Delivery Team

This is a joint effort. Convivio don’t parachute into projects, do their magic then leave, like the Milk Tray Man. The best results are those delivered by a joint Convivio-client team.

Understanding the role of the team

The ideal team is made up of experience, skills and authority.

• Experience - provides us with deep, wide-ranging knowledge that we use to understand what needs to be done, the longer term effect of our decisions

• Skills - provides us with the tools that enable us to deliver great products

• Authority - clears the path of obstructions and allows “the team” to make decisions in the best interest of the business and its users

Roles

Product Owner

The Product Owner (PO) is essential to the success of a project. They represent the client’s business, its needs and they own the project. There is a huge difference between a Product Owner and a good Product Owner.

A good PO understands their business, its objectives, what it needs to achieve and they have the authority to make decisions throughout the life of the change cycle. A good PO dedicates the necessary time to collaborate with the team, to participate in all of the the daily standups, review and planning meetings, or they provide a suitable assistant who can stand in for them.

The PO’s role in the project is to:

• define the requirements

• define the priorities

• provide the interface between the business and the delivery team

• make important decisions

• provide detailed support to the delivery team

Service Delivery Director

For long term projects or change programmes it’s important to have someone outside of the project provide a high-level bridge between the delivery team and the business.

The Service Delivery Director (SDD) has experience of change and strategy to keep the client ahead of the change programme, to plan further ahead, to identify opportunities and to discuss these with stakeholders. Discussing these ahead of time keeps the business one step ahead, providing stakeholders with the information to make informed decisions about steering the business and aligning the different departments.

On a different level, in support of the delivery team, the SDD will also provide coaching and support to the Product Owner and the Delivery Team. Being less connected to the day-to-day activities, they can view the work from a different perspective, offer alternative solutions and provide different thinking that can question the decisions being made. This is not intended to contradict the team, only to confirm their thinking and decisions.

Service Delivery Manager

The Service Delivery Manager (SDM) is the conductor in the change orchestra. Their job is to:

• support the Product Owner

• support the Delivery Team

• lead meetings

• keep the delivery on track

• produce the management reports

• present progress to the steering group

• facilitate communication within the delivery team

• communicate progress and plans to the wider business

The SDM is not a project manager, they’re more akin to a coach. The SDM provides the support to the delivery team to keep the delivery running smooth while supporting the Product Owner to keep them ahead of what’s being delivered now so they can plan and prepare in advance.

Lead Developer

The Lead Developer is a senior role within the team. They are not the team leader but they are looked up to by other members of the delivery team because of their experience, skills, their ability to dissect a problem and their understanding of how an approach to a requirement will affect the wider solution.

The key aspects of this role are:

• define the overall architecture

• be able to make technical decisions for the team

• support and coach other members of the delivery team

• build client trust through confidence and knowledge

Ultimately, the Lead Developer is the person who will make, and stand by, the technical decisions for the team.

UX Designer

Whatever the project or change programme, the ultimate goal is to provide or make things better for the user. The job of the Lead UX Designer is to align the form and the function of what the delivery team develop with the needs of the user.

To protect the acceptability and longevity of what we’re pouring money, effort and time into it’s the UX Designer’s job to:

• speak to users, to find out what they need

• monitor the interaction of users as they get hands-on with what we’re building

• compile user research into digestible information for the delivery team

• create and facilitate design concepts that provide direction for delivery

Developer

Our developers are those who build the things our users use. They have the magic to turn the requirements into real, working software. Our developers are not just code monkeys though, far from it.

The developers in the delivery team listen to the PO as they describe what they need us to deliver for the business and its users. The developers then develop a platform on which the current version and future versions can be built.

Key aspects of any developer are:

• to think about longevity, security, adaptability, flexibility and usability of what’s being built

• to support other members of the delivery team

• to highlight risks and opportunities as they arise

• to challenge the thinking of others so that choices are fully thought out

Designer

The designer is part of the delivery team and their work is delivered as part of each sprint, rather than the traditional approach of beginning the work with a design phase. Our designers work with you, the users and the UX designers to deliver a graphical interface that suits the functionality, the users and the brand.

Key aspects of the designer role are:

• Interface - the graphical design of the interface that’s presented to the user

• Branding - integrating the brand guidelines into the design

• Communication - clearly explaining the reasoning behind design decisions

These are the key roles that make up the delivery team. Depending on the requirements that we're working to the makeup of the team might change. It might be necessary to increase the number of people within each of the roles or to introduce specialist skills. Whatever is required, the individuals will work as a team, developing and delivering as a team.