Job Description

Definition

A job description is a management work product that documents the roles and responsibilities of a single job title.

Objectives

The typical objectives of a job description are to document the:

• Roles to be played by a person having the associated job title.
• Responsibilities of a person having the associated job title.
• Required expertise or training of a person having the associated job title.

Benefits

The typical benefits of a job description include:

• Simplifies the communication between project staff and human resources during hiring and endeavor staffing.
• Clarifies a person's roles and responsibilities.

Contents

A job description typically has the following contents:

• Title
• Definition
• Roles
• Responsibilities
• Required Expertise and Training
• Appendices:
  • Major Issues
  • TBDs
  • Assumptions

Stakeholders

A job description typically has the following stakeholders:

• Producers:
  • Process Team
• Evaluators:
  • Program Manager or Project Manager
  • Technical Leader
• Approvers:
  • Program Manager or Project Manager
  • Technical Leader
• Maintainers:
  • Process Team
• Users:
  • Program Management Team or Project Management Team
  • Project Team
  • Process Team

Phases

A job description is typically produced and maintained during the following phases:

• Business Strategy: Completed
• Business Optimization: Maintained
• Initiation: Completed
• Construction: Maintained
• Delivery: Maintained
• Usage: Maintained or Archived
• Retirement: Archived

Preconditions

A job description can typically be started if the following preconditions hold:

• The endeavor has been started.
• The process team has been staffed and adequately trained in the production of job descriptions.
• An initial version of the process description document containing the endeavor-specific role definitions exists.

Inputs

A job description typically has the following inputs:

• Work Products:
  • Process Description Document
• Stakeholders:
  • Process Engineer

Guidelines

• Job titles and roles are related, but different, concepts.
• Job titles (and thus their descriptions) relate to a person's level in the development organization, seniority, and pay grade.
• Job titles typically capture one or more related roles. For example, the title
• Use the procedure in the associated work flow to produce this work product.
• If you tailor this work product, then tailor its associated standard, template, and inspection checklist.
• Use the procedure in the associated work flow to produce this work product.
• If you tailor this work product, then tailor its associated standard, template, and inspection checklist.

Conventions

Job descriptions are typically constrained by the following conventions:

• Work Flow
• Content and Format Standard
• MS Word Template
• XML Template
• Inspection Checklist

Examples

• Example Job Description