Team design turns an ML project roadmap into a resourcing plan: who can deliver each task, when they are needed, and how long their work may take. Team time is usually the largest project cost, so the design is central to a credible estimate. The plan is an envelope of resources and cost, not a promise that staffing will remain unchanged. section 3.2.2 section 3.2
Build the plan task by task:
- Break the roadmap into tasks and assign each one a resource suited to its anticipated scale and difficulty. section 3.2.2
- Estimate the kind of person and time each task requires; work through the estimates with pre-project colleagues or senior delivery staff. section 3.2.2
- Account for data, modelling, and domain-alignment challenges when deciding which specialist capabilities are needed. Business translators, for example, bridge the domain and ML specialists. section 3.2.2
- Create and socialize the design alongside the project estimate, then review the pre-project work against a checklist. section 3.2
Finalize the design and assignments in sprint 0. Confirm that reserved people can actually join and begin onboarding them. If a key person is unavailable, find a replacement or redesign the team; record the disruption in the risk register and escalate inadequate resourcing. If the original staffing cannot be secured, replan when work is done or consider external contractors, recognizing their potential cost to the commercial case. section 4.2
