A chief programmer team is a programming team

Programming team

A programming team is a team of people who develop or maintain computer software. They may be organised in numerous ways, but the egoless programming team and chief programmer team are two common structures typically used....

 which is organised around a chief programmer who is an expert programmer

Programmer

A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...

. The other team members have other, specialised roles, such as librarian

Librarian

A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...

, which support the chief programmer in his primary task of designing and coding the software.

The concept is similar to that of a surgical team

Surgical team

A surgical team is a team of people who perform surgery and related tasks. Roles in the team include surgeon, nurse, anaesthetist and surgical practitioner....

 in which a surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

 who performs the operation

Surgery

Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

 is supported by medical staff such as an anaesthetist and nurses.