The Chief Programmer Team organization and methodology are aimed at improving software quality and manageability. It was conceived in the late 1960s as a response to increasing cost and schedule problems in the development of large software systems, primarily due to the inability of the software development methods of the time to cope with the greater levels of complexity such systems required. The chief programmer would be the team's leader, a highly skilled programmer personally resposible for all aspects of developing a substantial programming project. The backup programmer would be an assistant chief programmer.