Staff/Principal Functional Experts

When a person ascends in their career to the level where they are considered a Staff/Principal Functional Expert, they have a deep understanding of the domain in which they work. While they are proficient in the delivery of software products, they can provide much higher leverage by guiding and coaching others in their area of expertise.

Enabling Team members are responsible for streamlining the work of Stream Teams by defining what good looks like in terms of skills, processes and tools and helping to upskill the Stream Teams to meet these standards.

In addition, given the technical proficiency that the Staff/Principal functional experts possess they are a valued partner of the Product Team in the development of the functional principles and the product strategy.

Key Responsibilities

1. Aligning with the Ecosystem: Creating annual plans and setting quarterly objectives in partnership with the ecosystem team to ensure that work is aligned with the overall strategy.
2. Defining Skill Expectations: Defining what good looks like in terms of the skills that are expected of functionally aligned individual contributors in Stream Teams.
3. Identifying Skill Gaps: Identifying the skill gaps in the Stream Teams and working with the team members to address them.
4. Creating Learning Paths: Creating training curricula, courses and running workshops to help the Stream Teams upskill.
5. Promoting Knowledge Sharing: Designing and running communities of practice that help to share knowledge and best practices across the Stream Teams.
6. Defining Good Practice: Creating and maintaining good practice guidelines, playbooks and templates that help to guide the Stream Teams in their work.
7. Promoting Good Practices: Creating a centralised repository of good practice guidelines, playbooks and templates that are easily accessible to the Stream Teams, and promoting the use of these resources.
8. Seeding Internal Products: As internal playbooks mature, converting these playbooks into real products with the necessary resources enables them to provide greater value to the Stream Teams and the wider ecosystem.
9. Assessing Tools: Assessing the tools that are used by the Stream Teams and making recommendations on which tools to use.

Artifacts

1. Capability Assessments: Dedicated capability assessments for each functional area, including research, design, development and general process concepts, which help to identify the skill gaps in the Stream Teams.
2. Good Practice Guidelines: A set of guidelines that define what good looks like in terms of the skills, processes and tools that are expected of functionally aligned individual contributors in Stream Teams.
3. Good Practice Playbooks: Comprehensive guides that standardise good practices across software products, providing detailed procedures, techniques and tips for successful outcomes.
4. Templates: Templates for common artifacts that are produced by the Stream Teams as outlined in the playbooks.
5. Repository Database: A structured collection of digital assets used in software development, including guidelines, playbooks and templates, acting as a centralised hub for storing and managing critical documents and resources.
6. Tool Recommendations: Recommendations on which tools to use for the various functions in the Stream Teams.