I did some research on for the job description “Software Delivery Manager” and from the top hits in google, some very clear themes came out for this type of role. I’ve ranked the attributes in what I think are order of importance:
- Responsibility for customer happiness.
- Able to translate customer requirements into features and potentially roadmaps for products.
- Excellent project management skills.
- Technical knowledge.
- Excellent people management skills.
- Budget aware, business aware.
- Managing client relationships.
So, I’d say that’s a pretty wide range of experience. As a Software Delivery Manager you need to be good at a lot of stuff, and to work really hard. You need to fill in the gaps, you need make things happen.
My question is: is it fair to ask one person to shoulder all this responsibility? And furthermore shouldn’t the organisation itself work better as a whole to deliver software? Does this role only exist in enterprises where the delivery process is already broken?