Staffing Issues for Web Design/Development
"Who builds the site is sometimes as important as what the site is!"
-Owners of a failed site
Staffing the development, production, and maintenance of a web site is critical. Documenting the process establishes a lifeline in the staff.
Critical web development staff positions/roles (note that some roles/positions may be combined or are not needed depending on the nature of the Web project):
Title(s) |
Responsibility |
Level of Involvement |
| Site Owner; the Boss | Underwrites the design,
development, and maintenance of the site; typically requires return on
investment (profit or satisfied need).
|
Lifetime; typically has other corporate responsibilities. |
| Webmaster (Web Manager, Online Manager) | In charge of the site; responsible
for day-to-day activities; long term planning; usually has say in staffing,
schedule, and development issues.
|
Lifetime; some Webmasters may have responsibility for multiple related sites. |
| Business manager Accounting, business development managers |
Tracks costs, resource management. May also be the Webmaster.
|
Intermittent, may be a shared responsibility across a number of projects. |
| Marketing team/manager | Manages/does collateral marketing;
responsible for customer site awareness.
|
Has some involvement in early planning and design, critical full-time role when site is released |
| Content manager Site Planner |
Plans, obtains and utilizes site
content; may also develop storyboards, layouts, and other site design
collateral.
|
Full time in early phases, may be spread across a number of projects and site takes off. |
| Domain expert | Thoroughly understands the
product, customer, problem; may be more than one individual.
|
Critical in early phases. |
| QA manager | Responsible for monitoring the
process and effectiveness of the design and development team.
|
Intermittent, may be involved in multiple sites, and other organizational functions. |
| Configuration manager May be collateral function of Content Manager |
Develops procedures for tracking
source materials and site content (files, graphics, software, etc.).
|
Early role to establish content management is critical |
| Systems architect | Key advisor/designer on the
hardware and software required for the web site.
|
Early in the development, as needed to upgrade or improve the system. |
| Network manager | Obtains and manages
telecommunications, networks, and computers for the web site.
|
Critical in setup, key intermittent role over lifetime of project. |
| Network technician(s) Typically enough personnel to provide 24X7 coverage.
|
Day-today computer and network
operations (24X7) role.
|
Absolutely critical for
full-time operation of the site. Typically will have other corporate/system responsibilities.
|
| Graphic Artist Visual Designer
|
Designs graphics, prepares images
(e.g., digital photos), and other imagery of the web site.
|
Heavy involvement during design
and development; on-going role during maintenance. May have multiple projects.
|
| A/V Producer A/V technician
|
Produces audio and video content for web deployment. | This role depends on web site need. |
| Programmer (server) Applications programmer; Database manager
|
Design, development and maintenance of server-side applications and databases; | Critical in design and development; ongoing role in maintenance for upgrades. |
| Programmer (browser)
|
Design, development and
maintenance of client/browser applications (e.g., JavaScript).
|
Critical in design and development; ongoing role in maintenance for upgrades. |
| HTML author | Design, development and
maintenance of content in the web site; typically proficient in tools like
Dreamweaver and FrontPage.
|
On-going role in maintaining
the site. Multiple authors may work in early stages and work on multiple projects as maintainers.
|
| Editor | Monitors work done by authors to
check for consistency and style, may have managerial responsibility.
|
On-going role in maintaining
the site. Editors may be responsible for multiple sites under a maintenance operation.
|
| Lawyers | Monitors issues relating to
copyright, trademark, privacy, consumer laws.
|
Intermittent to support site development and management. |
| The Client/End User | The audience people on the receiving end of everything. | Hopefully for the lifetime of
the site -- without them, you have no reason to build a website!
|
Critical issues:
 | What is in-house v. contracted out? Size and budget of organization will typically determine this balance. |
| What is the level of expertise and experience for each position? Experience is critical, but can be costly. |
| When site is delivered -- who remains to maintain it? Too often, teams are decimated following "site delivery" which hampers long term maintenance and site growth. |