Project roles

Content:

Introduction
Table

Introduction:

Different companies use titles different. Big companies are different from small companies. Companies only developing for itself are different from companies developing for other companies. Companies developing custom software are different from companies developing plastic wrapped software products. US companies are different from Europena companies. And so on.

But even though it probably not match your organizaion perefctly then I hope that this little overview should still provide some insigth in the roles within a software development project. And please don't take it too literal or serious.

Table:

Titles	Role	Characteristics good	Characteristics bad
CTO CIO Head of IT SVP IT	Tasks: Manage IT budget Hires next level of managers Responsible for all IT Has final word in all matters not requiring CEO or board approval Has the decision power and the overall responsbility for everything.	Understand how IT can support the business. Willing to take calculated risks.	Focused on cost reduction. Very risk adverse.
Head of engineering VP engineering Head of development VP development	Tasks: Manage development part of IT budget Hires managers in development organization Responsible for all development whether inhouse or provided by external vendors or hybrid	Understand when an IT project is starting to go off track and how to get it back on track.	Focused on increasing budget and head count.
Head of operations VP operations	Tasks: Manage operations part of IT budget Hires managers in operations organization Responsible for all operations whether inhouse on premise or in cloud or outsourced	Get operations involved early in all IT projects.	Tries to block all changes.
Project manager	Tasks: Responsible for one or more specific projects Responsible for both project plan (resources, schedule and cost) and execution of plan	Able to manage customer/stakeholder expectations. Able to motivate the team to work hard and efficient.	Is just a highly paid admin that produce reports to management that does not reflect reality.
Tech lead Team lead Group lead Technical project manager	Tasks: Responsible for handling low level assignments to team members Helps developers that run into technical issues.	Has a solid experience and really understands the technical issues. Knows the team so assignments go the right person. Able to solve minor technical issues. Knows who to involve for major technical issues.	Attempts to be a project manager instead of focusing on the technical issues.
Senior software engineer Senior software developer Senior programmer	Tasks: Understand the requirements in detail Responsible for low level design Responsible for code review and other developer activities to ensure quality	Knows the system very well. Good at coming up with simple solutions that actually works. Good at mentoring other developers.	Avoids all work via various BS excuses.
Software engineer Software developer Programmer	Tasks: Write the actual code !!!!	Knows a large number of programming languages. Knows a large number of frameworks and standard patterns.	Don't know how to translate problem->algorithm->code and therefore end up randomly using copy paste of existing code.
Business Analyst BA	Tasks: Document the requirements in detail to be used by customer/stakeholders, project manager, tech lead, senior developers and developers	Has a deep insight in software/domain and are able to clarify unclear areas with customer/stakeholder.	Produces large quantities of text and pictures that noone understands what means.
Technical writer	Tasks: Produces documentation for system - both end user and developer documentation.	Has a deep insight in software/domain and are able to actually explain how the system works.	Produces large quantities of text and pictures that does not reflect reality because the person don't know.
QA engineer Test engineer	Tasks: Create test plans Execute test plan and find bugs in system	Knows the system and where the tricky area most likely to have bugs are. Good at envisoning all types of scenarios that may happen in production.	Just go through all the happy scenarios based on requirements.
Integration Engineer IE	Tasks: Responsible for getting all the components in the system installed and configured to work together	Has a very deep understanding of how the entire system works.	Use try and error method.
Database Administrator DBA	Tasks: Together with developers and possible a database architect responsible for logical database design Possible together with a database architect responsible for physical database design Support operations when system goes into production	Understands how the database works internally, which can be important for understanding performance impact.	Just a SQL super-user.
System Engineer System Administrator sysadm	Tasks: Install hardware Install and configure base software like operating system Maintain both hardware and software when system goes into production	Understands the operating system. Knows how to keep system uptodate with patches. Good at scripting.	Just follows written guides and do as they say.
Network engineer	Tasks: Install and configure network boxes Support operations when system goes into production	Really understand how the network protocols work at different levels.	Just plug everything in and see if it works.
Enterprise architect	Tasks: Understand the business side Understand all the IT systems Propose changes to IT systems that provide business value (more revenue and/or less cost)	Proposed projects actually provide the predicted business benefits.	Just a PowerPoint creator for the CTO/CIO.
Solution architect	Tasks: Understand all systems in scope for project and their interfaces Responsible for overall solution works (scalability, availability, security, maintainability etc.)	Have a good feeling for what only works on paper and what also works in real world.	Just an overpaid BA.
Software architect Application architect	Tasks: Understand the application Responsible for split in tiers and layers Responsible for choice of tech stack (programming language, frameworks, tools etc.)	Able to find a good solution for any problem within the application.	Maintains a large number of diagrams that does not reflect how the application really works.
Infrastructure architect	Tasks: Responsible for design server hardware configuration Responsible for design server base software configuration Responsible for design networks Responsible for sizing and capacity planning	Understands what can provide sufficient capabilities without being prohibitive expensive.	Just run vendors configuration tool.
Database architect	Tasks: Together with developers responsible for logical database design Responsible for physical database design	Deep understanding of how the database works internally.	Just generate some ER diagrams from database tables created by developers.
Data architect Information architect	Tasks: Know what data is available in which systems Know how data can be utilized to provide business value	Really understands what the data is (semantics)	Just produces long lists with database tables and columns.
Security architect	Tasks: Responsible for that final solution are secure Responsible for documenting that final solution meet security requirements	Deep understanding of overall solution. Deep understanding of possible security threats.	Just use OWASP checklist.

Yes - there are a lot of architect roles listed - you may consider it a bias from my side. :-)

Article history:

Version	Date	Description
1.0	April 1st 2008	Initial version (in Danish) published on Eksperten.dk
1.2	February 14th 2010	Minor changes
2.0	April 22nd 2018	Translation to English and complete reformatting and publishing here

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