Web Development Team Structure: Key Roles And Responsibilities

Having a dedicated web development team structure is considerable leverage, especially in the software development domain. It is mainly because a dedicated team can adapt quickly to changing scenarios and easily chart out a new strategy in a quick turnaround time.

But we are not talking about just a set of people pooled together to form a team. This is about experienced team members who bring complementary skill sets essential to materialize a sound market-ready product.

Having a clear idea about the team structure and their respective roles during a web apps development project is a huge bonus. This helps you build a strong communication and project management strategy down the line. Which in turn increases the likelihood of the project meeting the desired business goals.

The team size is also a critical factor that influences the success of web development projects. A team strength can be anywhere between 4 to 7 members. Again, the project scope, complexity, and timeline will determine who and how many members can join the great web development team.

Know Your Website Development Team Structure

Web apps development is more than just putting together different code and publishing it. It is a more complex process involving many steps and requires coordinated participation from individual specialists at each step. A well-delivered web project is always going to help the overall business strategy of the company.

Alternately, you can hire web development team from an outsourcing development company which can give you the option to build a customized team that best suits your business needs.

So, let’s get into every team member’s profile and their contribution to the overall team performance. The modern-day web development team structure consists of:

Project Manager

One of the critical pillars of the web development team structure and the company, the Project Manager (PM), acts as the bridge between the client-side and the organization. They are always present throughout different stages of communication, requirements understanding, planning, work allocation, and keeping track of the project deliverables.

They decide the timeframe of the sprint, which can be anywhere between one week to two weeks long. The Project Manager is also responsible for determining the project delivery and release dates. The team accordingly works in coordination to meet the project manager’s internal deadlines and testing requirements.

The PM is also mandated to ensure that the product is as per the client’s expectations. Project managers are primarily good at implementing the Agile management style but are also aware of other development methodologies. It helps them prove that their code or product is functional at each intermittent stage instead of waiting to find out at the very end. It is an excellent way of building trust with clients as they don’t have to worry about whether the product is functional.

Additionally, the Project Manager is also responsible for being in touch with the client to dispel any doubts or queries. The Project Manager is also the go-to person for anything and everything related to the project. This approach helps create a transparent working environment and leaves little space for any confusion or project delays.

Project Architect

Since there are different web apps development types, it only makes sense to have someone in the team who can address these early on and define them in the overall project arc. We are talking about the Project Architect.

The Project Architect can also be part of the client meetings to understand their requirements better and develop a sound architecture that meets business expectations. Once the architecture is approved, the architect gets back to coordinate with the web developers, UI/UX designers, QA testers, etc.

UI/UX Designer

The UI/UX Designers play a crucial part in building the product’s brand value by understanding the user psychology and addressing their unresolved problems. It is more than just creating a few icons and building web page templates. They are responsible for making the end users like the product.

According to some of the most recent customer service stats, 89% of customers leave a company for their competitor because of poor customer experience. Therefore, it is essential to hire professional and experienced UI/UX Designers who are very good at understanding user needs.

The UI/UX Designers should also be well-versed with information architecture. It helps decide where and how all the information, data, content, etc., will be placed on the website or application.

A good sign of an experienced UI/UX Designer is that they understand the product’s business potential and can strategically place conversion funnels on pages that will eventually convert into orders. Apart from User Experience Research (UX Research), the UI/UX Designers are good at HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This allows them to create interfaces that are user-friendly and technically robust.

Web Developers

Web Developers are the people who breathe life into the design and project ideas. They are responsible for server setup, code build, database connection, and running the application.

Web Developers can be classified into two types, Front-End Developers and Back-End Developers. Nowadays, there are Web Developers who can develop both front-end and back-end. These are called Full-Stack Developers. A Web Developer is essentially responsible for maintaining the development project’s efficiency and scalability.

They are also responsible for ensuring the website or web application runs after the development project is over. They do this through maintenance-related tasks and updating the product’s functionality during the post-release phase.

Web Developer and Project Manager can be part of the initial project briefing meeting, share any technical insights, or give analytical suggestions to the client.

Lastly, a good Web Developer has a deep understanding of modern-day programming frameworks and languages like Python, PHP, React JS, Angular JS, etc.

QA Engineer/QA Tester

The last member to come into the picture is the Quality Assurance engineer or the QA Tester. The goal of the QA Tester is to test the product and ensure that it meets the specifications and doesn’t have any bugs.

The QA Engineer is also responsible for creating project documentation, cases, testing plans, and running test scripts. This allows them to act as a safety valve and prevent any issues or bugs from surfacing after product release.

If you are working on small-scale projects, one QA tester is enough. But if you have a large project with complex deliverables, you will need a small team of QA, headed by a QA Lead and QA Engineers responsible for individual phases of the project.

Now there are two types of testing involved in development projects, one is Manual, and the other is Automatic. When a QA Tester writes a script that does the checking, it is called Automatic QA Testing. This is a speedier and reliable way of checking the quality. Having said this, it is impossible to forgo Manual testing altogether. It takes more time but covers all the functionalities involved in the product.

What qualities to look for in team members?

Hiring is not very easy, especially when you are looking for highly prized technical skill sets. It is more than just going through resumes and assessing technical skills based on some performance test. Other skills and qualities can make a big difference between two seemingly good developers.

So, have a quick look at some of these qualities that one should look for in a candidate.

Good Communication and Team Spirit

There used to be a phase when knowing how to write good code was sufficient to qualify as a good developer. That time has long gone. Today developers are also expected to be good at communications and effective in getting along with other team members.

You must hire dedicated developers based on their personal experience working and solving problems in a team environment. They must share examples of successfully handling a tough situation by tackling the issue as a team.

Always look for people who go beyond personal feats. On the contrary, they should be ready to do whatever it takes to build an excellent product for the company and client.

Proactive Approach

A reasonable compensation should attract talented people. But a quality talent is also looking for a stimulating work environment that offers career growth. They are looking for challenging work and are not afraid to lead projects and give new ideas.

They are always curious about the processes and ask questions. They are bubbling with new ideas and don’t hesitate to motivate other team members to brainstorm.

Accountability

Accountability is tricky to assess from a couple of interview rounds, but you can always judge candidates by asking them about their processes and working models. You can tell a lot about the way they think by the depth of their answers.

Self-Learning

If you want to ensure that you are building a world-class product, you need people in the team who are not afraid to push themselves harder and shift gears when the time requires. It would be best if you look for people who are driven and invest in self-learning.

Conclusion

While building a web development team structure, you should also create an environment conducive to innovation and excellence. You might work on a roadmap that details educational tools, training materials, the latest software, hardware, etc., your newly formed team will require to become successful. Also, you can partner with a top rated web application development company to assemble a custom development team.