Roles & Governance
Purpose
This section defines how projects are led, coordinated and governed at Agile Collective.
It clarifies ownership, decision-making and escalation.
Every project explicitly names who holds each role, or if a role is not required for some reason.
Project governance roles
Project Sponsor
Primary accountability for direction, authority and escalation.
Holds the vision at a high level and supports delivery leads when trade-offs or political challenges arise.
Responsibilities
- Backs Discovery and Definition outputs
- Holds authority on scope trade-offs
- Supports PM and leads in difficult situations
- Acts as escalation point when delivery decisions affect the relationship
May be fulfilled by
- Account Manager
- Senior Tech Lead or designer (where appropriate)
Account Manager
Primary accountability for relationship continuity and long-term value.
Responsibilities
- Maintains the client relationship across and beyond the project
- Supports expectation-setting at key moments
- Works with PM during Definition and Transition
- Identifies opportunities emerging from Delivery
Delivery leadership roles
Project Manager (PM)
Primary accountability for delivery coordination and smooth running.
Responsibilities
- Owns the plan, timeline and budget once Initiation begins
- Coordinates people, dependencies and ceremonies
- Ensures checkpoints are passed deliberately and decisions recorded
- Surfaces risks early and escalates appropriately
- Acts as main operational client contact
- Liaises with finance, resourcing and operations
Explicitly not responsible for
- Designing the delivery approach from scratch
- Owning UX or technical decisions
- Carrying scope or political risk alone
Discovery Lead
Primary accountability for understanding needs and supporting prioritisation.
Often combined with Design or Technical Lead.
Responsibilities
- Leads Discovery activities (research, audits, analytics, workshops)
- Synthesises user needs and organisational aims
- Supports prioritisation and descoping decisions
- Makes trade-offs visible and evidence-based
- Carries learning forward into Design
Design Lead
Primary accountability for solution quality and coherence.
Responsibilities
- Leads UX, visual and content design
- Ensures accessibility and usability standards
- Collaborates with developers to ensure buildability
- Supports testing and iteration
Technical Lead
Primary accountability for technical approach and quality.
Responsibilities
- Advises during Discovery and Definition
- Leads technical decisions during Development
- Ensures performance, security and maintainability
- Supports estimation and technical risk management
Backlog Steward
Primary accountability for backlog clarity and board health.
Responsibilities
- Sets up and maintains the backlog board
- Ensures stories are clear, estimated and prioritised
- Facilitates pre-sprint refinement
- Ensures client review is happening
- Keeps Definition of Done visible
Delivery Team Members
Primary accountability for delivering agreed work.
Includes designers, developers, accessibility specialists, content specialists, QA, marketing/SEO etc.
Responsibilities
- Deliver work within agreed scope and priorities
- Participate in planning and retrospectives
- Raise risks and dependencies early
- Collaborate across disciplines
- Contribute to testing and quality assurance
Operational coordination roles
Projects Coordinator
Supports delivery consistency across projects.
Does not manage delivery.
Responsibilities
- Oversees Initiation phase
- Contract administration
- Resourcing coordination
- Project setup and administration (Harvest etc.)
- Cross-project liaison
- Maintains administrative project data
- Flags inconsistencies or gaps in reporting data
Client-side role
Product Owner (Client)
Primary accountability for decisions and priorities on the client side.
Responsibilities
- Provides access to stakeholders and information
- Makes timely prioritisation decisions
- Accepts or rejects deliverables
- Champions outcomes internally
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