Project Team Role Descriptions
This book covers the responsibilities of Blueprint Tech Leads (TL), Product Managers (PM), Designers and Developers.
Technical Lead (TL)
As the role implies, you will be the primary leader for your project, and the Executive Team will be here to support you with anything you might need! Your responsibilities include:
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Project Scoping: Meet with the non-profit organization to understand their project needs and determine the appropriate tech stack, given their requirements and your team’s abilities. The VP Projects and your Product Manager will be available to support you throughout this stage. You will also be expected to meet consistently with the NPO to ensure that you are meeting their requirements.
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Project Planning: The goal is to implement an Agile (Scrum) project methodology that emphasizes iterative development, frequent communication, and team collaboration to deliver high-quality products. Setting bi-weekly goals for your developers and dividing features into manageable tasks will help enable consistent progress.
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Building Team Culture: Blueprint and its teams should be seen as more than just a “job”. While the work may be challenging, we want this to be an enjoyable experience for all of those involved. The Exec Team will host GBMs and events throughout the semester to help build the culture within Blueprint as a whole. While most of your team’s work may be done asynchronously, implementing practices such as pair programming, or hosting live in-person work sessions can prevent your team from feeling isolated.
More detail and specific resources will be added to this page!
Product Manager (PM)
As a Product Manager, your responsibilities include:
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NPO Communication: You will be your team's primary channel of communication with the assigned non-profit organization (NPO). You are responsible for ensuring that your team is meeting the NPO’s specifications. One important tip is to consider guiding the discussion from the target user’s perspective.
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Project Planning: The goal is to implement an Agile (Scrum) project methodology. Alongside your Technical Lead, you will assist in the bi-weekly/monthly planning to ensure that your team meets your goals.
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Building Team Culture: As much as this is an opportunity to develop something tangible, it is also an opportunity to be part of a community where we can learn from each other! At the end of the day, your team members are students, and we want everyone’s experience to be rewarding and fun. While most of your team’s work may be done asynchronously, implementing practices such as pair programming, or hosting live in-person work sessions can prevent your team from feeling isolated.
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(Optional) Developing: The product manager is a leadership role, so the aforementioned responsibilities would be expected, however you are more than welcome to assist in the developing to help build your own skill set and be more informed about the project.
In progress: More detail & resources coming soon!
Designer
The designer plays a crucial role in the project and is responsible for guiding the frontend layout of the project. As a designer, your responsibilities include:
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Wireframes and Styling Guides: You will create wireframes (mock-up layouts of the application requested) and decide styling using any method you’re comfortable with. Keep in mind, you will be working closely with the Product Manager to ensure your designs fall under the NPO’s interests/branding, but we still encourage you to be creative with it!
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Content: You will confirm all the content being displayed on the website with the NPO. (The NPO should handle the bulk of this.) This could range from text, images, and additional graphics.
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(Optional) Developing: As a Designer your main responsibilities are what are outlined above. Nonetheless, you are more than welcome to assist in the development to help build your own skill set and be more informed about the project!
In progress: More detail & resources coming soon!
Developer
Developers constitute the backbone of every project team. As a developer, your responsibilities include:
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Implementing Features: The specific technical skills you need will be dependent on your project specs, but as we are expecting to build web-based applications, general frontend and backend skills are necessary. Though projects will come with their unique learning curves, your team is balanced with diverse skills, and your Technical Lead will try their best to ensure you are working on something that you are both comfortable and interested in!
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Practicing Agile Methodology: Agile is a project management methodology that emphasizes iterative development, frequent communication, and team collaboration to deliver high-quality products. This is used amongst many tech companies, but no worries if you are unfamiliar with it: we’ll be teaching and practicing this with our projects!
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Documentation: Not only is it important for yourself and your team to understand the components of your project, but your documentation will be key in the hand-off process to the NPOs.
In progress: More detail & resources coming soon!