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THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE WORK

Who does what?

Find the person who owns the work, see what they produce, and know what to ask them. Start with the twelve roles in the book, then explore seventeen additional specializations.

People in the book Additional specialists Team compositions Team by stage

Cover the responsibilities. Then agree on the people.

The Client decides the product priorities. Contributors bring designs, working software, and evidence. Someone must own the service after opening. Roles can overlap; an unassigned responsibility still needs an owner.

12 ROLES / ONE CONNECTED PIECE OF WORK

Meet the people in the book.

The Client chooses one useful feature beside an oversized tower of feature boxes.

IN THE BOOK

Client

Chooses the outcome, scope, operating restrictions, and opening decision.

The Senior Administrator compares two booking tickets with one available studio chair.

IN THE BOOK

Senior Administrator

Represents staff work across the studios.

The Project Manager untangles strings connecting tasks and dates.

IN THE BOOK

Project Manager

Connects decisions, dependencies, contributors, and review points.

The Tech Lead replaces a leaning stack of bridges with one simple crossing.

IN THE BOOK

Tech Lead

Owns the technical approach and its connections.

The Analyst unfolds a long list of exceptions from one small note.

IN THE BOOK

Analyst

Turns working cases into explicit rules, scope, states, and criteria.

The Designer draws a clear path through a maze of interface buttons.

IN THE BOOK

Designer

Works on the user flow and interface together.

The Frontend Developer checks a giant waiting spinner and its server connection.

IN THE BOOK

Frontend Developer

Builds working browser behavior and connects it to server results.

The Backend Developer coordinates two requests for one available slot.

IN THE BOOK

Backend Developer

Implements shared booking operations and data changes, payment result handling, and durable pending work.

The Tester finds a beetle behind a green checkmark.

IN THE BOOK

Tester

Turns requirements into reproducible checks, finds differences between expected and actual results, and repeats checks after corrections on the candidate being considered.

The DevOps Engineer prepares a return route beside the release ramp.

IN THE BOOK

DevOps Engineer

Prepares environments, release controls, monitoring routes, and recovery.

The Security Engineer finds an open side entrance beside a locked front door.

IN THE BOOK

Security Engineer

Examines direct requests against role and record permissions, then checks that forbidden operations fail and legitimate work remains possible.

The Technical Consultant joins clock, payment, and booking puzzle pieces to reveal a bug.

IN THE BOOK

Technical Consultant

Reproduces the Rewind build, exposes the missing expiry/payment combination, reviews its correction, and checks critical behavior and operating preparation before a bounded pilot.

BUILD THE TEAM AROUND THE WORK

Three ways the responsibilities can fit together.

A role names a function. A staffing decision names the person, their competence, their available time, and the result they own.

01

A focused browser product

A bounded workflow, a small set of users, and few external connections.

Client and studio representative
Analysis and delivery coordination
Design and browser/server implementation
Testing, release, and operating cover

The Analyst can coordinate delivery; a Designer can cover UX and UI; a Full-Stack Developer can cover browser and server work. Assign testing and operating ownership explicitly.

When to reconsider

Separate a function when its workload, risk, or missing expertise is slowing or weakening the work.

02

A service with consequential integrations

Payments, shared inventory, several staff roles, or work that must survive failures.

Client, Senior Administrator, and Project Manager
Analyst, Designer, and Tech Lead
Frontend and Backend Developers
Tester, DevOps, and Security Engineer

These are functions to cover. The Tech Lead may also implement server work or architecture; the team still needs time and competence for permission checks, payment behavior, and recovery.

When to reconsider

Bring in database or reliability expertise when data changes, recovery, capacity, or operating needs exceed the team's experience.

03

A product with a mobile build

The chosen delivery path needs device capabilities or a distributed mobile app.

Product decisions, analysis, and user research
Design and Mobile Developer
Server and integration work where needed
Device testing, distribution, support, and operation

Keep shared product rules under one owner. Mobile and server contributors agree on messages, offline behavior, and version compatibility.

When to reconsider

A responsive browser product does not itself require a separate Mobile Developer. Choose the delivery path before staffing it.

17 ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATIONS

When the work calls for a closer focus.

These functions can sit inside the roles above or have a dedicated owner. UI design, UI engineering, and frontend development have different outputs even when one person handles them.

The Product Manager prunes feature branches so a useful outcome has room to grow.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

Product Manager

Chooses product outcomes and priorities from user needs and evidence.

The Product Owner puts competing work items into an ordered queue.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

Product Owner

In Scrum, owns effective Product Backlog management and value decisions.

The Business Analyst unfolds exceptions hidden in a straight process.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

Business Analyst

Describes work rules and consequences with the people who perform the work.

The Systems Analyst discovers incompatible connectors between systems.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

Systems Analyst

Specifies system interactions, data, states, and boundary behavior so implementations agree.

The User Researcher watches a participant take a shortcut around a complicated maze.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

User Researcher

Plans interviews and observations, preserves what happened, and distinguishes findings from interpretation.

The UX Designer builds a short usable staircase beside an overcomplicated route.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

UX Designer

Designs the path through a task and checks whether people understand and complete it.

The UI Designer examines a tiny control and sketches a readable button.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

UI Designer

Designs readable hierarchy, controls, content, and visual states.

The UI Engineer assembles reusable components with a keyboard access route.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

UI Engineer

Implements reusable interface components, focus, keyboard behavior, and states; agrees on who connects them to live data.

The Software Architect weighs a simple application against a complicated castle.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

Software Architect

Compares structures and their consequences for data, delivery, and operation.

The Full-Stack Developer connects browser and server workbenches.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

Full-Stack Developer

Implements browser and server work.

The Mobile Developer compares the same interface on different-sized phones.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

Mobile Developer

Implements device and platform behavior and its releases.

The Test Automation Engineer makes a failing test ring a visible alarm.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

Test Automation Engineer

Builds dependable automated checks and test data; preserves useful failures and investigates misleading passes.

The Database Specialist rebuilds a stack of records from a spare set.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

Data and Database Specialist

Designs data storage, queries, migrations, backup, and recovery.

The Site Reliability Engineer chooses one actionable alarm from a tree of bells.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

Site Reliability Engineer

Turns reliability needs into measures, response practices, capacity work, and recovery exercises.

The Support Specialist attaches a reference to a problem and passes it to the next owner.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

Support Specialist

Receives cases, follows authorized procedures, preserves references, and escalates work beyond those procedures.

The Scrum Master removes a tangle and an oversized meeting clock from the work area.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

Scrum Master

Helps a Scrum team use and improve Scrum.

The Product Analyst compares a rising chart with actual user footprints.

ADDITIONAL SPECIALIZATION

Product Analyst

Defines and examines product-use measures with their events, denominators, and observation periods.

Two more distinctions.

Duty engineer is an operating assignment. Someone acknowledges the alert, acts or escalates, and hands the case to the next responsible person. Name that owner and their coverage.

AI is a tool used across these functions. A role prompt focuses the task; it does not supply independent expertise. The Client checks outcomes and brings critical unknowns to a qualified person.