Identify the Roles and Responsibilities in Planning Software Requirements

In planning software requirements, several roles and responsibilities are crucial for the success of the project. These roles include:

1. Product Manager: The product manager is responsible for identifying the customer needs and the larger business objectives that the product or feature will fulfill. They define what success looks like for a product and rally a team to turn that vision into a reality.
2. Product Owner: The product owner works more closely with the development team to execute against the goals that the product manager helps to define. They focus on ensuring that the development team understands the requirements and can implement them effectively.
3. Software Architect: A software architect is engaged throughout all stages of the software development process. They make high-level decisions regarding the tools, coding standards, or platforms to be used. They collect and structure requirements, engage in code reviews, design sections of the project and how they interact, and select the best software patterns.
4. Business Analyst: Business analysts deliver business requirement documentation, make strategic recommendations, and sometimes act as project managers to help get initiatives over the line. They are responsible for understanding the business problem and translating it into technical requirements.
5. Project Manager: The project manager is responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the completion of specific projects for an organization while ensuring these projects are on time, on budget, and within scope.
6. Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer: QA engineers ensure the quality of the software by developing and executing test plans, test cases, and test scripts. They identify and report defects and work with developers to resolve them.
7. Development Team: The development team is responsible for the actual implementation of the software requirements. They work closely with the product owner and software architect to ensure that the requirements are understood and implemented correctly.
8. Stakeholders: Stakeholders, including clients, end-users, and other individuals or groups affected by the software, provide input and feedback on the requirements. They are involved in the requirements gathering process and help to validate that the software meets their needs.

Each of these roles plays a critical part in the planning and execution of software requirements. Clear communication and collaboration among all these roles are crucial for the successful development of software that meets the needs of the business and its customers.

For some Web projects, the software to be used will already be determined. Your customer may already have systems in place for existing sites, and your design team may already have effective favorites for creating sites. In other cases, you may be choosing all the software involved in the site project from scratch. This lesson points out that the three primary groups: 1) business, 2) creative, and 3) technical, may take on different responsibilities in selecting, implementing and using software.

• Who is responsble for selecting Software: You may also find that individuals in other roles have knowledge and experience you can draw on, or your clients may suggest that you involve their employees or third party consultants in the planning for software. There are several roles that are involved in selecting and implementing and using software. On other web design teams, there may be additional roles involved, such as Technical Lead. Web design teams may also involve external consultants who are hired to perform specific software-related tasks such as legacy systems integration. Talk to developers who have used specific applications. In the course of actually using an application, they may have come across problems or useful features that are not highlighted in promotional materials. But keep in mind also that their project may have had different requirements than your own, and that software may have changed since they used it.

In some Web site development projects, the client is heavily involved in selecting and implementing software. For example, in the case of a client with legacy systems, the client will be the primary owner of systems integration. Client roles involved in selecting and implementing software can include:

1. I.T. (Information Technology) Manager, I.T. Director
2. System Architect
3. Database Administrator

Individual team members will almost always have personal preferences for software applications. While you will want to take such recommendations into consideration, it is extremely important to consider how all software will work together, as well as the implications for long-term site maintenance.
Question: Which two of the following team members are typically not involved in software selection?

1. Internet Application Developer,
2. Database Application Developer,
3. Database Administrator,
4. Information Architect,
5. Creative Producer,
6. Internet Project Manager.

Answer: Information Architect and Internet Project Manager. The Creative Producer addresses the software needs of the designers. The first three jobs listed all work closely with the specific software chosen and therefore must be involved.
In the next lesson, you will describe software assessment strategies used when the assessment is handled by a third party.