lack of expertise. While specialists would handle the specifics of the situation, generalists would carry out the common but essential tasks in the project. Considering the dynamic requirements of today\u2019s software development projects, hybrid is the most feasible type.<\/p>\n

Communication is key to ensuring the effectiveness of hybrid teams, so transparent channels need to exist for open discussions. Also, individuals bring different approaches to work. Having a standard coordination framework helps to synthesize these approaches, bringing members on the same page.<\/p>\n

\"Comparison<\/figure>\n

Understanding different Roles in Software Development Team and their Responsibilities<\/h2>\n

Below we outline different roles in a typical software dev team and the responsibilities associated with each role.<\/p>\n

Product Owner<\/h3>\n

A product owner formulates strategies for product success and defines the vision for reaching the goals. Building product roadmaps and guiding members along the strategic plan is the most vital function of a product owner. This role is thus responsible for maximizing the product as well as the business value.<\/p>\n

Project Manager<\/h3>\n

Expert in managing niceties of software development, project managers are responsible for planning and execution of the development process in an optimal manner. Typical tasks that come within the ambit of project managers include defining project milestones, charting out completion plans, maintaining schedules, allocating resources, assigning tasks, and monitoring performance.<\/p>\n

Technical Lead<\/h3>\n

A technical lead takes complete ownership of managing the technical facets of the product. A person in this role spearheads technical development and oversees the working of technical developers\/programmers. A technical lead works as an individual contributor and guides the technical efforts in the intended direction.<\/p>\n

Software Architect<\/h3>\n

This is an expert role, and the person in the capacity possesses excellent knowledge of the software system and the components. A software architect acts as a consultant who guides in the adoption of the right processes, technologies, and frameworks that would best serve the interest of the given project.<\/p>\n

Programmer \/ Developer<\/h3>\n

Programmers or software developers<\/a> make the crux of software development. At a high level, they are programming experts who develop code, program logic and deploy and maintain the software application. Based on project requirements, a software delivery team will have a mix of full-stack developers, front-end developers, and back-end developers.<\/p>\n

UI\/UX Designer<\/h3>\n

UI\/UX designers<\/a> are a core component of modern software delivery teams. They design interactive user interfaces to offer the best user experience. Teams may also have separate specialists for UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) since these are two different aspects, though closely affecting and related to each other.<\/p>\n

Business Analyst<\/h3>\n

Business analysts (BA) are technical experts with a sound understanding of a business domain. They act as a bridge between the delivery team and the client and are responsible for requirements gathering. Driving analytics and delivering data-driven insights to top management for process improvement also come within their scope.<\/p>\n

Quality Assurance (QA) Specialist<\/h3>\n

The quality considerations of a software application are managed by QA professionals. Depending upon the decision of the management, they may assume different designations like Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer, Test Engineer, etc. However, in general, they are responsible for testing the product and ensuring that it meets defined quality criteria.<\/p>\n

DevOps Specialist<\/h3>\n

Today\u2019s new-age software teams have dedicated DevOps specialists\/DevOps Engineers. They are tasked with the responsibility of combining codes and application maintenance and management. A DevOps professional plays an important role in streamlining the DevOps culture \u2013 practices and tools that make it and help fuse software development with IT operations.<\/p>\n

Scrum Master<\/h3>\n

Software development projects work on the agile framework these days, and it is a Scrum Master who specializes in employing the Agile project management framework. As a facilitator of the agile development process, the Scrum master develops scrum values and practices and paves a way for a flexible and iterative workflow.<\/p>\n

Technical Writer<\/h3>\n

Some teams will also have technical writers. In most software development firms, technical writers don\u2019t work on a single project, rather their role spans across multiple projects and activities. Since technical writers streamline documentation, even if they don\u2019t form a part of the core team, their role shouldn\u2019t go ignored.<\/p>\n

\"Different<\/figure>\n

Modern Software Development Team Structure<\/h2>\n

Ambitious product ideas will need an ambitious software team that comprises a mix of the right talent. It is the software development structure that determines the success of the development project. Here, we discuss all those crucial factors which software development companies take into account when figuring out the most perfect structure.<\/p>\n

What is the right team size?<\/h3>\n

Ideally, an agile team would comprise anywhere between 5 to 11 members. The traditional approach to deciding team size takes into account a higher number. However, with software development approaches leaning towards agile thinking, the average size of teams in software development has shrunk.<\/p>\n

While arriving at the right figure for the team size, a software development company<\/a> will consider several parameters concerning your project. These are:<\/p>\n