How to organize a software development team
Scott W. Ambler (this article is from IBM DeveloperWorks China)
(This article is reproduced from Software Industrial Expert Network
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How to build a software development team depends on the needs of the person, the needs of the project and the needs of the organization. This article describes the strategies of various team organizations. A effective software project team consists of a person who acts as a variety of characters. Each member plays one or more roles; it may be responsible for project management, while others actively participate in the design and implementation of the system. Common project characters include: · Analyst · Planner · Database Administrator · Designer · Operation / Support Engineer · Programmer · Project Manager · Project Sponsors · Quality Assurance Engineer · Demand Analyst · Theme Expert (User) · How do you organize project team? Is it a vertical plan, a level plan or a mixing plan? The team organized by a vertical scheme consists of multiple hands, each member acts as a multiple role. The team organized by the level consists of an expert, and each member acts as one to two roles. The team organized by a mixed solution includes both hands and includes experts. An important consideration is the nature of the person available. If most people are multiple hands, you often need a vertical scheme, and like most people are an expert, a level plan. If you are introducing some newcomers, even if these people are contract workers, you still need to give priority to your projects and organizations. This paper describes the vertical, horizontal and mixing schemes forming a team organization, and points out their respective advantages and disadvantages. An important meaning in this discussion is that your team organization and means for managing projects should constitute a tacit; any mating is likely to cause project problems. Vertical Team organizes vertical teams consisting of multiple hands. The use case is assigned to a personal or group, then it is achieved from the beginning to the tail. Advantages • Smoothed end-to-end development is achieved in a single use case. · Developers can master more extensive skills. Disadvantages · Multi-sided hands are usually some consultants who have high quality and difficult to find. · Multi-faced hands typically do not have specific technical expertise required to quickly solve specific problems. · Theme expert may have to work with a number of developer groups, thereby increasing their burden. · All multi-faced levels are different. Successful factors · Every member works in accordance with a set of common standards and guidelines. • It is necessary to communicate between developers to avoid public functions from different groups. · The architecture of public and reaching consensus needs to be established as soon as possible. The level team organizes the level team consists of experts. These teams handle multiple use cases simultaneously, and each member is engaged in its own aspects. Advantages · Can complete the work of all aspects (demand, design, etc.) in high quality. · Some external groups, such as users or operators, only need to interact with a small number of experts who understand their exact requirements. Disadvantages · Experts usually unable to realize the importance of other major, leading to the lack of contact between the projects. · The information required by "backend" may not be collected by the "front end" personnel. · Since the experts' priority, views and demand are different, project management is more difficult. Successful factors · There is a good communication between team members so that they can understand their respective duties. · It is necessary to develop work processes and quality standards that experts must follow, thereby increasing the efficiency of handover to other experts. The mixed team organizes the mixed team consisted by experts and multiple hands. Multi-faced hand continues to operate an entire development process of use, support and handle experts from various parts of multiple usage examples. Advantages · Have the advantages of the first two programs. · The external team only needs to interact with a small number of experts. · Experts can concentrate on the work they are good at. · The implementation of each use case is maintained. Disadvantages · Have the shortcomings of the first two programs. · Multi-faced hands are still difficult to find. · Experts still can't recognize the work of other experts and cannot work well, although this should be adjusted by multiple hands. · Project management is still very difficult. Successful factors · Project team members need well to communicate. · It is necessary to determine the public architecture. · The public process, standards and guidelines must be appropriately defined.
