Project management: Managing the team

1
Project management Managing the team

• I. About teamwork
• The context of web-based project management
• Groups and teams
• II. Managing teams
• The managers responsibilities
• The importance of communication
• III. Leadership and project management
• Being a leader
• Managing for effectiveness

2
I. About teamwork

• The context
• Where is the web going?
• Emergent technologies and changing audiences
• Internet access continues to increase
• There is increasing demand for new web services
• Information, entertainment, government
  services, commerce, education
• There is a move towards increased accessibility
• People are accessing the web with a wide range
  of digital devices

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I. About teamwork

• Web as information store
• It is a central repository for important
  information
• Postal services, digital libraries, government
  services
• The interface must be simple and easy to use and
  must support extensive and intuitive searching
• People have to be able to find what they want
  when searching large and complex databases
• Increasing importance of security
• This will be a specialist position

4
I. About teamwork

• The portable web
• Accessing the web with small devices cell
  phones, PDAs, wrist devices
• Designing smaller interfaces with minimalist and
  meaningful content
• Adding graphics and streaming media
• The increasing importance of multimedia
• Designing 3D spaces, sound design, animators,
  web- video development

5
I. About teamwork

• Our discussion will be in the context of project
  teams
• Projects are distinguished from on-going
  operational tasks
• They are temporary
• They have a unique and specific goal
• They have a specific start date and end date
• They require a diverse set of human resources,
  each of whom brings specified needed skills and
  knowledge to the project
• The project manager is responsible for
  determining team roles and responsibilities

6
I. About teamwork

• What we know
• Scheduled milestones and firm deadlines can
  positively affect team performance
• Project teams with assigned roles and
  responsibilities produce higher quality
  deliverables than those without
• Communication and information flows must be more
  frequent, even continuous, in distributed
  contexts, in order to maintain commitment and
  build trust
• Risk management is often considered a critical
  success factor for software project
  effectiveness
• Beise, C.M. (2004). IT project management and
  virtual teams. Proceedings
  http//doi.acm.org/10.1145/982372.982405

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I. About teamwork

• More that we know
• A clear, measurable performance reporting system
  linking project objectives to critical actions
  needed to carry them out can overcome culture
  differences and other barriers
• Research indicates mixed results regarding
  effects of diversity on work group processes
  and outcomes
• The interaction of diversity elements is
  complex and mitigated by organizational and
  social contexts
• High visibility race, sex, ethnicity, and
  age
• Low visibility values, attitudes,
  education, functional experience, skills,
  and knowledge

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I. About teamwork

• What we know about CMC and effects of diversity
  on team outcomes
• Cultural diversity is frequently cited as a
  barrier to team, especially virtual team,
  performance
• Reliance on tools such as e-mail may increase
  conflict due to limitations of such
  communication channels
• The lack of face-to-face contact could reduce
  team members identification, trust, and
  commitment to the team, resulting in reduced
  performance
• But CMC tools could reduce diversity-related
  conflict by encouraging a team culture which
  predominates in relation to individual cultures

9
I. About teamwork

• Diversity may increase conflict and thus result
  in process losses
• In some cases conflict, when surfaced and
  resolved, can result in greater creativity,
  more learning, and better decision-making
• It can generate more and better alternatives and
  through greater external communication
• Increasing some types of diversity on IT project
  teams, specifically diverse perspectives in terms
  of technical versus social, may reduce project
  risk

10
I. About teamwork

• The importance of teamwork
• http//mstu.cz/bozek/obrazky/Animals/
  teamwork.jpg

11
I. About teamwork

• Groups and teams
• A group a collection of people who
• Share certain characteristics, norms, and values
• Accept a division of labor
• Interact with one another
• Have expectations and obligations as members of
  the group
• Share a common identity
• Define boundaries

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I. About teamwork

• A project team is a group with three additional
  characteristics
• It is formed by management directive
• Members are responsible for outcomes and
  operations
• It typically exist in a supportive work context
• The organization emphasizes the mutuality of
  interests between employers and employees
• Team members can influence work related
  decisions
• There is open information and two way
  communication about organizational policies and
  practices

13
I. About teamwork

• Characteristics of teams that function well
• Purpose members share a sense of why the team
  exists
• They are invested in accomplishing its mission
  and goals
• Priorities they know what needs to be done
  next, by whom, and by when to achieve team
  goals
• Roles they know their roles in getting tasks
  done
• They know when to allow a more skillful member
  to do a certain task

14
I. About teamwork

• More
• Decisions authority and decision-making lines
  are clearly understood
• Conflict conflict is dealt with openly and is
  considered important to decision-making and
  personal growth
• Personal traits members feel they are
  appreciated and their talents are well utilized
• Norms group norms for working together are set
  and seen as standards for every one in the
  groups
• Effectiveness members find team meetings
  efficient and productive and look forward to
  this time together

15
I. About teamwork

• And more
• Success members know clearly when the team has
  met with success and share in this equally
• Training opportunities for feedback and
  updating skills are provided and taken
  advantage of by team members
• National School Boards Foundation. (ND).
  Leadership teams. http//www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit
  /LeadTeams.html
• http//www.mgcpuzzles.com/mgcpuzzles/images/all_n
  ew_core_images/Corporate_Puzzles/teamwork_images/t
  eamwork_kids_teamwork_A.jpg

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I. About teamwork

• Beise, C.M. (2004) p131

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I. About teamwork

• Being an effective team member
• Contributing ideas and solutions
• Recognizing and respecting differences in others
• Learning how to give and receive criticism
• Valuing the ideas and contributions of others
• Listening and sharing information
• Asking questions and receiving clarification
• Participating fully and meeting your commitments
• Keeping the project manager and colleagues
  informed
• Reporting problems early

18
I. About teamwork

• High performance teams have
• Participative leadership interdependence
  through empowering, freeing up and serving
  others
• Shared responsibility an environment in which
  members feel responsibility for the project
• Purposeful alignment a sense of common purpose
  about why the team exists and the function it
  serves
• Frequent and high quality communication a
  climate of trust and open, honest communication
• Future focused change as an opportunity for
  growth
• Focus on task keeping focus on results

19
I. About teamwork

• Team projects are a good preparation for
  industry projects. In industry, most software
  projects are not individual efforts but are
  accomplished by teams of qualified professionals.
  
• This is partly because of the link between
  teams and performance teams outperform
  individuals because they bring together
  complementary skills, create a situation where
  problems are solved more quickly, provide a
  social frame-work for working, and create a fun
  atmosphere in which to work.
• Brown, J., and Dobbie, G. (1999). Supporting and
  evaluating team dynamics in group projects.
  Proceedings of the 30th SIGCSE Technical
  Symposium on Computer Science Education. 281-285.
  http//doi.acm.org/10.1145/299649.299788

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I. About teamwork

• Goals and functions of a web team
• Developing strategy
• Strategists manage the group and lead the
  project
• Develop and communicate the intended message and
  corporate image to members
• Set objectives, timelines, benchmarks and
  milestones
• Communicate with other members in their areas of
  expertise
• May include sales, marketing, executives and
  other decision makers
• Berry, M. (2001). Building your web team. New
  Architect (1) http//www.webtechniques.com/archive
  s/2001/01/berry/

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I. About teamwork

• Design and user experience
• Design represents the intended message and
  corporate image
• The information architecture is the blueprint
  for design
• Content development
• Requires close interaction with client
• Technology
• Programming and coding HTML markup and
  apps development, scripting, DB and
  applications work
• System and network infrastructure
• Maintain the servers and systems

22
I. About teamwork

• An ideal web team consists of three sub-teams
• Client-side specialists create an attractive,
  clear front end and interface
• Server-side specialists create a smoothly
  operating back end
• Support specialists make sure the two sub-teams
  can do their jobs
• The total team shouldnt consist of more than 7
  people
• One person should be responsible for project
  planning, coordinating, communicating,
  oversight, accountability
• Koch, P.E. (2002). The ideal web team (pt 1).
  http//www.digital-web.com/columns/
  keepitsimple/keepitsimple_ 2003-04.shtml

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I. About teamwork

• Client side work
• Graphic design
• What does the site look like?
• What look-and-feel and associations does it
  communicate?
• Interaction design
• Has the site been ordered logically?
• Is the navigation consistent?
• Can people find what theyre looking for?
• Koch, P.E. (2002). The ideal web team (pt 2).
  http//www.digital-web.com/columns
  /keepitsimple/keepitsimple_ 2003-04.shtml

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I. About teamwork

• Client side work
• Copywriting
• How does the site present information?
• Is the text scannable (people dont read text
  they scan it)?
• Is the text well written and filled with
  relevant links?
• Client-side programming
• Do all effects and styles work?
• Is the site usable even with an ancient or rare
  user agent?
• Are any people excluded from the site?

25
I. About teamwork

• At least half of the team members should be
  senior in their area of expertise
• They can quickly answer practical questions and
  devise workable solutions and act as mentors
• Each member should also have clear-cut
  responsibilities
• The project manager should make sure that all
  members know about each others responsibilities
• Everyone should understand the timeline,
  milestones and benchmarks
• The team culture should encourage members to ask
  each other for advice

26
Project management Managing the team

• I. About teamwork
• The context of web-based project management
• Groups and teams
• II. Managing teams
• The managers responsibilities
• The importance of communication
• III. Leadership and project management
• Being a leader
• Managing for effectiveness

27
II. Managing teams

• The managers responsibilities
• Keeping the team together
• Staying current
• Introducing new technologies into the group
• Giving them the opportunity to keep their skills
  sharp
• Assuming you know and can evaluate web
  technologies
• Encouraging professional development
• Sending team members to conferences to
  participate
• Encouraging them to join user groups and take
  classes
• They can become part of a local community

28
II. Managing teams

• Help the team develop its skill sets
• HTML coding is going away static pages are for
  babies
• Coders have to create dynamic pages and work
  with DBs and scripting languages
• Programmers will spend more time working with
  servers, DBs, linking them to dynamic web sites
• Application development, server-side
  programming, CGI development (tool building)
• Increasing demands on creative team members
• As web users become more sophisticated, IAs have
  to develop more compelling user experiences

29
II. Managing teams

• Monitoring the team
• Detecting weaknesses among the group
• This is a form of risk assessment
• How strong and cohesive is your team?
• Who misses deadlines? Are they over budget?
• How is the quality of the work?
• Who is the weakest link?
• Study the record
• Look at time sheets, read project reports, talk
  to team members regularly

30
II. Managing teams

• The importance of communication
• Information exchange is critical to team success
• It develops over time and requires learning and
  practice
• Poor communication
• People from different disciplines do not have a
  common language
• Lack of mutual understanding of a common set
  of terms
• Ex What is quality assurance and how can
  it be measured?
• Personality differences

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II. Managing teams

• Conflicting and hidden agendas
• Expert, player, opposition, clown, slacker
• Ineffective meetings
• Lack of proximity
• It is possible to run virtual teams, but face to
  face meetings are still important
• Members tacit assumptions about the work and
  each other
• If not shared, people may work at cross purposes
• Poor infrastructure and support
• If the ICT is not transparent, communication
  will suffer

32
II. Managing teams

• How to evaluate team communication
• Can you describe the communication flows and
  underlying ICTs?
• Can members easily handle the files they sed?
• Does every team member know how to get in touch
  with every other member?
• Are there undocumented and ad hoc meetings?
• Who is getting together? Why? What results from
  these meetings?
• How does a manager find out about events and
  problems in the workgroup?

33
II. Managing teams

• Provide the team with a good communication
  infrastructure
• Make sure everyone has the same software for
  writing and email
• Develop an archive of all project-related
  communication
• This will be digital and paper-based
• Post important documents to your secure web site
• Try to automate parts of the communication
  process
• For example, project management software can
  automate task monitoring

34
II. Managing teams

• Documentation helps a team work more efficiently
• Use a style guide that makes sense to you and
  make it available to the team
• Proscribed digital content
• APA has a 5th edition that covers digital
  content
• Production guide
• Explains how the web site will be developed
• Describes conventions used throughout the
  project
• Provides members with an overview of the work
  flow and allows them to see how their work fits
  in

35
II. Managing teams

• Production guides should include
• A wireframe
• Functional specs
• File naming conventions
• Server information
• Target audience specs
• Coding and programming conventions
• Rules for image formatting
• Explanation of version control
• Benchmarks and timeline

36
Project management Managing the team

• I. About teamwork
• The context of web-based project management
• Groups and teams
• II. Managing teams
• The managers responsibilities
• The importance of communication
• III. Leadership and project management
• Being a leader
• Managing for effectiveness

37
III. Leadership and project management

• Being a leader
• Challenge to manage a team that can handle
  continual adaptation to change
• Without losing strategic focus
• Transactional leaders work with their systems
• Focus is on rewards and exchanges in the
  organization
• They try to meet the needs of their teams
• This is a form of cultural maintenance
• Charismatic leaders use the force of their
  personalities
• They tend to be persistent and committed to long
  term goals

38
III. Leadership and project management

• Leadership roles
• Coordinate team activities
• Set agendas for meetings
• Schedule work and track progress
• Motivate team members
• Anticipate, handle and resolve conflicts
• Ensure effective communication
• Liaison to supervisors, clients, external
  decision makers
• Brown, J., and Dobbie, G. (1999). Supporting and
  evaluating team dynamics in group projects. The
  Proceedings . 281-285. http//doi.acm.org/10.1145
  /299649.299788

39
III. Leadership and project management

• Leadership involves managing people
• Conflict management
• Identifying and taking steps to prevent
  situations that could result in unpleasant
  confrontations
• Managing and resolving conflicts in a positive
  and constructive manner to minimize negative
  impact
• Promoting diversity
• Recruiting, developing, and retaining a diverse
  high quality workforce in an equitable manner
• Managing an inclusive workplace that maximizes
  peoples talents to achieve sound business
  results

40
III. Leadership and project management

• Team building
• Inspiring, motivating, and guiding others toward
  goals
• Developing and sustaining cooperative working
  relationships
• Developing leadership in others by coaching,
  mentoring, rewarding, and guiding employees
• Service orientation
• Creating and sustaining an organizational
  culture that encourages others to provide high
  quality of service
• Enabling others to acquire the tools and support
  they need to perform well

41
III. Leadership and project management

• Articulating a vision for the team
• Leaders provide a realistic vision and mission
  for the team
• It addresses the needs of all of the
  stakeholders
• It requires depth knowledge of the project and
  the environment
• What the project is --gt what it can become --gt
  how the team will get there
• The teams mission is a framework for action
• It must articulate shared values and goal and
  appeal to the major stakeholders

42
III. Leadership and project management

• Then the vision must be disseminated
• All members of the team should have a copy of
  the project mission
• There should be an early team meeting
• Here the leader seeks buy-in
• To gain a shared sense of broad purpose
• Should be clear about the direction and
  objectives and forceful about the means
• In a sense, leadership is creating meaning with a
  team that is shared by all

43
III. Leadership and project management

• Managing groups to help them work effectively
• How effectively groups work is generally a
  combination of the following three factors
• Level of effort
• How much effort the group applies to carry out
  its task
• Task performance strategies
• How do they carry out the task?
• Level and appropriateness of the skill
• What do group members bring to the task?

44
III. Leadership and project management

• It is difficult to influence these three factors
  directly
• In part, this is because of the internal
  characteristics of people
• These are hard to access or change
• Look for external characteristics that can be
  manipulated
• Behavior norms
• Task design
• Composition of the group
• These factors can be used to affect group
  performance indirectly

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III. Leadership and project management

• Changing norms is one way to improve task
  performance
• It can lead to increased effort
• A leader or group can require
• Regular attendance at meetings, regular
  reporting and accountability
• Redesign the task
• Improves effort and task performance strategies
• Introduce greater specialization of
  responsibilities
• Increase amount of job enrichment
• Give members tasks that fit their experience

46
III. Leadership and project management

• Managing teams to help them work effectively
• Be ready to change the teams composition
• Use volunteers where possible
• This increases the chances that the members
  want to be working on the project
• Try to ensure that the team has representatives
  from different departments
• If this is not possible, try to maintain
  contact with the different departments
• Try to have at least some more experienced
  workers
• This increases the possibility that mentoring
  occurs

47
III. Leadership and project management

• The leader can expect to become involved in a
  range of interactions with project stakeholders
• Supervising members from different functional
  areas
• This occurs because IS projects often cross
  organizational boundaries
• Work with different end-users to determine user
  requirements
• Interact with the functional managers of both
  team members and end users involved with the
  project
• Gillard, S. and Johansen, J. (2004). Project
  management communication A systems approach
  Journal of Information Science, 30(1), 23-29
  http//jis.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/30/
  1/23

48
III. Leadership and project management

• More interactions
• Interact with the program department manager and
  senior-level management
• They provide resources and the project manager
  reports to them
• Coordinate interactions of diverse vendors,
  contractors, and other outside agencies
• Interact with environmental entities such as
  government agencies and special interest groups

49
III. Leadership and project management

• Communication channels include
• Giving oral presentations
• Holding meetings and organizing briefings
• Writing reports
• Engaging in ongoing conversations through phone,
  e- mail, and IM
• Listening actively and creatively
• These are are affected by the organizations
  structural lines of authority and communication
• Also the socio-technical systems in the
  organization

50
III. Leadership and project management

• Problems with teams
• A major problem is groupthink
• Conformity behaving in a way consistent with
  the majority
• Compliance changing attitudes or beliefs as a
  result of group peer pressure
• Particularly common in long-established groups
• Tends to arise in us versus them situations
• Self-censorship and group pressures to conform
  can blind group to facts and reasoning useful in
  making a decision

51
III. Leadership and project management

• Managerial problems
• Disagreements among the members may result in an
  inability to reach a decision
• Calling it a team but managing members as
  individuals
• Failing to maintain the balance of authority
  between management and the team
• Failing to provide appropriate amounts of
  structure to accomplish the task
• Failing to provide organizational support to
  accomplish challenging team objectives
• Assuming members have the competence to work
  well as a team

52
III. Leadership and project management

• Overcoming groupthink
• Dealing with false consensus
• Accept criticism of your own ideas as well as
  those of other members
• Begin by describing the problem impartially
• Encourage critical evaluation from members
• Use other groups in the organization, or sub
  groups of your own group to work on the same
  issue in parallel
• Invite outside experts
• Assign a group member to a role of devils
  advocate

53
III. Leadership and project management

• Sometime a team needs deviant thinking
• This can be particularly important when
• The team needs lots of ideas
• For example, there is a complex problem that
  must be attacked from many points
• The decision is important or controversial
• When the group is brand new or very old
• The problem is ill-defined