Building a software development team involves essential factors such as, dedicated developers, budget, the approach you will take, and the hiring model you will choose, and since every decision you make when building your team directly affects project results, we’ve compiled this comprehensive guide on what you must know to hire and build the best software development team.
Generally, having an organized group of developers work on your project is expensive. That said, the actual amount you need to manage a team is dependent on a range of factors, including size and type of project, people on your team, and your negotiation skills. They play leading roles in determining the cost of the project.
The size and type of product you want determine the tools, skillset, and the number of developers you will need. If you plan to work with specialists and high-end developers, the cost will be higher when compared with the cost of recruiting generalists and low-level engineers. A small project requires a small group of engineers. The opposite is true. Consequently, you will spend more money to build a product that needs an extensive number of developers.
Development time frame is a leading cost determinant. Logically, a project that takes six months to conclude is expected to cost more than a similar product developed within three months. More time translates to more money, in most cases. Having your product delivered as fast as possible is an effective money-saving strategy. Finally, you can significantly reduce costs by putting forward good negotiation skills.
You need key roles to hire a Software development team. The software development roles represent areas where you need skilled and experienced engineers. Every role is crucial and necessary for the effective development of your product.
Each team has roles fundamental to the project’s success. They may become involved right from the project’s inception or contribute during implementation, testing, deployment, maintenance, or audit.
These professionals collectively create a well-rounded team, establishing a strong foundation for success. While their contributions will ultimately depend on the team’s objectives and structure, their core responsibilities remain.
Below, we’ll highlight the most important roles and outline what they bring to your organization.
The product owner represents the customer’s voice and acts as the middle person between stakeholders and the development team. The goal is to ensure the product vision is maintained and provide the developers guidance or input for product success. Product owners serve the customer’s interest (the actual owner of the project), ensuring there is order and enforcing deadlines and product quality.
Due to their role, the product owner has an in-depth knowledge of the product, customer expectations, and potential business value. Hence, they act as a liaison between dev teams and stakeholders.
In a software development team, a product owner must steer the project to success and adapt to the ever-changing market demands.
Here are the core responsibilities of a product owner:
As the name implies, a project manager (PM) is responsible for ensuring your project is delivered efficiently, on time, and within budget. With this purpose, project managers leverage available resources to prevent anything that can negatively impact the project.
Keeping the product development process on track can be challenging due to unpredictable factors that can cause chaos. However, a project manager takes proactive measures to prevent or minimize the effects of problems.
Ideally, this professional breaks the entire software development process into modular parts like tasks and sub-tasks.
The project manager’s primary responsibility is controlling the software project. They know the software plan’s who, what, where, when, and why.
Read our blog, Product Owner vs Product Manager.
The software architect is responsible for planning and organizing the software system. This professional creates high-level design and framework specifications. Therefore, they choose the best tools, technologies, frameworks, and platforms suitable for the project
Software engineers can either be front-end developers or back-end developers. Both are required for your project.
A front-end software developer plays a vital role in building the user-facing aspect of an application or website. Their expertise lies in writing the code for visually appealing and interactive user interfaces that users directly interact with.
The typical front-end developer’s tech stack involves HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They will also need knowledge of front-end frameworks like React.js, Angular, or Vue.js.
Since front-end elements will need to be integrated into the back-end, front-end developers with knowledge of server-side programming can come in handy.
Here are some of their likely responsibilities.
A back-end developer works behind the scenes. Moreover, they ensure that the operations your users execute on the front-end work as intended. This means they will code sophisticated algorithms, program logic, and manage the database application to ensure it runs efficiently.
Back-end developers will also build and implement external integrations like APIs, security features, etc.
Here is what their day-to-day responsibilities look like:
The full-stack developer can develop both client and server software. They have an extensive skillset that covers front-end and back-end development. This means they’re more likely to oversee other developers in a software development team structure.
Their responsibilities include:
A DevOps engineers ensures 24/7 uptime and prevents downtime. After launching an application, in most cases, how the program responds to traffic during the testing phase is different from what happens when many users start placing demands on the software. Typically, load time increases and the application slows down with increased traffic.
In extreme cases, crashes happen due to poor architecture, insufficient infrastructure, and poor optimization. This is where DevOps specialists come in. They are responsible for solving the challenges above and ensuring 24/7 uptime, optimal speed, scalability, security, and accessibility for users worldwide. Our blog, the ultimate guide to hiring a DevOps engineer, can help you choose an adequate DevOps engineer.
It’s almost impossible to avoid errors during software development, especially in more complex projects.
While your developers will likely test and debug their code, the best practice is to hire an independent set of eyes that not only makes the code bug-free but meets the quality standards set by customers, market dynamics, and compliance requirements.
Ideally, your QA specialist will come into the picture during the testing and debugging phase after the developers have completed the development.
However, QAs can also be involved earlier in the requirements gathering and designing stage, especially in more iterative and Agile team methodologies like Scrum. As we mentioned, other Agile methodologies and frameworks that teams use are Kanban and Lean.
This approach is called Early QA.
The UI/UX Designer designs the user interface and user experience. They are focused on the visuals – aesthetic appeal and user experience. Accordingly, this professional maps out the user journey and crafts intuitive designs that enhance user satisfaction and engagement.
Like every other role, collaboration is critical for UI/UX Designers. They work closely with the development team to ensure their design aligns with your project’s requirements and objectives.
This professional will need to understand user needs, preferences, and expectations. The UI/UX Designer has the following responsibilities.
Most products fail not because of technical problems but due to unprofitable business approaches. Having a solid and verified, viable business model behind your project is as important, if not more, as developing a high-quality product. Hence, the role of a business analyst is to analyze and verify your business idea to ensure you embark on a potentially profitable project.
The primary goal is to help you decide if your idea is worth investing in. A study has shown that spending 8 to 10% of the time and money on business analysis increases the chances of project success. Thus, a business analyst helps you build the right product at the right time, meet client needs, and create a consistent solution with your business model and long-term interests.
Before deploying your software, it’s important to ensure it works. Software Testing Engineers develop, design, and implement test procedures that ensure the software functions as expected.
They do this to identify and resolve any bugs or errors with functionality and user experience before the software is released to the public.
In this role, testing engineers will perform the following key responsibilities.
There are three approaches:
The project’s complexity, the development methodology for a team (waterfall or Agile), your budget, and the project deadline all influence the type of structure you choose.
Despite these factors, here are some ideas on what your software development team structure may look like:
| Project Stage | Team Size | Team Roles |
| Discovery/Proof of Concept | 2 to 5 | The Product Owner and Business Analyst are critical here. Other roles that may be needed depending on project size, methodology, and budget include Software Architect, UI/UX Designer, and Project Manager. |
| Requirements Gathering and Analysis | At least 3 | Product Owner, Business Analyst, UI/UX Designer. A front-end developer is optional, particularly if they’re skilled in UI/UX, and the budget allows this flexibility. |
| Design and Planning | Up to 4 | Product Owner, Business Analyst, Software Architect, and UI/UX Designer. |
| MVP Planning and Development | 6+ | Product Owner, Project Manager, Business Analyst, UI/UX Designer, Software Engineers (front-end, back-end, and full-stack), and software test engineers. QA Specialist is optional. |
| Software Development | In Agile, the team may be up to 9 specialists. Unlike Agile teams, waterfall has no team size limit. This largely depends on the project’s complexity and budget. | Product Owner, Project Manager, Business Analyst, Software Architect, UI/UX Designer, and Software Engineers. |
| Testing and Quality Assurance | 6+ | Product Owner, Project Manager, Business Analyst, QA Specialist, Software Testing Engineers, and Software Engineers. |
| Deployment and Release | 5+ | Product Owner, Project Manager, Business Analyst, Software Engineers, and DevOps Engineer. |
| Maintenance and Support | 5+ | Product Owner, Project Manager, Business Analyst, Software Engineers, and DevOps Engineer. |
It’s important to have a structured team that is self-organizing and productive. Subsequently, if you’re trying to build or hire a software development team, here are key steps to consider:
The first step is evaluating your project. This includes the complexity, business goals, budget, and deadlines. Analyzing these prerequisites allows you to determine the team’s size and roles.
Agile and Scrum teams generally have between 3 to 9 members. Many software engineering managers believe 7 is the ideal size for an Agile team. On the other hand, waterfall teams are larger than Agile teams and could be more than 15 professionals due to their hierarchical nature.
Does the project require a generalist, specialist, or hybrid team? How many software engineers do you need?
To decide, you should weigh each approach’s pros and cons.
For example, generalists may know something about everything, but there may be risks because they lack deep expertise. This means you may have to hire a specialist at some point in the project.
A generalist team works fine if your project’s complexity is small to medium.
On the other hand, specialist teams can deliver high-quality work in their niche. They are excellent for projects that require domain expertise, e.g., building a fintech app, healthcare software, gaming, etc.
This is because their technical skills are most relevant to the niche. However, they may struggle with communication and collaboration.
Additionally, hybrid teams may be expensive to build. There may also be potential management issues due to the combination of different people with varying software development approaches.
However, this is the best structure for large-scale and complex projects with strict deadlines if you have the budget and a strong project manager.
Agile is a software engineering principle that comes highly recommended for most projects and teams.
Embracing the agile methodology enhances your business analyst and team’s flexibility. This, as a result, enables seamless adaptation to unforeseen changes without disrupting the entire process.
While building an agile software development team, two common methodologies are Scrum and Kanban.
Kanban emphasizes real-time communication and complete work transparency, relying heavily on visualization through the Kanban board. This visual representation aids the team in tracking progress and identifying and overcoming obstacles.
On the other hand, Scrum, the most popular Agile framework for a team, involves breaking down extensive projects into manageable sprints. The sprints resulting from said Agile team’s framework are reviewed and adapted regularly. In this case, you may need a Scrum master for your Agile team.
Regardless of the chosen framework, incorporating agile principles empowers your team to deliver faster and more efficiently. Becoming an agile team has its benefits!
Communication is one of the most critical skills in a software development team. You’re assembling a team of people from different backgrounds that will work together to achieve a common goal.
The client will also pass messages across, so active listening is necessary. It’s essential to look out for great professionals to work with and communicate effectively.
You should also set up project management software like Jira and Trello to provide more transparency. Messaging apps and video conferencing apps are also important, especially during crisis management and real-time communication. You can also use tools like Guru to keep your company’s information and policies up-to-date to improve your team’s workflow.
Watch our video on the importance of effective communication in software development
In-house teams offer close collaboration and immediate access, fostering a strong company culture. However, to hire a software development team this way is significantly expensive. It also requires constant training, and you may have limited expertise.
Outsourcing to an external software team significantly saves costs, gives access to specialists, and leads to a faster time-to-market. Depending on your project needs, you can also scale up or down at any time. However, there may be communication gaps due to different time zones, cultures, and misinterpretations since they’re external.
So, which one should you choose? It all depends on your project’s complexity and budget.
But what if you enjoy the positives of in-house and outsourced software development without the cons?
This is where a nearshore software company like ClickIT comes in.
With nearshore outsourcing, you can harness our top-tier talent pool from a neighboring region like Mexico, ensuring cost-effectiveness, cultural alignment, and similar time zones.
Because of this, ClickIT should be your trusted nearshore partner. Our expertise in software development, DevOps, and cloud solutions accelerates innovation, reduces costs, and drives successful software development.
You need a good software development team to build a high-quality product. Given the complexity of software development, a team comprises developers proficient in different areas of application development. Nonetheless, the size of your software development team structure is determined by key factors, like the type of software you want to build, features, and user base.
We recommend talking with a development agency so your needs can be analyzed, and the ideal team composition will be proposed based on your goals and budget.
Are you thinking of working with a software development company? Look no further than ClickIT, the best DevOps Nearshore team. We stand out because we help businesses to build robust, secure, and high-quality software-based applications designed to increase productivity and efficiency. We also help you hire a software development team that can turn your dreams into reality.
Generally, a software development team consists of a product owner, project manager, software architect, frontend developer, backend developer, DevOps specialist, QA engineer, and UI/UX designer. However, when you hire a software development team, you can include other specialists not mentioned here.
There are 3 approaches The Generalist Team: This is a team of professionals with a broad range of skills and experience, but none has in-depth expertise in a specific branch.
Specialist Structure: Each team member in this structure knows their niche or technology for their jobs but may be lacking in general development issues.
Hybrid Team: This is a combination of specialists and generalists. Hence, they can work on a project as a whole and narrow it down to each member’s specialisation when necessary.
It depends on your goals, budgets, and product which team is ideal.
Define responsibilities and fragment the team into sub-teams. Afterward, assign a general project manager and sub-team project managers. Use project management and collaboration tools to streamline every process and enable team members to be accountable and committed.
They are tams that collaboratively work on creating, maintaining, and improving software applications or systems. These teams typically consist of members with various skills and roles, all contributing to the different phases of the software development lifecycle.
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