User:Guillom/Roles and responsibilities

The goal of this page is to provide a default list of responsibilities attached to each paid role involved in the development process of products managed by the Wikimedia Foundation engineering team. For many projects, these responsibilities are never explicitly assigned; as a result, it is difficult for everyone to know what falls into their task list. A clear assignment of responsibilities brings accountability and prevents tasks from being duplicated, ignored or forgotten.

Some notes:

• This is still a draft. Edits are welcome. It's a wiki.
• These responsibilities are the default, but they're flexible: they may be swapped for specific products, as long as there's a mutual understanding between the people swapping them, and all the responsibilities are assigned.
• This list will be copied to each product page and names assigned to each role.
• Some responsibilities may be missing; feel free to add them.
• If you disagree with an assignment, feel free to bring it up on the talk page.

Features team

Name	Role	Responsibilities
X	UX researcher	Plan and coordinate all activities related to user research and domain research (if assessing an existing product:) Identify improvements and regressions for users Provide high-level recommendations based on results Communicate and respond to comments on the UX research
X	Product manager	Create the product vision Create product requirements (usually in the form of user stories) and prioritize them Manage the product backlog Coordinate collaboration opportunities with Wikimedia volunteers and third parties Communicate and respond to comments on the product & its requirements Create and publish project reports, public updates on blogs and wiki pages Evaluate the product against the success criteria listed in the product vision
X	UX, IxD & UI designer	Design concrete features & solutions, based on user & domain research, and product requirements Create user interface and workflow designs Communicate and respond to comments on the design
X	Software developer	Manage the sprint backlog with the help of the EPM Create implementation prototypes based on design concepts and requirements Propose software design solutions and obtain consensus from senior and peer tech teams Communicate and respond to comments on software architecture & technical implementation Develop, test, and deploy new features and improvements to the MediaWiki core and to MediaWiki extensions Collaborate in designing and implementing QA processes including multilingual and performance tests Work closely with operations staff to ensure proper integration with testing and production systems Integrate feedback and bug reports from Code review, QA and operations Create developer documentation, including software architecture overview
X	Engineering programs manager	Manage the planning, execution and completion of the project Manage and allocate time, financial and human resources Assign roles and responsibilities Manage and handle risks and opportunities Facilitate relations with external actors (QA, operations, vendors, etc.) Communicate and respond to comments on project management

"External" actors

Name	Team or Department	Responsibilities
X	Strategic product department	Provide problem statement Help create product vision, based on problem statement Provide success criteria (as part of the product vision) Share existing documentation relevant to the problem Provide project, product and environment constraints Assess and report on product success
X	General engineering team	Code review QA Testing
X	Operations team	Help prepare deployment, including performance check Help fix aftermath
X	Communications Team (Global development department)	Provide support for, and review, public-facing communications