Website Development Team Structure Every Startup Should Know About

As practice shows, programming alone isn't enough to make a website work for you. That's why many stakeholders pay great attention to design and marketing. Respectively, your web development team should fit the project's objectives and consist of specialists with diverse skills and knowledge.

While some companies provide it's customers with the full circle of specialists they may need for the project, others do not. That's especially true for young and narrowly focused firms.

So, every custom web development company may have it's own spectrum of services and the team structure in software development can vary. Let’s consider the core web development team roles, required skills and talents, that will make together a strong base for a good team.

The main task of this specialist is to take your vision of the project, analyze it, and translate into comprehensive technical specifications. In turn, these specifications will be used by the web development team to set time frames and get ready for the project.

Whether you're going to create a SaaS application for retail operations or marketing project software for digital agencies, the first question an analyst will ask you is, “What goals do you want to accomplish with your product? First of all, the requirements analyst needs to define your business needs.

However, the web development team won’t be able to create an actual product based on raw requirements. A business analyst needs to transform this information into a clear project specification that the team can guide. Shortly, an analyst details what each part of the web app must accomplish, what each feature is responsible for, what buttons should be clicked to perform a specific action, etc.

In other words, the business analyst prepares ground for the product development.

In a web development team, project managers are like the conductor of your web development team orchestra. Their main task is to organise, coordinate, and monitor the stages of workflow: from planning to assigning the tasks to each team member. Usually, the PM sticks to agile methodology in web engineering due to the changing nature of web projects. The first thing they do is getting acquainted with technical specifications and the due date. Based on this information, the project plan is drawn up and divided into stages also known as sprints (set functionality for a set period of time).

Once the client has approved the plan, the project manager creates a new project using one of the project management platforms and starts making the project tasks. Jira, Trello, Basecamp, ClickUp, and Wrike — are the most popular platforms for managing a web development team in 2023.

Then, the project manager monitors the whole product development process to ensure each sprint will be ended on time. When the sprint comes to it's end, the project manager showcases you the product demo to get your feedback and approval to continue. If you dissatisfied with anything, he/she asks web development team to fix that issue.

Besides, the project manager keeps in touch with you all the time. So, if you have a question or want to make some changes to the project — that's the person you should address to.

Designers and developers work with information architecture and need multiple tools and resources on different stages of the project development, which require in-depth knowledge for the proper operation.

Solution architects systematize the shape and the content of the project. And they are actively involved in the early stages of the project. Their core task is to create site architecture diagrams that interpret the overall site planning to both the clients and the web developer team. The architects work closely with the project designers.

Coupled with project designers, the solution architects make page wireframes to present how the pages will be used and how the website’s architecture and page content are intertwined. They analyze users’ preferences to make it easy for them to find relevant content on the website.

Solution architects should provide both clients and developers with appropriate charts and diagrams to enable them to understand the website’s structure. These visual imitations are especially crucial for back-end developers.

The design is a milestone which sets the direction for the whole project. You will encounter at least two of it's numerous types — user interface and user experience design. As a rule, web development teams comprise one designer who takes over both these roles.

At first, a UI/UX designer analyzes the project requirements along with it's target audience to see the complete picture. Such approach lets him/her identify the difficulties users are faced with and effectively solve them through design. With this in mind, the designer creates a wireframe which is a schematic placement of elements on the website.

In some cases, the designer resorts to user stories which help to stay focused and keep in mind the project's objectives all the time. Put simply, a user story describes what a user expects to accomplish by using one or another digital product. Such stories are written using Gherkin language and it takes a lot of them to cover different use cases.

That's where the user experience design part ends up and the designer can jump to the interface design.

While UX is all about research and structure, UI stands for visual appearance. Color schemes, fonts, icons etc. In other words, the designer creates a prototype (final look of your website) based on the UX stage and tests it's usability. The prototype can be interactive or static.

Apart from the specialists mentioned above, you may also require a graphic and motion designer in your web development team. These specialists work on the visual concept of the project (custom illustrations, fonts, logos) and take care of animations.

The most commonly used designers tools in 2023 are:

• Sketch
• InVision
• Illustrator
• Sympli
• Zeplin

Programmers play a crucial role in the web development team. They turn your ready-made design into a working product that can be used by anyone on the internet.

Hiring web developers, keep in mind the division of their roles and responsibilities:

In teams providing web application development services, these parts can be divided between two dedicated developers or performed by one specialist:

For instance, Cleveroad's web development company team consists of both full-stack developers and dedicated specialists working with a wide spectrum of technologies. Our main tech stack is as follows:

• JavaScript
• Angular
• Node.js
• Express
• .NET

QA or a Quality Assurance engineer is another important website development team member. He/she protects your product from bugs invasion and keeps an eye on it's interface.

The process of testing starts with requirements analysis. Based on them, QA engineers draw up a testing plan. After the development has started, developers send each version of the product to QA engineers. In turn, they check whether it corresponds to technical requirements and specific demands of a customer (if any) by using automated and manual testing methods.

When bugs are found, QA engineers draw up a bug report, and send it to developers who take care of those bugs. Then follows a checkback that's intended to make sure the problem was completely solved. QA engineers work on a project up to it's release and sometimes even longer.

It's worth mentioning that testers also deal with the interface. They check size, fonts, colors and other elements for compliance with the requirements. QA engineers can also report designers if they find a usability issue and suggest them a solution.

Without DevOps engineers, it won’t be possible for the whole web development team to find a consensus in any process. Such specialists often appear to be a bridge between all departments facilitating effective collaboration and simplifying access to each other’s project-related insights.

However, the main role of DevOps is implementing and maintaining automated processes for smooth builds, tests, and deployments of software, helping to ensure swift and reliable delivery of further software updates. By incorporating Infrastructure automation techniques, DevOps’ expertise helps to simplify developers' routes for reaching particular technical and functionality goals. Their knowledge also opens a wide range of options and allows choosing an ideal alternative approach.

Nevertheless, these specialists carefully track the performance of applications and systems. By implementing multiple monitoring tools and alerting systems, it is possible to determine software weak spots or particular issues.

You've got the web development team! However, note that an IT-company can have other roles as a part of digital team: account manager, team lead, customer success manager, SEO experts, marketing strategist, etc.

The team is gathered and ready to get to work. However, web development team management may appear quite challenging, especially if you work with remote team. In order to avoid various misunderstandings, here are several tips to make the process go smoother.

Before diving into multi-layered web development processes, it is crucial to settle a project's core concept and your expectations clearly. Question yourself about the problem your software is supposed to solve, its overall value, and the main purpose of it. Don’t forget about the technical side of development: Determine what tools to use to implement the expected functionality.

Remember, the more vividly you deliver the idea to tech performers, the more significantly you’ll be capable of avoiding delays, budget overruns, and other project issues.

No business will refuse to obtain a quality, usable solution. That’s why it is vital to cooperate with skilled specialists with hands-on experience in your business domain. This approach can also save you time and money, as it would be unnecessary to remake poorly developed functionality and will make the project’s structure look clearer from the start.

Another way to improve your project’s lifetime is to establish clear communication patterns for both you and your team members. Decide which communication channels are the most convenient for both sides, as this aspect may define the workflow and the mutual understanding of the set tasks. The most popular communication channels within a web team are Slack, Chanty, Fleep, Ryver, etc.

Sure enough, it’s widely common to expect fast solution delivery, without compromising on quality and technical advancement. However, unexpected circumstances may get into the game as in any multi-task route and change the direction of your planning.

That’s why predictive analytics elements must be implemented into the web development process. At least it helps to determine possible risks and niche-specific challenges that you may experience on your way. Incorporating predictive analytics practices helps to take actions pointed at minimizing such pitfalls to make the process go smoother.

Constant meetings clarify how exactly things are going with the workflow. There you can discuss key moments and track the completion of certain tasks. Besides, regular group calls with your team strengthen your relationships and may be useful for establishing trust and mutual understanding of primary goals.

Project monitoring and accountability will help you understand the overall project status. Incorporating such tools aims to ensure that everything is going according to the project plan determining preventing For instance, Jira, Trello, or Wrike are good examples of project management assistance tools. Nevertheless, the data from such tools can then be used to form and analyze KPIs (key performance indicators) that show how well you are moving towards set goals.

Note that approach to team management also depends on the type of cooperation model you choose:

Freelance

Freelance implies cooperating with self-employed specialists with the necessary expertise you require. Usually, companies don’t hire freelancers on a long-term basis, as their expertise scope is pointed to certain task completion.

Freelancers often set their personal rates and have the flexibility to work from anywhere. Such a way of cooperation became popular as the market embraced this option offering multiple services that connect freelancers with their clients and visa versa.

However, such an approach has a significant flaw, as you can’t predict how conscientious the chosen expert would be. Sometimes you may face a lack of organization that is inherent for freelancers.

In-house team

Cooperation with an in-house team may be a great option if you’re currently working on multiple projects but still want to track the entiredevelopment process. When working with the team under the same roof, you won’t experience communication issues as it implies face-to-face interaction. Also, you can completely focus on a company’s and project needs and won’t worry about cultural fit.

But keep in mind that cooperation with an in-house web development team obtains higher development costs, as it’s associated with additional expenses, such as taxes, renting fee, software, and hardware costs, etc. Also, such an approach narrows the range of specialists' expertise since your choice is limited by business location.

Dedicated team model

This model is a form of outsourcing that basically implies delegating the whole development process to an outsourced team. The team exclusively works on your project and usually signs contracts on a long-term basis. The model offers a wide range of unique skills, additional expertise, certain flexibility, and a great, streamlined resource allocation approach, allowing you to reach project goals much cheaper and faster.

Staff augmentation model

The staff augmentation model implies hiring separate tech specialists to join your team or project. The experts become a part of your internal processes. In this case, you are responsible for project management and its tracking. Otherwise, you have to hire a project manager.

Staff augmentation service enables you to fill the talent gaps by hiring new specialists with unique skills to be a part of your in-house team. Incorporating such patterns enables you to quickly scale the workforce and access unique expertise without long-term contracts.

If you decide to build a website or web app , it’s vital to cooperate with an experienced web development company. For example, at Cleveroad, we assemble a web development team according to the project’s requirements. We have 11+ years of experience providing full-cycle web development services in various business domains, including Healthcare, Fintech, Logistics, Education, Retail, Media, etc.

Our team can help you deliver highly scalable and modernized web solutions (Angular and MySQL) that naturally integrate into your business processes.

We also offer different cooperation models for you to choose from based on your requirements, budget constraints , and overall preferences:

• Dedicated team model. This approach allows you to hire a remote team or particular experts on a long-term basis. Here you pay for 8 working hours multiplied by the specialist hourly rate.
• Staff augmentation model. you obtain an ability to widen the skills and capabilities of your in-house team by hiring specialists for a particular project or work scope. You pay for 8 working hours multiplied by the hourly rate.
• Time & Material model. This model implies that you pay only for the time and resources used in the web development flow. Accordingly, the payment process is ruled by these two factors.

To illustrate our expertise in web development, we want to share with you the example of the successfully delivered web project.

Recently we’ve worked with a medical device consulting firm in the USA. The company provided its clients with services via a legacy Quality Management System (QMS) and wanted to replace its correct solution and build a new web-based QMS to cover all the company’s clients' documentation flow and processes. The client chose Cleveroad as an experienced web development company to jump-start a project with.

We provided our customer with end-to-end services, including web development and created flexible and responsive web-based QMS within the B2B SaaS business model. The system architecture was designed to ensure compatibility with necessary requirements, including compliance with FDA 21 CFR 820, 21 CFR 11, ISO 13485:2016 rules.

As a result, the client received a new SaaS-based QMS system abandoning the obsolete solution.Thanks to a responsive web app, users can access the system with widescreens and mobile devices. By reducing overhead costs (thanks to SaaS usage), the client managed to reach the desired market competitiveness and obtain a wider target audience. Currently, the company’s clients use the system, giving positive feedback about its convenience, flexibility, and functionality

Here's an opinion of our client on cooperation with us on web-based QMS development: