Software Team Roles

1. Software Team Roles
By Agusto

2. Team Roles In Software Development

3. Project Manager Role

4. Project Manager
Project managers (PMs) are responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the
completion of specific projects for an organization while ensuring these projects are on time,
on budget, and within scope.
Project managers (PMs) are responsible to the each phase of project life cycle.
There are 5 project life cycle :
1. Initiating
2. Planning
3. Executing
4. Monitoring and Controlling
5. Closing

5. Project Life Cycle - Initiating
Project managers begin each new project by defining the main objectives of the project, its purpose, and its scope. They also identify key internal and external stakeholders,
discuss shared expectations, and gain the required authorization necessary to move a project forward.
Important questions that project managers ask during the initiating phase include:
Why is the project important?
What’s the specific problem we’re trying to solve?
What is the desired outcome?
What are the project’s success criteria?
Who are the stakeholders on this project? Who is impacted by, or who impacts, this project?
What are the requirements and constraints within this project?
What assumptions are we making?
How will the project be funded?
What is within our scope? What is not within our scope?
Has this project been executed before? If so, what was the result? What information from that past project should be considered in this project?
It’s important to recognize that project managers don’t do this on their own. Oftentimes, a project manager isn’t assigned until much of this work is well underway.

6. Project Life Cycle - Planning
Project managers work with key stakeholders to create an integrated project plan focused on
attaining the outlined goals.
The plan established during this process helps project managers oversee scope, cost,
timelines, risk, quality issues, and communications. It is during this phase that project
managers will outline key deliverables and milestones and identify the tasks that must be
completed to complete each.
It’s important to note that project “planning” doesn’t actually end until the project does. The
project plan should be treated as a living document that constantly evolves and changes
throughout the project.

7. Project Life Cycle - Executing
The project manager’s role is to assign this work and to ensure that tasks are
completed as scheduled. The project manager will also typically:
•Protect the team from distractions
•Facilitate issue resolution
•Lead the team in working through project changes

8. Project Life Cycle - Monitoring and
Controlling
In the monitoring and controlling phase, a project manager’s work includes:
•Monitoring the progress of a project
•Managing the project’s budget
•Ensuring that key milestones are reached
•Comparing actual performance against planned/scheduled performance
Therefore, a project manager must be flexible enough to work within a project’s plan
but readily adapt when necessary.

9. Project Life Cycle - Closing
Project managers strive to ensure all activities necessary to achieve the final result are
completed. During the close of a project, project managers will:
•Work with the client to get formal sign-off that the project is complete
•Release any resources (budget or personnel) who are no longer needed for the
project
•Review the work of third-party vendors or partners in order to close their contracts
and pay their invoices
•Archive project files for future reference and use

10. Sample Report Project Manager

11. Project Weekly Template

12. Functional Analyst /
Business Analyst
Role

13. Responsibilities Of The Functional
Analyst
Responsible for Functionality
Captures, Consolidates, and Communicates information
Constantly asks questions:
What do you mean? / How does this fit in with…?
 Identifies and resolves conflicts
 Produces Requirements Specification

14. Skill Of The Functional Analyst
 Precise communicators
 Know when detail is necessary and when not
 Adept at dealing with differing opinions
 Great relationship skills
 Very good listeners
 Can create clear and precise documents
 Skilled in using Office tools

15. BRD vs SRS vs FSD
BRD (Business Requirement Development) shows what the business wants to achieve, from features,
timeline & costs. This document was designed by BA (Business Analyst).
SRS (Software Requirement Specification) document specification of each requirement that has been
explained from BRD. When designed, the SRS can be discussed by the BA and the PM (Project
Manager) to achieve a clear SRS.
FSD (Functional Specification Document) is a detail of the functionality of an app/web. Usually the FSD
will be created when the BRD and SRS already exist. Suitable for Waterfall development method. FSD
will be made per Module and will be broken down into Sub-Modules which are detailed with Usecase
diagrams. This document was designed by BSA (Business System Analyst)
The three documents above are not required to always exist in an app/web development. It could be
that only BRD is used, or only SRS. It all comes back to the client's needs and vendor readiness.

16. Sample FSD

17. Business Flow

18. Lead Developer Role

19. Responsibilities Of The Lead Developer
Leads and mentors developers
Assigns tasks to developers
Details and partitions work
Ensures that all developers are successful

20. Skills Of The Lead Developer
• Grows out of Developer role
• Requires great relationship with Architect
• Wide knowledge of Libraries/Tools/Techniques
• Adept at creating technical specifications
• Adept at build & configuration management
• Adept at debugging, post-mortem log inspection, etc.
• Can create own tools if needed

21. Flow Process Lead Developer

22. Solution Architect Role

23. Responsibilities Of The Solution
Architect
Responsible for Technology
Converts Functional Requirements (FSD) to Technical Architecture (TSD)
Carefully balances Patterns/Requirements/Elegance/Concepts
Researches Key Technologies
Has deep understanding of Design Patterns
Motivates and guides development team
Ensures that the Lead Developer is successful

24. Skills Of The Solution Architect
• Grows out of Lead Developer role
• Requires great relationship with Lead Developer
• Helicopter view at all times
• Deep understanding of Design Patterns
• Fluent in UML & other Design Tools
• Experience with Tools & Code Generators

25. ERD (Entity Relationship Diagram)

26. Software Architecture Document

27. Architecture Solution Topology

28. Architecture Solution Topology

29. Problematic Chaos On
Project

30. The Planning Is Too Optimistic
The PM operates in isolation, far away from the dev team. This puts
pressure on the LD and QA. Both feel disempowered.
Remember: your job is to make your LD succeed!
• Bring the PM in on the dev team
• Find the reason: optimistic PM, naïve LD, or slow devs?
• Coach LD / Restructure devs / Readjust schedule / Alter planning

31. Functional Requirements Are Invalid
For some reason the FA has no engagement with Urs (User Requirements), and
passes invalid specs to architect. Beware: This will come to bite you!
• Find the reason
• Try to restore the personal power of the FA
• Escalate up if needed

32. Lead Developer Loses Trust
Endless discussions, implementation starts to deviate from architecture.
Remember: your job is to make your LD succeed!
• Empower your LD
• Always present an united front
• Be open to feedback
• Change architecture if needed

33. Link
1. https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/blog/project-manager-
responsibilities/#:~:text=In%20the%20broadest%20sense%2C%20project,on%20budg
et%2C%20and%20within%20scope
2. https://www.udemy.com/course/how-to-become-an-outstanding-solution-
architect/learn/lecture/6834738?start=1#overview