People are the key to the success of a project. And this success depends significantly on the structure of the development team – a group of people who work together to create software. Proper management and a good structure of the team can make the whole development process easier and faster.

Yet, teamwork in business can be quite challenging, since each person has different ways of working. According to Tuckman’s model, teams are often forming and changing and they go through multiple stages of development. Tuckman’s five stages of team development – Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing – are all required for a team to grow, tackle challenges, find solutions and deliver results. These stages start when the team first meets and last until the work project ends. Each stage plays a significant role in building a highly functioning team of software developers.

In line with the team’s stage, it is important to choose what structure is best to work with. Within an internal development team, there are three main approaches you can choose from – generalist, specialist, and hybrid structure –, but you can also opt to incorporate an outsourced team, known as Team as a Service (TaaS).

Team as a service (TaaS)

 
TaaS is a new model of designing teams with different roles and technical skill sets that are fitted to the specific needs of the software development process. It is a dedicated team that includes several specialists contracted to help achieve your business goals.

A TaaS team operates in an autonomous and decentralized way. It is an outsourcing model in which some activities are performed by a service provider rather than in-house employees. Many companies opt for dedicated teams because they can accelerate the entire process of development and they get products and services on time.

Generalist structure

This team structure approach is more commonly adopted in companies with up to 15 employees, and it implies building a development team of people with a highly diverse set of skills. In this framework, every team member has variable team roles.

By implementing this team structure, each software developer knows the product as a whole and all team members implement features, which fastens the development process. It also brings different points of view on the problem which can contribute to a more efficient solution. Thus, the great outcomes of a company are a result of the cooperative effort of all members of the team.

Yet, there are a few cons: the team may lack specialists with deep knowledge in a particular field, and sometimes the development process can take more time because the team members might be working on some tasks that are completely new to them.

Specialist structure

This approach means that each team member is an expert in a specific programming language, framework, or technology, and thus, is fully responsible for their part of development. A specialist development team limits the responsibilities of its members to their team roles, and they do one task throughout the whole process.

In this sense, the responsibilities are distributed clearly, and the team members can have a deep understanding of each part of a project separately. This team structure is normally adopted by companies with over 15-20 employees or when a company is working on several projects simultaneously. Most of the elements get completed at the same time and so the development is faster. However, there is a high dependency between team members and, consequently, the risk of miscommunication.

Hybrid structure

The hybrid structure brings the best of the worlds by combining specialist and generalist structures. Such teams can generally start working on the project but narrow it down to more specialized features when necessary. The efficiency of the development process is maximized thanks to the well-balanced team composition and the higher flexibility of the methodologies.

However, it may come as a challenge for hybrid specialists to agree on certain issues, as they work in different roles and specializations. Additionally, these teams are normally more expensive and time-consuming to build, so this approach is often chosen when a company has enough time and resources, and only when it comes to complex and challenging projects.

If you are interested in development team structure and want to know more about the best approaches to ensure the success of your project, talk to us!