Anticlue

Managing a Project Team

Managing a project team involves tracking individual’s performance, providing feedback, resolving issues, and coordinating changes to enhance overall project performance. In a functional organization it is much like managing a department team with the nuance of enhancing the project’s performance instead of meeting the operational goals of the department.

The inputs to managing a project team yield an overview of project team performance and assignments so the project manager can determine what the next steps are. The inputs are:

• Organizational Process Assets – Organizational process assets are the organization’s policies, procedures, and systems which can be used to reward the team during the course of a project.
• Project Staff Assignments – Project Staff Assignments are the list of project duties for team members. Staff Assignments are often used during the monitoring and controlling process group to evaluate individual team members.
• Roles and Responsibilities – The roles and responsibilities document is used to determine what each team member should be focusing upon and completing.
• Project Organization Charts – Project Charts represent the reporting relationships among the project team.
• Staffing Management Plan – The Staffing Management Plan details when team members are needed and list training plans, certification requirements, and compliance issues.
• Team Performance Assessment - Team Performance Assessments are the documented formal or informal assessment of the project team’s performance. Common indications are staff turnover rates, team dynamics, and skill levels. After analyzing the information, project managers can identify and resolve problems, reduce conflicts, and improve overall team work.
• Work Performance Information – Work Performance information is gathered by observing team members performance while participating in meetings, follow-up on action items, and communicating to others.
• Performance Reports – Performance reports depict project performance information when compared to the project plan. This provides a basis for determining if corrective actions or preventative actions are need to assure a successful project delivery.

Managing a team involves making justifiable decisions about how to address the issues and problems that arise as part of project work. There are some tools and techniques you can use to manage the project team. Those tools and techniques are:

• Observation and Conversation - Observation and conversation involves project managers using indicators such as progress toward project goals, interpersonal relationships, and pride in accomplishments and work of project team members.
• Project Performance Appraisals - Project performance appraisals is a vehicle which enables team members to receive feedback from supervisors. Performance Appraisals can be used them to clarify team member responsibilities and to develop training plans and future goals.
• Conflict Management - Conflict management involves the reduction of destructive disagreements within the project team. The project manager can allow the problem to resolve itself or use informal and formal interventions before the conflict damages the project.
• Issue Log - An issue log is a list of action items and the names of the team members responsible for carrying them out. Issue logs provide project managers with a way to monitor outstanding items.

Often in the course of a project, it is necessary to make changes to the way the project is executed. The outputs of the Managing a Project team process are:

• Requested Changes – Requested Changes are staffing changes either planned or unplanned which can impact the project plan. When staffing changes which have the possibility of disrupting the project plan, the change needs to be processed through integrated change control.
• Recommended Corrective Actions - Recommended corrective actions are to overcoming the addition or removable of a teammate, outsourcing some work, additional training, or actions relating to disciplinary processes.
• Recommended Preventive Actions - Recommended preventive actions are taken to reduce the impact of anticipated problems. Such actions might include cross training a replacement before a team member leaves the project or clarifying roles to ensure that all project tasks are carried out or added personal time in anticipation of extra work which may be needed to meet project deadlines.
• Organizational Process Asset Updates – Organizational process asset updates are either inputs to team members performance appraisals or lessons learned documentation.
• Staffing Management Plan Updates – Staffing Management plan is a subsidiary plan of the project management plan. The staffing management plan is updated to reflect staffing related approved change requests.