Set up a team for a GOV.WALES service

A team building a GOV.WALES service needs to have people with the following roles or skills either in the team or available to it:

• product manager
• service owner
• delivery manager
• user researcher
• content designer
• designer
• developer

The skills you need will change throughout the lifecycle of your service.

Your whole team, and in particular your designers, user researchers, content designers and developers, must work together to design, build and iterate a service based on the user needs of the people your service is aimed at.

Product manager

Your product manager works with the delivery team to:

• makes sure your service fits in with your organisation’s priorities
• define what the future goal of the service is (often called the ‘product vision’ in agile project management)
• make sure your service will meet user needs
• make sure your service is accessible to everyone, including disabled people
• prioritise user stories for each work sprint
• comment on technical, content and design solutions
• accept user stories when complete

Find out what a product manager does and their skills on GOV.UK.

Service owner

Your service owner must have the decision-making authority to deliver on all aspects of a project. They also:

• have overall responsibility for developing, operating and continually improving your service
• represent the service during service assessments
• make sure the necessary project and approval processes are followed
• identify and mitigate risks to your project
• encourage the maximum possible take-up of your digital service
• have responsibility for your service’s assisted digital support

Find out what a service owner does and their skills on GOV.UK.

Delivery manager

Your delivery manager is responsible for:

• setting up the agile environment your team needs to build and iterate a user-centred service
• removing obstacles or ‘blockers’ to progress
• helping your service team become better at autonomously organising their own work
• making sure accessibility is factored into each feature or activity the team’s working on

Find out what a delivery manager does and their skills on GOV.UK.

User researcher

Your user researcher helps your team learn about the people who will use your service. This will help you design and build a service that works well for all your users, including disabled people and those who need support.

On your team, they will:

• plan and carry out research using a range of methods
• involve the team in user research to help everyone develop a deep understanding of your users
• create clear findings that help your team continuously improve your service, based on data and evidence

Find out what a user researcher does and their skills on GOV.UK.

Content designer

A content designer is responsible for the content in your service. They contribute to service design by:

• developing content plans and strategies based on user needs
• writing clear, usable and accessible content in plain English
• reviewing content to make sure it’s accurate, relevant, accessible and written in line with GOV.WALES style
• communicating the principles of content design to your service team and others across your organisation
• advocating for users of your service by challenging requests that do not support their needs

Find out what a content designer does and their skills on GOV.UK.

Designer

Designers help your team create user-focused, accessible services and a consistent user experience.

Depending on the type of service you’re building, you may need a team of designers with a range of different skills, for example interaction, content, service or graphic designers. However, in discovery it’s often best to hire an interaction designer as the first member of your team.

Find out more about interaction designers on GOV.UK.

Find out more about service designers on GOV.UK.

Find out more about graphic designers on GOV.UK.

Developer and frontend developer

You need developers on your team to:

• build accessible software with a focus on what users need from your service and how they’ll use it
• advise on the technical feasibility of designs
• write, adapt, maintain and support code
• continually improve the service with new tools and techniques
• solve technical problems

Find out what a developer does and their skills on GOV.UK.

Find out what a frontend developer does and their skills on GOV.UK.

Depending on a service’s size and complexity, your team might also need these roles:

• performance analyst
• technical architect
• DevOps engineer
• business analyst
• quality assurers and testers
• technical writers

Find out more about all Digital, Data and Technology roles on GOV.UK.

If you have any questions about the roles in GOV.WALES service teams, email digital@gov.wales.