Chapter "The Project Manager"write up what you learned from this chapter.

Critical Success Factors

Project success requires an effective project team. Although plans and project management techniques are necessary, it is the people the project manager and project teamwho are the key to project success.

Putting a group of people together to work on a project does not create a team. Helping these individuals develop and grow into a cohesive, effective team takes effort on the part of the project manager and each member of the project team.

Project teams should be kept as small as feasible throughout the project.

A project kickoff meeting should be held as early as possible to inform members, reduce anxiety, manage expectations, and inspire the team.

Characteristics of effective project teams include a clear understanding of the project objective, clear expectations of each persons roles and responsibilities, a results orientation, a high degree of cooperation and collaboration, and a high level of trust.

Each member of the project team needs to help create and foster a positive project environment.

Effective team members have high expectations of themselves. They plan, control, and feel accountable for their individual work efforts.

Members of effective teams have open, frank, and timely communication. They readily share information, ideas, and feelings. They provide constructive feedback to each other.

Effective team members go beyond just doing their assigned tasks; they act as a resource for each other.

Diversity of the team brings unique ideas and perspectives to projects.

Individual team members make a personal commitment to understand and value diversity and respect the differences of other team members.

Diversity is valued as a strength that will enrich communication, foster better relationships, create an enjoyable workplace, and enhance team performance.

Ethical behavior is crucial in project business relationships with the customer, suppliers, and subcontractors.

The project manager and the project team need to acknowledge openly that disagreement is bound to occur during the performance of the project and reach consensus on how it should be handled.

Effective project teams resolve conflict through constructive and timely feedback and positive confrontation of the issues. Disagreement is not suppressed; it is viewed as normal and as an opportunity for growth.

Handled properly, conflict can be beneficial. It causes problems to surface and be addressed. It stimulates discussion and requires individuals to clarify their views. It can foster creativity and enhance problem solving.

Conflict is not just for the project manager to handle and resolve; conflict between team members should be handled by the individuals involved.

Each person must approach the conflict with a constructive attitude and a willingness to work in good faith with others to resolve the issues.

To effectively manage their time, team members should establish weekly goals and make daily to-do lists.

Summary

A team is a group of individuals working interdependently to accomplish the project objective.

Project teams evolve through various stages of development: forming, storming, norming, and performing.

The project manager should schedule a project kickoff meeting with the project team as early as possible during the forming stage of team development to inform the members, reduce anxiety, manage expectations, and inspire the team.

Effective project team characteristics include a clear understanding of the project objective, clear expectations of each persons role and responsibilities, a results orientation, a high degree of cooperation and collaboration, and a high level of trust.

Barriers to team effectiveness include: unclear vision and objective, unclear definition of roles and responsibilities, lack of project structure, lack of commitment, poor communication, poor leadership, turnover of project team members, and dysfunctional behavior.

Team building is the responsibility of both the project manager and the project team.

Diversity is about acknowledging, understanding, and valuing differences, and creating a work environment that recognizes, respects, and harnesses differences among team members for the benefits of accomplishing a shared goal, such as the project objective.

Ethical behavior is necessary within a project organization and is crucial in project business relationships with the customer, suppliers, and subcontractors.

Dealt with properly, conflict can be beneficial because it causes problems to surface and be addressed.

A good nine-step problem-solving approach is to develop a problem statement, identify potential causes of the problem, gather data and verify the most likely causes, identify possible solutions, evaluate the alternative solutions, determine the best solution, revise the project plan, implement the solution, and determine whether the problem has been solved.

Good time management is essential for a high-performance project team.