A successful project team with the right employees
A good project team is a factor that should not be underestimated when it comes to the success of a project or product development. This is why putting together the team is an important task that must be completed before the project can really get underway.
The individual team members should have the necessary technical skills, but the personal and character factors between the individuals should also be taken into account if you want to put together an efficient project team. This enables a high level of productivity and ensures that the project runs successfully.
Project team: definition
What exactly is a project team? A group of people working together on a project is known as a project team. What is characteristic of such teams is that the employees do not normally work together in this form, as they belong to different departments or organisations. They only work on a specific project and the team is usually disbanded once this project has been completed.
Most projects, such as product development, organisation and implementation, require several participants who share responsibility for the project in question. This also enables a division of labour and the project progresses more quickly. Successful teams structure their approach before the project begins and are characterised by flawless teamwork.
It is therefore important that the goal is clear and known to all employees and that all actions of the entire team work towards this goal. The team should never be too large. Too many players in a team lead to complicated communication processes and long feedback loops.
If too many people in the team try to contribute their opinions, this is not necessarily an advantage. However, this depends on the status of the project. For brainstorming sessions at the start of a project, it can be an advantage to gather as many opinions and different ideas as possible. However, when it comes to practical implementation, a project team that is too large can slow down development and thus reduce the productivity, efficiency and therefore the profit margin of the project .
Roles in the project team
A rule of thumb says that from a team size of four people, different roles should be assigned in the team. With three or fewer participants, communication is still relatively easy and you can make joint decisions quite quickly , find compromises and also set dates for meetings relatively easily.
However, the larger the team becomes, the more difficult it is to coordinate, but this depends on the individual personalities of the team members, the type of project, the project management and the company. There are relatively large teams that can work well in a self-organised way, and there are smaller teams that work better with a project manager or a manager.
However, it is an indisputable fact that a large number of participants leads to more organisational effort. For example, it can become increasingly difficult to organise team meetings because each participant has other tasks to complete. It can therefore be difficult to find times when all participants are available. It can also lead to disagreements and points of contention or to votes that are not clear-cut.
It may therefore be necessary to introduce different hierarchies in the project team so that one person can make the final decisions in an emergency. The roles that usually exist in project teams are described below.
Client
Every project has a client, which can be a customer who commissions a product or a manager or the company management who commissions the solution to a problem. They "order" the product and specify their requirements in a specification sheet.
In principle, however, a client can be any employee who notices a problem that needs to be solved. Depending on the organisational form, the client can be part of the project team or receive the finished product or the solution to the problem after the project has been completed.
Project manager
In larger teams , there is usually a project manager for a project. The project manager takes on the organisational tasks that arise when working on the project, for example
- Creating the project or product roadmap,
- setting deadlines for certain milestones
- organising meetings of the team
- organising team meetings, allocating resources, etc.
The project manager must always maintain an overview of the progress of the project. He or she is responsible for ensuring that the finished product is completed by the predetermined date. They also steer the team in the right direction and ensure that the end product fulfils all requirements. They must ensure that the customer or client is completely satisfied at the end.
The project manager is also the contact person for the team members if problems arise during the realisation of the project. The project manager must then try to find a solution or ask the next higher hierarchy in the company or project team to do so. They are also the channel of communication between the team and the client or company management. In the event of problems, it is the project manager who must pass on the reports to the CEO or inform the client about delays in the progress of the project .
Project staff
The employees working on the respective project form the core team and are the essential part of the project team. Depending on the type of project, the employees who are part of the team are selected according to different criteria.
The team can either be put together by the project manager, who normally receives the assignment and bears the responsibility, or a call is launched within the company, after which interested parties can register themselves.
In order to put together a good project team, it is important to be informed about the following:
- the existing employees, their other tasks, roles and personalities,
- the competences available,
- available resources,
- the project goal,
- the time frame,
- the priority compared to other projects in the portfolio,
- the customer or client.
Steering committee
For larger projects and programmes or a large project portfolio, there is often a so-called steering committee. Many companies have their own names for this group of decision-makers, for example these terms are used:
- Steering Board or Steering Committee,
- steering committee,
- steering committee,
- steering committee,
- control board
- or decision-making body.
The steering committee is usually the hierarchical level above the project manager and is asked for help when problems arise that the project manager cannot solve. Often a steering committee has control over the entire project portfolio of an organisation, and allocates the budget and other resources to the individual projects. The steering committee is therefore the most important authority for the resource planning of a project.
Project sponsor
As the name suggests, the project sponsor is responsible for the finances of the project. Its task is to negotiate with the company management or the steering committee how much budget will be made available for the project. As the customer normally only pays after receiving the finished product, and solving problems or developing new products tends to generate profits in the long term, investments usually have to be made in advance. The project sponsor therefore has the task of presenting the project and the prospects of success to those responsible for the budget and thus securing enough money to realise the project.
It is always important to remain realistic and not to invest more than the project will ultimately generate. An important question in every project is how much investment is appropriate in each case. The project manager and the project sponsor should support each other and work together as equals.
In smaller projects, the project manager often takes on the role of project sponsor. However, it is important that the project sponsor is always a member of the project team and has an interest in its success.
Tips for successful collaboration in a project team
Composition of the team
The most important thing for a good project team is its members. The individuals in the team should have different skills and be communicative, creative and solution-orientated . It is also important that all developers and team members are highly motivated and fully committed to the results. Personal differences, conflicts or power struggles are a hindrance when working on a project and should therefore be avoided at all costs.
Communication
Communication is very important in order to organise a good project team and implement the project successfully . The team should meet regularly and exchange ideas, ideally in person, but video conferences are also possible. The individual team members should exchange information about the successes achieved and discuss problems in order to possibly find a consensus together. Every question is discussed together and an answer is sought.
For larger teams, it is important to agree on communication channels that are clear and can be used by everyone so that no important information is lost. Group chats or project portals are an efficient way of doing this, which also allow informal communication from time to time. Minutes should also be taken at face-to-face meetings so that members of the project team who are unable to attend in person can also obtain the necessary information.
Documentation and planning
In order to achieve a satisfactory result, every project team needs good project management. Once the initial situation has been clarified and some important roles have been assigned, it is time to select the appropriate project management approach . There are many different methods, e.g. classic project management, the waterfall model, Scrum or Kanban.
Which method is right for your team depends on the type of project, the company and the product.
It is best to get a good overview of the options before selecting a method. Appvizer can help you with this. You can find some helpful articles on the subject of project organisation and project management software in comparison on our website!
How do you usually organise your project teams? Share your tips in the comments!
Article translated from German