Team Roles

At Crispr Coders, squads are arranged based on project needs. Consequently, team members aren’t assigned to work with the same people or in the same role all the time. Instead, they frequently rotate between squads and switch roles.

In addition to their squad role, team members can hold an organizational function that spans several squads. These roles include Engineering Lead, Lead Product Manager, Lead UX/UI Designer, Technical Lead, and Chapter Lead.

To work efficiently within a squad and the organization, it’s crucial to have a clear set of responsibilities for each role.

Squad Roles

Developer

1. Write clean and maintainable code.
2. Provide proper documentation for their code.
3. Develop clean and maintainable tests for their code.
4. Analyze tasks critically. Flag unclear or nonsensical tasks and discuss them with the Team Lead or Product Manager.
5. Understand the overall design of the application under development.
6. Engage actively in technical decision-making processes.
7. Conduct research to resolve issues.
8. Participate actively in code reviews.

Learn more in developer handbook

Team Lead

Team leads at Crispr Coders have a dual set of responsibilities, encompassing both developer duties and additional tasks:

1. Assign user stories to developers.
2. Collaborate in defining user stories.
3. Make final decisions on technical implementation.
4. Lead efforts in conducting code reviews.
5. Merge pull requests.
6. Manage prioritization and planning of user stories in alignment with the delivery schedule set by the Product Manager.
7. Aid the Product Manager in communicating with external stakeholders requiring technical insights.
8. Strategize and assign the role of Release Manager to a team member.

Engineering Lead

Engineering Leads at Crispr Coders are seasoned engineering professionals entrusted with both technical and people management duties:

1. Supervise and mentor Team Leads in making technical decisions and ensuring project delivery.
2. Conduct regular one-on-one meetings and performance evaluations with assigned developers.
3. Engage in the recruitment process to onboard new talent.
4. Foster curiosity and promote ongoing learning within their area of expertise.
5. Facilitate adherence to company engineering processes among developers.
6. Offer insights and reports to the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) regarding project status and developer performance.

Note

Given the nature of its responsibilities, the role of Engineering Lead is both a squad and organizational role. However, it is categorized under squad roles because Engineering Leads play a vital role in the engineering processes within squads.

Product Manager

Product Managers (PMs) at Crispr Coders primarily focus on product vision, planning, and quality control, which includes:

1. Defining and ensuring the schedule of deliverables.
2. Defining milestones and epics.
3. Defining user stories.
4. Establishing acceptance criteria for user stories.
5. Conducting quality control of work delivered by developers. This involves quality checks on the staging/beta environment after code approval by Team Leads and deployment.
6. Managing communication with external stakeholders, which includes clients and third parties.

Project Manager

Project Managers at Crispr Coders play a crucial role in ensuring steady progress and equipping the team with essential resources:

1. Collaborate in defining project schedules and deliverables.
2. Develop realistic estimations for product development at a high level.
3. Formulate detailed and thorough plans to guide complex projects to completion.
4. Advocate for an Agile workflow among stakeholders.
5. Anticipate technical, communication, planning, and execution risks.
6. Proactively identify issues and suggest solutions, plans, and compromises.
7. Ensure the absence of issues, blockers, or bottlenecks that hinder progress.

UX/UI Designer

1. Ensure UX and UI delivery aligns with task requirements.
2. Maintain organization and cleanliness of UX/UI source files, accessible to the entire team.
3. Conduct market, competitor, and user research to inspire solutions and address challenges.
4. Analyze tasks critically, flagging unclear or nonsensical tasks for discussion with the Team Lead or Product Manager.
5. Comprehend the overall purpose of the application under development.
6. Engage actively in design review sessions, offering valuable contributions.

Organizational Roles

Technical Lead

Technical Leads at Crispr Coders, as senior engineering contributors, carry out developer responsibilities with heightened expectations and additional specific duties:

1. Contribute significantly to their project’s success.
2. Provide guidance to teams on optimal practices and solutions for technical challenges.
3. Spearhead efforts to promote, experiment with, and integrate new tools and practices.
4. Develop learning materials and training resources for the team.
5. Lead initiatives to facilitate knowledge sharing among team members.
6. Drive outreach initiatives, such as organizing meetups, participating in conferences, and contributing to open-source software projects.

Lead Product Manager

Lead Product Managers at Crispr Coders, serving as the initial tier of Product Managers with direct managerial responsibilities, maintain the core duties of Product Managers while shouldering additional areas of accountability:

1. Supervise product management.
2. Oversee team members.
3. Foster the growth and development of their direct reports.
4. Handle escalations effectively.
5. Engage in the recruitment process to onboard new talent.
6. Assist the business team in product discovery and evaluation.
7. Advocate for the product processes within the organization.

Lead UX/UI Designer

Lead UX/UI Designers at Crispr Coders operate in dual roles: as individual contributors (IC) and as leaders in people management. They contribute to recruitment, chapter initiatives, and the enhancement of the design team’s capabilities.

1. Design product experiences and interfaces.
2. Establish and oversee creative directions.
3. Assist in the company’s marketing endeavors.
4. Lead and mentor team members.
5. Foster the growth and development of their direct reports.
6. Participate in the recruitment process to bring in new talent.
7. Promote and advocate for the design processes within the organization.

Chapter Lead

Chapter Leads at Crispr Coders are chosen by their peers for a six-month term according to the standard rotation schedule. They play a vital role in uniting and supporting engineering team members who share the same skill or domain knowledge. Their responsibilities include:

1. Facilitating retrospectives to reflect on and improve team performance.
2. Spearheading initiatives to establish and maintain coding conventions.
3. Overseeing the Chapter’s budget to ensure resources are allocated effectively.
4. Coordinating the succession process to ensure a smooth transition when their term ends.