You have a great new idea. It’s a Web site or a product or some technology that can become the foundation of other solutions. What kind of team do you need?
Outsourcing removed the interview process from setting up your team. For many start-ups, that change normalized the resource pool as many outsource providers simply assign a team to the project. In reality, there is a big difference between a developer who knows how to build an online Web store versus someone who can make Twitter scale or conceive of Ruby on Rails.
Let us help explain the difference between these types of resources. First, we need a pyramid!
Companies have different levels or terms for engineers. Here’s how I define them:
Web developer — A Web developer is good at creating sophisticated Web sites that have limited back end functionality. His tools of choice are HTML/CSS/Javascript or Flash. He loves walks in the park and open source CMS’s.
Software engineer — Software engineers are comfortable building more complex functionality that includes objects and business logic. Ruby on Rails is the language Du jour for the hip and trendy alternative scene. PHP is the blue collar worker’s hammer. Java is the choice of old school guys who think the country has gone to the dogs.
Software developer — We don’t use objects, we are objects. Pearl Jam is the new Grateful Dead. If you haven’t modified a Unix kernal or developed in native C, then you are a poser!
Software architect — The architect is smarter than most of us, and you should avoid the ones who know it. He spends his weekends looking for quasars or trying to eliminate a contradictory systemic anomaly from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision.
For most of your projects, your team will likely be a collection of software engineers and web developers. The more complex the project, the more you will need developers or possibly a seasoned architect. The pay scale rises with qualifications obviously so we tend to look for one or two smart senior guys and then back fill with a cost effective pool of highly motivated individuals.
We took a look at our some of our projects from last year and charted them against the pyramid.
Understanding the type of project you have will help when selecting your team*:
Website or application – A Web site project in this case is a project that is mostly user interface with either little or standard back end functionality. The site might have e-commerce, user sign-ups and dynamic content. Back end functionality is supported by existing open source tools or by integration with other sites.
Product – Product development generally includes sophisticated back end functionality along with more complex interfaces. The project often is based on some “secret sauce” that is protected IP, under a patent or otherwise considered a market differentiator.
Framework or foundation – Framework or foundation projects are projects that create technology upon which other solutions are created.
We’re product developers and like to produce complete solutions for our clients. Framework projects are fun and challenging though there are simply less of them. Of course, we love a good Web site project as well. It’s just that they tend to be shorter and require more customization work than software engineering.
Next time you start up your a new project, it might help to classify the effort within this pyramid. You can use the classification to define what type of engineers you should be asking for.
* A complete discussion of resources should include specialists and other disciplines including designer, tester, project manager and so forth. I am working on a follow up post to help that aspect of your resource planning.
Posted by bbenedict 
