Companies need more than developers and engineers to structure an effective software development team. There are many specialized roles needed through the software development lifecycle. But, the typical company lacks the budget and workload to seat a statically sized team in these roles while performing at any level of efficiency. The ideal dynamic team is made up of those roles described below.

CIO/CTO

The Chief Information Officer/ Chief Technology Officer function collaborates with company executives to ensure alignment between IT priorities and maximizing company objectives, productivity, and efficiency. The role advises on matters such as risk, IT industry tools, trends, and strategies – creating solutions that anticipate and align with company needs.

Business Analyst/Product Owner

A business analyst is a member of a product development team who bridges the gap between stakeholders and the development team. This individual analyzes the business domain, understands its processes and systems, documents business requirements, and ensures a match between business process workflow and the software being built.

Project Manager

A Project Manager is responsible for planning and overseeing projects to ensure they are completed on time and within budget. Project managers plan and designate project resources, prepare budgets, monitor progress, and keep stakeholders informed with the aid of reporting and project management methodologies.

Front-End Designers & Developers

Front-end developers and designers are responsible for applying interactive and visual design principles to web and mobile applications to ensure a positive user experience across all user types and devices. They collaboratively develop prototypes and wireframes in advance and facilitate usability testing on completion.

API & Database Engineers

API and database engineers are often referred to as back-end developers. They create components and features on the server-side, and make those features available through APIs they develop. These engineers are tasked with creating, maintaining, testing, and debugging the entire back end. They are responsible for server-side web application logic, web services, and integration with the UI produced by front-end developers.

QA Testers

Quality assurance (QA) testers play a critical role in delivering high-quality, perfectly functioning software applications to customers. They apply manual and automated testing scenarios to evaluate new and existing software applications to identify and remove bugs, glitches, and other user issues before they negatively impact the user experience.

DevOps Engineers

A DevOps Engineer collaborates with developers and QA staff to oversee code releases to production environments, combining an understanding of infrastructure, engineering and coding. A DevOps engineer introduces processes, tools, and methodologies to balance needs throughout the software development life cycle, from coding and deployment to maintenance and updates.

Dynamic Team Value

Not all roles are always required in the same ratios throughout a project. As software priorities change over time, so should the ability to scale the skill sets, utilization, and expense. That’s where Software Development as a Service proves its strategic value – in facilitating a dynamic team of specialized roles to build high-performing software efficiently.