A Guide to the Software Development Team Structure

Entrepreneurs and their startups have bought a lot of groundbreaking business ideas in this modern era.

They might need the software or apps that will help them to generate revenue from across the world. If the business is unique, owners might require choosing a reputable software development firm for developing their personalized business product.

However, while developing successful software, the factor of coordinated teamwork plays a major role. Hence, following a proper team structure is necessary for developing a successful product. Accurate teamwork gives the correct direction to the project development process.

In this article, we will see different factors to keep in mind while choosing a specific software development team structure. We will also see which team structure is suitable in which situation. So, let’s begin with the article then.

Three Primary Software Development Team Structures

Here are some basics of how the typical development team you might look for in the market. They are Specialist, Generalist, and Hybrid. 

Here are the characteristics of each structure:

Specialist Software Development Team Structure

In the specialist team structure, every team member is solidly experienced in a particular field, but poorly skilled in the issues related to general development. Everyone has his own technology and niche experience to do a specific part of a job in a specialist team structure. 

This team of experienced individuals guarantees you high-quality products. However, it can be challenging for such seasoned team members to communicate without a skilled manager.

Pros Of Specialist Team Structure

• Specialists members have in-depth knowledge of the majority of elements of the project
• Detail-oriented & high-quality results

Cons of Specialist Team Structure

• High dependency on team members
• Communication gap

Generalist Software Development Team Structure

A generalist team structure consists of team members with general experience and skills. Each member is partly experienced in different project development, but rarely is there a member who has deep expertise in a particular branch.

Pros of Generalist Team Structure

• Each team member learns the whole project as a one
• Communication can be easier between team members

Cons of Generalist Team Structure

• There’s no specialist in the team who has deep experience in the specific niche

Hybrid Team Structure

One can quickly know that a hybrid team is made with an amalgamation of both structures generalist and specialist. While following this structure, the team can begin development of the project as general, but with increasing complexity, they can narrow it down to specialized features.

As a combination of the other two structures, the hybrid team structure gains more fame amongst other team formats. Hence, many entrepreneurs or co-founders choose this structure as it is maximally effective. 

However, this team structure has its drawbacks also, and feasible connection is one of them. It can become a challenge for team members of a hybrid structure to agree on some points. Again, proper facilitation can solve this challenge.

Pros of hybrid team structure

• The quick and efficient development process
• Proper balance in the team’s composition

Cons of hybrid team structure

• Communication gaps can occur
• Expensive and time-consuming structure

After learning the basics of 3 main software development team structures, now let’s see why a proper team structure is necessary.

Importance of having an accurate Software Development Team Structure

Skilled professionals are the key to making your product successful. Even if you feel that there are a few specialists in the development process, it can affect you at the end of the day.

For instance, when you hire a seasoned designer there’s no UI/UX expertise, you will have a marvelous app but with the absence of top-notch animation and graphics. Not a single person appreciates such an app, right? There’s no chance of meeting users’ needs without having a user-friendly UI.

Typical members of the Software Development Team

The typical software development team consists of the following professionals:

• Project manager
• Business analyst
• Developers
• Designers
• Testers and QA

Now, let’s discuss the key roles of each of these professionals.

Project Manager

Project Managers are responsible for good management of the software development team. It’s a must-have role while multiple members are coding on the same project.

The main aim of the manager is to make sure that the project is delivered as per the client's needs, deadlines, models, & especially budget. He/She has to check whether the software performs as expected or not.
This requires static communication with the development team, clients, and other project-related people. A project manager has to also look after potential budget overruns and delays & reach out to the client for discussing this with them.

While the manager doesn't need to have technical expertise, having it can be a boon for them. If they are technically sound, they can suggest ways to develop a product in a better way.

Business Analyst (BA)

The primary task of the business analyst is maximizing the possibility of the product becoming successful. To get that, BAs have to dig deep into the market and analyze trends, study, compare, and gather data to give it the best possible solutions.

One should keep in mind that though business analyst roles might seem to be important, they do not have the authority to give final decisions. While the product is in the maintenance phase, BAs study feedback from clients and users to make improvements accordingly.

Developers

Naturally, no development team can move ahead without a software developer. A team needs more than one developer in general. A software engineer is usually an expert in single or double programming technologies.

• Front-end developers should develop the UI part of the project. Users see on the screen and interact with the front end.
• Back-end developers have to develop the part that end-users do not see but are still as essential as the front-end. Here, the project’s system, structure, data, and logic are developed.
• Full-stack developers will do both front-end and back-end development
• Mobile app developers focus on writing code for mobile app development that works on smartphones and tablets.

The main task of a developer is coding, but other responsibilities are- attending meetings with the client and testers, fixing bugs, rewriting code when required, etc.

Designers

UI/UX is also a vital part of software development that shouldn’t be ignored. UI/UX developers will have to manage two roles- user interface and user experience.

Even if there are different developers for UI and UX, they have to work as a team and communicate hand-in-hand. This part of development makes the software more user-friendly. Having better UI/UX will save your app from having an old-fashioned look.

QA and Testers

Quality Assurance professionals and Testers have a prominent role in the team structure. Behind the success of every product, some testers have worked meticulously using automated tools and also manual test cases.

Whenever they find a mistake or a bug, they will send it to the development team to remove that bug. After that, they will again check and verify the required area or the whole app. After proper checking of the app and verifying that there are almost zero bugs, the project is sent for further processing.

Other roles

Some other roles are important enough in every team structure:

• Software architect defines the functional and technical architecture of the project and creates the most essential system elements
• The security engineer spots the potential risks in the project and eradicates them, designs the security plans and implements them, and lastly tests these new security plans.
• A Scrum master is a must-have person for Agile development. If one wants to use the Agile software development process, you need one expert who is skilled in utilizing this method’s principles and coordinates well with the team.

These are some of the roles that IT outsourcing firms provide. There may be some roles that are not needed in start-up projects but are essential for complex projects. Hence, the roles & team structure mentioned in this article are worth knowing and implementing.

Software Development Team Structure- Final Verdict

In conclusion, we hope that now you have an understanding of different software development team structures. You can choose any one of them as per your project and business needs and feasibility. While outsourcing the software development team, verify that the company is providing every professional that you will need to build your software system. You can bookmark us for future technical stuff. Happy reading!