8 most important roles in software development team structure

Before you compose your team, analyze how much time you have to catch up. With fewer developers, it will obviously take more time to deliver the product. So, if you work under a deadline, you will have to engage more tech specialists to carry out the programming in time.

This article will look at how team structure and communication directly impact the design and architecture of software systems and the quality, maintainability, and agility to evolve the systems. Most IT groups have experimented with different mixes of centralized versus decentralized organizations. Centralized organizations generate economies of scale and provide developers the most opportunity to specialize. A development group of 50 people can probably have several specialists in user interface development. Break that same organization down into 10 groups of five and no group may be able to afford a dedicated user interface or other specialist.

No one can work eighteen hours a day forever and be expected to maintain his or her work quality and personal satisfaction. A modern day software development project requires a wide range of software specialists during different times in the software life cycle. If you have a small organization with only one specialist and two projects, it is clear the specialist needs to work on both projects, perhaps at different times.

  • All of them are irreplaceable components of a single organism.
  • As your organization grows and develops more specialists, you still want to have specialists work across projects wherever and whenever they are most needed.
  • It allows departments — with employees who share similar skills and knowledge — to focus on their specialized tasks within their respective fields.
  • The solution architect is responsible for the overall design of a solution, meaning its technical implementation.

High level of cohesion that each component of the system has a well-defined set of responsibilities and its internal elements are closely related and integrated. Decide on the size of your team and don’t be afraid to split it into a few smaller ones. Yet, more teams will require more coordination and supervision, which you definitely should take into account when taking care of this matter.

Project manager

For every organization, there’s a need for solid structures to be put in place to aid the smooth operation and interaction between the various levels and departments. For smooth operations and proper handling of projects, there is a need for an organizational structure. The solution architect is responsible for the overall design of a solution, meaning its technical implementation. They work closely with the business and IT teams to understand the business requirements, identify any gaps in those requirements, and design a solution that meets those needs.

software development organization chart

Conway’s Law posits that systems closely reflect the internal communication channels of teams and the organization. #4 Organizing software developers by delivery platform (i.e., Windows, Unix, and mainframe). #1 Combining software development and operations into a single organization. While none of the above will be perfect for every software development group , they each offer useful ideas for coming up with your organization scheme.

Four Basic Elements of Organizational Structure

You should also read up on specialized team structures, including a product team structure, or hybrid team structure. Project Managers make sure that the project is on track which is a tough nut to crack when https://globalcloudteam.com/ it comes to IT software development. They make sure the team is motivated and highly-performing, risks are identified and monitored, and that highest development and communication standards are followed.

software development organization chart

However, instead of offices, it might list outsourced services or satellite locations outside of the office. Record everything neatly and clearly, and arrange information in an orderly fashion. For example, you have a remote disk that stores all your work information. Create a tree of folders and subfolders, making sure there is no chaos.

The organization chart they never showed you

Additionally, if you’re working on several projects simultaneously, the specialist approach might be more suitable. In fact, there are 3 main approaches to arrange a development team. So, in this section, we’ll take a look at their strong and weak sides, and give you some examples of when one of them might be more suitable for you. A positive user experience depends on their skills and knowledge.

software development organization chart

We have found this can lead to elitism and be very counterproductive. First, it starts to separate the architects from the developers who are doing the actual implementation. Architects thus become more quickly out-of-touch with the latest development methodologies actually being used. Also, while every developer does not want to be an architect, every developer likes to have some say in the design. If developers are too separated from architects , they may have a built-in incentive to prove the architect’s design was wrong by not working their hardest to implement it. When this happens the architect will most likely blame the problem on developer incompetence than on any architectural flaws.

This way, developers get to work with previously unknown parts of the product, which also makes the code itself a better quality since there are multiple points of view. Plus, it contributes to making team members less dependent on each other and them being interchangeable. This arrangement approach means that each team member is an expert in a certain programming language, framework, or technology, and thus, fully responsible for their part of development.

Project Manager (PM)

You might not need an org structure right away, but the more products you develop and people you hire, the harder it’ll be to lead your company without this crucial diagram. Centralization describes where decisions are ultimately made. Once you’ve established your chain of command, you’ll need to consider which people and departments have a say in each decision. It is also possible to change employees in small groups to visually compare their effectiveness and come to interchangeability, picking the perfect combination of professional and human factors. If employees do not feel part of a whole, motivation decreases, and the team’s potential drops.

software development organization chart

It is time-consuming and very expensive to build a software development team using a hybrid approach. There are several ways to organize an agile software development team – generalist, specialist, and hybrid. In the simplest terms, an IT team is a motley crew of tech experts that oversees the company’s computers and related hardware, software, and solutions.

Do you need a complete development team?

It’s the most common project team structure for outsourcing companies. Organimi is an easy-to-use org chart software that sticks to the tools you simply need to chart your company’s web of departments. Use a CSV import to craft an organization chart swiftly and add color to your chart to reflect your brand. A product of Freshworks, Freshteam allows you to create clear org charts painlessly. Organize people, processes, and positions to ensure everyone is on the same page. More leads are pouring into your sales funnel, and you’re ushering in new hires to handle the ever-expanding tasks and processes.

Frontend & Backend Developers

When your development organization grows to several hundred people or more, you may want to consider a matrix organization. Matrix organizations are sometimes used in companies with a large number of software developers working on a broad array of software projects. One side of the matrix is organized software development organization chart along skill sets while the other side of the matrix is organized across projects. One manager is from the department or skill set matrix and one manager is from the project matrix. A developer typically stays in a single department for as long as he or she continues working in that skill area.

The result is an org chart that helps people know who reports to who, who does what, and the flow of the company. An organizational structure chart is a diagram that shows your departments, starting from C-Suite leaders to individual contributors, as well as your company’s order of command and decision-making flow. The outsourcing nature of the network structure provides companies with the advantages of lower costs, more focus, and increased flexibility. Outsourcing allows organizations to save money, as they don’t have to bear the expense of setting up a department for the same purpose. It also gives companies the flexibility to change their processes and the ability to focus on their core functions.

They aren’t the same as positions and sometimes have nothing to do with it at all. Both agile and traditional aren’t methodologies — they’re sets of principles and values that help to determine how to manage teams properly depending on what results one aims for. This way, users of different browsers, smartphones, OS systems will have the same pleasant experience.

Mobile Development Offer your customers an iOS/Android hybrid mobile app they will want to use. Software Architecture Reach the software flexibility needed to scale by optimizing your architecture. The person who doesn’t figure out in advance how that’s all going to work isn’t going to last very long in business. Which is not to say that they are always badly organized, but I would definitely take a close look at how they do things before accepting a job with any company. The Inverse Conway Manoeuvre proposes intentionally influencing the team configuration to obtain a certain architecture in the system.