Summary

Building a well-balanced and harmonious team is difficult. Therefore, the team should not spend lots of time structuring the team initially. It is something that will organically evolve over the life cycle. Where the team should initially spend time is thinking about how best to advocate for their constituencies and their quality goals. MSF believes this is best accomplished by using a team model with seven advocacy groups:

• Product Management

• Program Management

• Architecture

• Development

• Test

• User Experience

• Release/Operations

The MSF Team Model is structured to couple advocacy groups closely with their respective constituencies. This enables each advocacy group to understand more easily the totality of what they are advocating. To assist in understanding the facets of delivering a solution, the functional areas with their respective responsibilities and key activities are provided for each advocacy group.

The MSF Team Model intertwines a few different teams. It enables a team of advocates who champion different aspects of delivering a solution, namely, defining, designing, building, stabilizing, and deploying a solution. It includes a team of quality champions who each champion a different key aspect of delivering a quality solution. It includes a team of ambassadors who champion their constituencies' needs and manage their expectations. It includes a team of representatives who champion the needs of their corporate department and manage their expectations. Distilling these advocacies into the MSF Team Model enables clear team member accountability while team members share responsibility for the successful delivery of the solution.