http://www.reformingprojectmanagement.com/2006/07/26/631/ The magazine for the project age Sat, 30 Aug 2008 05:11:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.5 http://www.reformingprojectmanagement.com/2006/07/26/631/#comment-8320 Fri, 28 Jul 2006 05:01:46 +0000 http://www.reformingprojectmanagement.com/2006/07/26/631/#comment-8320 We've been doing a lot of work with our clients lately to define roles, let alone restructure roles. Our basic approach is to first locate people in a business process. Then we create an accountability -- ongoing commitment to care for something -- as the starting out description of their role. When people have clear accountabilities that are well communicated within the team and the organization we find there is far less mischief and miscoordination. We’ve been doing a lot of work with our clients lately to define roles, let alone restructure roles. Our basic approach is to first locate people in a business process. Then we create an accountability — ongoing commitment to care for something — as the starting out description of their role. When people have clear accountabilities that are well communicated within the team and the organization we find there is far less mischief and miscoordination.

]]> http://www.reformingprojectmanagement.com/2006/07/26/631/#comment-8267 Wed, 26 Jul 2006 20:08:12 +0000 http://www.reformingprojectmanagement.com/2006/07/26/631/#comment-8267 Great post, Hal. The other great thing about ants (and I use this analogy a lot when I talk about systems thinking) is their inherent understanding of roles and responsibilities. Each ant knows what his task is, and he performs it unwaveringly. He doesn't question the performance of another ant, try to tell it how to do its job, get all territorial over perceptions, or undermine another ant. It may sound a little Fred-Taylor-esque but it does work for them. If our project teams better understood the concept of clear role/responsibility breakdown and had stronger leaders to slot the right people into those roles. As usual, though, your comments are thought-provoking and well-structured. Great post, Hal. The other great thing about ants (and I use this analogy a lot when I talk about systems thinking) is their inherent understanding of roles and responsibilities. Each ant knows what his task is, and he performs it unwaveringly. He doesn’t question the performance of another ant, try to tell it how to do its job, get all territorial over perceptions, or undermine another ant. It may sound a little Fred-Taylor-esque but it does work for them. If our project teams better understood the concept of clear role/responsibility breakdown and had stronger leaders to slot the right people into those roles. As usual, though, your comments are thought-provoking and well-structured.

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