How to Pick or Build a Project Team

April 20th, 2004 by Hal

So much is made of picking a project team. But what about the rest of us who get who we get. What are we to do? In the latest article offering advice on forming teams, Kathleen Melymuka writing for Computer World urges project managers to build a balanced team in How to Pick a Project Team (Tech) Skills Are Only the Beginning.

A great project team requires more than technical skills. It takes the right mix of "soft" skills, personalities and attitudes to gel and achieve results.

Fewer Is Better — Small project teams perform better than large ones due in part to the few interpersonal relationships/
Attitude Counts — Look for people with positive attitudes
Diversity Lowers Risk — Different styles and perspectives counterbalance
Familiarity Breeds Action — Teams take time to work effectively
Availability Trumps Everything — Who's available can determine the outcome
Leverage Matters — Establish a relationship with customers and those who have staff for your project

Ok. Good advice for people who can put their teams together. So, what do we do when we come together as strangers? Project managers can create those attributes among the people who come together. It starts by publicly acknowledging the situation.

Big projects require big teams. Can you reduce the number of members on your team? Maybe not, if you've contracted with a large number of companies. But you can operate in smaller groupings.
We all have the experience of the contagiousness of attitudes, both good attitudes and bad attitudes. Keep an ear out for signs of attitudes that are not good for the circumstances of your team. Intervene at the earliest opportunity.
While diversity may lower risk, ya got what ya got. Take the opportunity to explore the strengths and talents of the people who show up. Offer assignments that put those talents to best use.
Projects may not be long enough for people to become effective team mates when we come together as strangers. But, it only takes three actions from the leader to accelerate the process: publicly explore intentions, cultivate commitment-making, and engage the group in short daily conversations.
People are available or they're not. But don't be a victim of that. Engage in everyday practices for readying the upcoming work. See that all wherewithal is in place including the people to perform the task.
Getting what or who you want is a long term strategy. When people know you as a project manager who takes care of the people on the project, then you will have people clamoring to be on your project. There's no greater leverage than that.
The author and her respected interviewees encourage you to hold out for the people you want and need to do your project. If you can do that, great! Otherwise, create that situation among the people who show up.

While it is the special case where we can choose our whole team, we often can pick some of our team members. Even on low-bid construction projects we can choose from the available staff. But building a performing team requires skills for taking a group of strangers and turning them first into friends, and then into partners.

Produce Alignment and Trust in the Stories You Tell

Collaborate

Good, Fast, Cheap — Pick Two or Three

Shut Up and Listen

Good Ol’ Project Days

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 20th, 2004 at 11:58 pm and is tagged: PM practice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Convert this post to a PDF document.

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2 Responses to “How to Pick or Build a Project Team”

Stephan Says:
April 22nd, 2004 at 5:36 pm
I have a few comments on this entry which I hope you will clarify. Maybe because I am not a native English speaker that I find some of the good practises a bit vague. For instance:

- Publicly explore intentions: does this mean to go over the projects’ objectives in detail? Or is asking each team member, in a group setting, what he/she wants to get out of the project for himself, his department?

- cultivate commitment-making: has this to do with taking on an assignment as planned? How do I cultivate that everybody is always on time? How do I do this when I only see my teammembers once a month due to different geographical locations?

- short daily conversations: in a group setting? About what, the project deliverables or more informal?

Thank you very much in advance,

Stephan
Stephan Says:
April 28th, 2004 at 11:21 am
Thanks Hal, for clarifying.

Regards,

Stephan

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