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
Contract Manager
Primary accountability for ensuring all legal and commercial agreements are in place before any project work begins. Acts as the hard gate owner for the Contract phase: Initiation does not begin until this role confirms all contracts are signed and filed. The contract covers commercial and legal terms only. It establishes the terms of working together and offers both parties enough protection to start the project.
Note: The Statement of Work (which covers detailed scope, delivery approach, and timeline) is a separate document owned by the Project Manager from Initiation onwards.
Responsibilities
- Finalises and issues the contract for signature
- Negotiates and agrees commercial and legal terms with the client
- Obtains signatures from all required parties
- Confirms any DPAs or NDAs required and ensures they are signed and filed
- Coordinates with Finance to confirm purchase order or payment terms
- Files all signed documents in the appropriate location
- Hands over all contract information to the Projects Coordinator and Project Manager before Initiation begins
Explicitly out of scope for this role
- The Statement of Work (owned by the PM, created during Initiation)
- Beginning any project infrastructure or resource booking
- Delivery planning or scope decisions
Note: In some cases a contract, because we have an existing agreement that can be extended.
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
Support Point of Contact
A named person who holds knowledge of the project and who represents the interests of the Support and Maintenance Team during the project, if the product will be supported by Agile Collective. The Support Point of Contact is involved at the start of the project to understand the scope of the likely technical requirements that will be supported.
However, they are not necessarily the person who will deliver ongoing support.
Responsibilities
- Maintains awareness of the project's technical context and requirements throughout delivery
- Acts as the point of contact for any support-related questions or discussions during the project
- Ensures that at Transition, when the project is formally handed over to the support function, the right information and context is passed on
Explicitly not responsible for
- Delivering ongoing support
- Delivery decisions during the project
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
Last updated: