Dedicated Team (T&M)
A dedicated team model for fast iteration and ongoing delivery. Backlog-driven execution, transparent reporting, Definition of Done, and disciplined change management.
Overview
Dedicated Team (T&M) provides a stable delivery team while allowing scope to evolve based on priorities. It's ideal for product development, iterative rollouts, and long-term enhancements.
Best fit
- ✓Requirements are not fully stable yet
- ✓You need fast validation before committing to a full build
- ✓Technical feasibility is uncertain (integrations, data, performance, AI/OCR, etc.)
- ✓You want a clear Phase 2 roadmap and budget range
Not the best fit
- →Scope and acceptance criteria are fixed → Fixed Scope Delivery
- →You need continuous feature delivery over time → Dedicated Team (T&M)
- →You primarily need production support and SLAs → Maintenance & SLA
Advantages
- +Flexibility: Strong adaptation to scope changes (adjusted via backlog)
- +Speed: Fast contract renewal and team scaling
- +Continuous improvement: Unified operations, improvements, and additional development
- +Cost optimization: Assign only needed roles for required duration
Disadvantages (Caution points)
- −Without clear definition of 'what and how far,' outcomes can become vague
- −Slow decision-making increases wait time and reduces productivity
- −Lack of governance causes quality and schedule fluctuations
Basic Principles (How it works)
- →Backlog (priority list) as the base, executed in sprints
- →Weekly meetings + minutes to fix decisions and eliminate ambiguity
- →Risk log / issue management to visualize delay factors
- →Quality gates (review, test points, DoD) defined upfront
Roles & Responsibilities (RACI Concept)
Client Side (Recommended)
- • Product Owner (Priority decision-maker)
- • Business Lead (Requirements alignment, operational decisions)
- • Acceptance Lead (UAT/Sign-off)
ARIS Side
- • PM/BrSE: Progress management, issue clarification, consensus building, risk management
- • Tech Lead: Design governance, review, technical decisions
- • Dev: Implementation, unit testing, fixes
- • QA: Test design, regression, quality visualization
※ Lab fails if 'Decision Owner' is unclear. We define this explicitly upfront.
Deliverables
Lab model emphasizes operational outcomes over fixed deliverables. Standard deliverables include:
- •Backlog (priority, estimates, status: started/completed)
- •Lightweight specifications (user stories / screen & IF notes / change points)
- •Weekly reports (progress, next week plan, issues, risks)
- •Release notes (changes / impact / procedures)
- •Test evidence (test points, results, regression status)
- •Operations documentation (Runbooks as needed)
Quality & Change Management (Common Lab pitfalls)
Change Management (CR Operations)
- →Changes incorporated into 'Backlog,' showing priority and impact (effort/risk)
- →Prohibit ad-hoc additions; make outcomes visible
Quality Control (DoD)
- →Definition of Done (DoD): Reviewed, tested, log/exception handling, documentation updated, etc.
- →Regression test policy: Automate critical functions in stages (if possible)
Common Failure Patterns & Countermeasures (ARIS Proposal)
Failure 1: No backlog / priorities flip constantly
→ Team repeats 'start → pause,' velocity drops
✓ Countermeasures:
- •Standardize backlog operations (priority, acceptance criteria, DoD)
- •Fix priorities weekly (schedule decision meetings)
Failure 2: Verbal spec changes, effort evaporates
→ Additional work increases, progress invisible
✓ Countermeasures:
- •Mandate CR (change management) even if simplified (impact: effort/deadline/risk)
- •Keep minutes + decisions + change history
Failure 3: No quality agreement, many reworks
→ Test phase collapses, deadlines extend
✓ Countermeasures:
- •Agree on quality gates (review/test policy/acceptance criteria) upfront
- •Visualize KPIs (bug leakage rate, recurrence rate, lead time) in monthly reports
Failure 4: Velocity not measured, planning impossible
→ Unknown timeline / cannot explain
✓ Countermeasures:
- •Record completion volume per sprint (velocity)
- •Improve forecast accuracy in 2–3 sprints
- •Report 'achieved/next month plan/risks' monthly in fixed format
Failure 5: Weak Japanese-side contact, communication breakdown
→ Misalignment, indecision, crisis
✓ Countermeasures:
- •Place Japanese-speaking contact/PM (or BrSE)
- •Standard: weekly meetings + minutes + risk log operations
Failure 6: Build without considering operations/maintenance, problems later
→ Cannot trace root causes during incidents / knowledge silos
✓ Countermeasures:
- •Design logging policy and minimal monitoring early
- •Start with minimal Runbook, grow monthly
- •Establish release procedures and rollback policy
Reference Packages (4 Types)
Lab development operation models (typical examples)
Type A: Development Lab (New/Additional development focus)
- •2-week or 4-week sprint for dev/demo/release
- •Backlog-driven continuous improvement
Type B: Maintenance + Improvement Lab (Operations & minor fixes combined)
- •L1–L3 + minor fixes handled by same team
- •End-to-end: incident response → prevention → improvement proposals
Type C: Upstream-involved Lab (Heavy requirements / many stakeholders)
- •Thicker PM/BA for requirements organization and design review
- •Strengthen CR operations to support consensus building
Type D: QA-led Lab (For SaaS / continuous releases)
- •Continuous test design, automation, regression testing
- •Structure to maintain 'non-stop' release quality
Standard Governance (Minimum essentials)
- ✓ Weekly meetings (30–60 min) + minutes
- ✓ Backlog management (Jira, etc.) + priority confirmation
- ✓ Risk/issue log (Owner/deadline/status)
- ✓ Change management (CR)
- ✓ Monthly report (progress/quality/KPI/next month plan)
| Package | MM/month est. | Team structure example | Suitable for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mini Lab | 1 MM | Comtor + Dev 1 | Small fixes / continuous improvement startup |
| Standard Lab | 2–3 MM | Comtor + TL/Dev + QA | MVP improvement, stable feature additions |
| Growth Lab | 4–6 MM | BrSE/PM/BA + TL + Dev×2 + QA | Multiple features in parallel, speed-focused |
| Enterprise Lab | 7+ MM | BrSE/PM/BA + Comtor + TL + Dev×multiple + QA + (Ops) | Multiple products / large-scale operations |
Options (As needed)
- + UI/UX (Figma)
- + Test automation (regression test setup)
- + Operations (monitoring/backup/incident response)
- + Security checklist application
※ Unit price, minimum period, working hours (JST support, etc.) designed separately according to your company policy.
Why ARIS / Strengths (ARIS Vietnam)
1) Operational design familiar with Japanese processes
We build in 'operations' for crucial Japanese elements: minutes, issue clarification, consensus building, change management.
2) Management that survives spec changes (Backlog × CR)
Prevent 'scope creep,' visualize priorities and impacts to support decision-making.
3) Standardized delivery quality (Review standards + DoD)
In Labs prone to individual dependencies, we align design/implementation/testing standards for stable quality.
4) Continuous improvement with operations/maintenance in mind
We create improvement cycles considering not only short-term dev efficiency but also operational load, incidents, and prevention.
Build a delivery structure that produces continuous results on the premise of requirement changes.
Contact UsFrequently Asked Questions
Fixed Scope fixes deliverables/scope; Lab fixes the team and flexibly changes scope based on priorities.
Commonly start with 1–3 months for setup, then continue with ongoing contracts once operations stabilize.
Changes are managed via backlog, visualizing priority and impact. The key isn't 'increase' but deciding 'what to stop/postpone' through operations.
In Lab, we confirm results (demo, acceptance) monthly/per sprint, building consensus incrementally. We can also define acceptance criteria (DoD) if needed.
Not essential for small scale, but for the Japanese market, having PM/BrSE improves success rate from consensus-building and change-management perspectives.
Yes. It's common to adopt a 'hybrid' approach: Cut out stabilized requirements as Fixed Scope, continue improvement in Lab.