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Utilising Project Based Teams
Some thoughts on utilising Project Based Teams, by JayrConsulting Ltd. Freelance Training Consultants uk. Some ( radical ? ) thoughts for consideration.
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First step to producing worthwhile Project Based Teams:
Introduce people descriptions, not job descriptions
Aside from the fact that most job descriptions are so boring, they are also irrelevant to fast moving companies who encourage flexibility of their people and projects.
People descriptions focus on the person, their skills, and their abilities. In IT, no two jobs are ever the same because the people doing them are different. Make your people CVs, with skill strengths to the fore, your new descriptions.
This way, when you are scheduling a new project you will be more easily able to select the correct people from within your workforce to make up a good team to work on the new project
Pay people what they are worth based on who they are. First step: tell your HR director (if you can find him/her) that you will be throwing out job descriptions. Don't do it over a cup of coffee as hot liquid can scald.
Put competency-based anything in the library!
Or in the bin!
. Every year we tell people to focus on their 'weaknesses' so that when these improve they will become more effective. Wrong. If people do not spend time developing their strengths these will weaken.
All competency-based anything does is create general all rounders.
First step: encourage people to develop their strengths and pull different people's strengths together through project based skill teams.
Put in place project skill teams:
The most successful projects I see are made up of people who are in the team because of their strengths and those strengths are unique to that project (but not to the department ). This works brilliantly because it ensures everyone plays an active and involved role and it reduces in-team competition. First step: form your next project team on this basis
Cultural transformation:
Transform your culture so people are valued (our main need as human beings, after food and drink etc.), so that true openness is the norm ( subject of a following article ) and so that people can enjoy coming into work. You will retain more excellent people, thereby reducing skills turnover. First step: hold an open forum for the whole team
Ensure skill transfer:
If you have specific skills with only one person you are in trouble. Make sure people are actively encouraged to transfer their skills. How? By putting in place a skills contract, where, year-on-year, you as an organisation agree to develop one new skill for each person, providing they ensure they are not the only person holding that skill, by actively transferring their skill to one or more other people. First step: pilot this with a team ASAP
I recommend focusing on those key skills that are most important to you as an IT leader.
What are they?
Think about someone in your team on whom you can always rely, no matter how difficult the situation - what skills do they have? Exactly. First step: never, ever, refer to the term soft skills - call them the critical skills.
Close your eyes and think about someone in your team and department who delivers on projects, every time.
Think about a person who you always call in times of crisis, someone you know who will never let you down, ever.
Now think about the skills they have, the attitudes and behaviour they display consistently. I imagine you are thinking of communication, leadership, persistence, inspiration, motivation, focus and action.
Now I glance at the flyer on my left. It talks about process, Prince2 project management methodology, bar charts, reporting, management meetings and software skills.
And there's the rub - the reason we are in the state we are in. To me it comes down to one thing above all others - the need for project leadership, not project management.
Please don't get me wrong, the second list is important, but not as key to success as the first. In other words, it comes down to the character, talent and person you select, over and above the traditional views on how to deliver projects. By "traditional", I mean "what we usually think" - there is nothing traditional about Prince2, of course. In fact, thank goodness it wasn't around in ancient Egypt or they would never have got those pyramids built.
And this discrepancy between what so many people think is important, and what really works, continues when we recruit. Too many companies advertise for project managers with specific technical experience, who have consistently delivered quality systems, and who really understand processes.
When recruiting for a project manager, look for three things above all else:
Scars : ask people for the biggest mistake they have ever made in a project. If they say none, its bye bye. The deeper the scars, the better. People who have made mistakes in the past AND LEARNT FROM THEM are an invaluable source of experience.
Communication: Forget the project - are they looking you directly in the eyes when they speak? Are they confident? Is their head held high?
Radical thinker :
Always remember, if we do what we have always done, we will get what we have always got. Does the person in front of you think as if they were on a different planet?
No matter how much we whinge about it, we always get blamed when projects fail. It's a universal truth. But we can change the way we run the projects, by appointing leaders instead of managers, and then giving them the freedom to do what they have to do to get the project done
Obviously these are personal opinions and are open to question and debate! If you have any comments about this article, feel free to contact me at : john.roberts@jayrconsulting.co.uk
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