Role of “bridge person” in software development projects

Abstract

Well-defined requirements articulating user expectations and needs are a key to successful implementation of software development project. However, business process experts often lack experience in requirement definition, are ill-equipped to interact directly with system developers and sometimes are even unable to agree upon common understanding of the expect end-product. To mitigate this issue, projects frequently involve a so called “bridge person” – a team member with an objective to facilitate smooth communication among technical and non-technical individuals. The objective of this paper is to evaluate “bridge person” importance and summarize aspects that impact selection of a right “bridge person” type in particular software development project. The paper summarizes information about the role of “bridge person” and presents the survey of industry’s perception of this role.