Strategic Team Composition

Effective project outcomes depend on assembling the right mix of knowledge, skills and personalities. This composition equips the team to tackle complex challenges in enterprise IT projects:

• A balanced mix of technical knowledge and managerial skills is essential for managing project demands.
• Communication, adaptability, and teamwork are requisite technical abilities.
• Specialist roles must be filled with qualified and experienced participants.

Proactive Leadership

Leading enterprise IT projects entails active engagement and a proactive approach:

• Leaders should break down silos and foster a collaborative environment where team members understand each other’s roles.
• Promoting inclusion and diversity enriches solutions and enhances the team's resilience to unexpected challenges.
• Assigning task ownership boosts team members' motivation and accountability, essential for maintaining morale.

Continuous Learning and Development

A commitment to continuous learning ensures that participants stay current with technological advancements and best practices:

• Offer structured training on project delivery and discipline frameworks.
• Encourage upskilling and knowledge sharing.
• Align learning opportunities with participants' career aspirations.

Below is a case study showcasing the practical application of strategic team composition, proactive leadership, and continuous learning in a real-world scenario.

Background

Digital Data, a software development company, faced a significant challenge with Project Zombie, which sought to improve a key client's data management system. Deadlines had been missed, team morale was low, and client trust was eroding.

The Turnaround Team

Understanding the project's critical nature, Howie selected professionals with essential technical knowledge and strong communication and teamwork skills. This approach emphasised skill alignment, highlighting that technical and interpersonal abilities are equally vital for project success.

Assembling the Right Team

Understanding the critical nature of Project Zombie, Howie selected project professionals with the necessary technical knowledge and strong communication and teamwork skills.

Encouraging Collaboration

To dismantle silos, Howie organised cross-functional workshops, enhancing team understanding of individual contributions and fostering unity and purpose. This proactive leadership approach encouraged a collaborative environment, ensuring all team members could contribute meaningfully.

Championing Diversity and Inclusion

Howie diversified the team by including individuals from various backgrounds, which brought innovative solutions and increased resilience to unexpected challenges. This focus on diversity enriched the problem-solving process and enhanced team adaptability.

Empowering Team Members

Howie empowered participants by assigning task ownership and promoting decision-making at all levels. Recognising small achievements significantly boosts morale and commitment, which is essential for high engagement and productivity.

Promoting Talent and Leadership Development

Recognising the importance of continuous professional development, Howie paired seasoned participants with less experienced ones and facilitated leadership training sessions. This commitment to learning ensured that all team members were equipped to take on leadership roles.

Outcome

Within six months, Project Zombie made a dramatic comeback and met its initial goals. The client was impressed, and Digital Data's reputation for managing complex IT projects improved significantly. The Zombie team became a model for effective project execution.

Addressing Misalignment in People and Project Enablers

Challenges of One-Size-Fits-All Project Enablers

Organisations invest heavily in developing project methodologies and technological aids, known as project enablers, expecting these tools to directly contribute to project success.

Executives who signed-off on implementing project enablers mandate strict adherence to these tools, anticipating positive outcomes to be reflected in their performance reviews and key performance Indicators (KPIs). However, often overlooked is the consideration for aligning project requirements given there is no one-size-fits-all model that can be universally adopted for all project types. Mismatches arise when specific enablers do not meet project needs or when teams lack the necessary competency to operate within the standards of these enablers. It is common to use the tight delivery timeframes as an excuse for projects to seek exemptions from these mandates.

Overemphasising Tool Proficiency in Hiring

To justify the implementation of enterprise project enablers, recruiters often specify experience with particular delivery models and tools as essential criteria. This emphasis leads candidates to prioritise learning these tools, often at the expense of fundamental project delivery skills. This disconnect undermines basic project competencies, resulting in participants being proficient in delivery processes and project tools but struggling to fulfil the basic responsibilities of their roles.

The Realities of Human Resource Investments in Enterprise IT Projects

The costs associated with an enterprise IT project are substantial, with spending on human resources often exceeding the cost of technology. This emphasises the idea that people are key to project success. While the saying ‘you get what you pay for’ is often cited in the context of securing quality, the reality is ‘you get what you get despite what you pay for’ in enterprise IT projects. This creates a dynamic where substantial investments in people do not guarantee excellent performance.

Wingers demonstrate how individual traits and approaches can significantly impact project success. The following case study explores these dynamics, showing the consequences when project roles are not filled with appropriately skilled and experienced individuals, as is the case with wingers.

Background

Billy V. Ball, an independent contractor, is known for his high confidence and unstructured approach to project management. He dismisses industry-standard frameworks and best practices, believing that his experience and the improvised methods of his project team are sufficient to navigate the complexities of enterprise IT projects.

The Project and the Challenge

Project Overreach aims to develop a sophisticated data analysis platform for Data Dynamics Ltd., a significant client. The organisation has established enterprise frameworks, standards, and best practices for its IT initiatives.

Approach

From the outset, Billy and his team undermine the prescribed frameworks, believing their improvised methods and ad-hoc tactics will lead to quicker delivery. Billy's primary strategy involves pushing ahead without substantial planning, relying heavily on trial and error. This approach leads to several critical issues:

• Repeated missteps: The team misses several deadlines, such as failing to submit comprehensive requirements by the target dates.
• Quality concerns: The requirements submitted are inaccurate and incomplete despite multiple client engagements covering the same topics. 
• Team morale decline: Team members struggle with unclear direction and repeated rework, which affects overall morale.

Consequence

The challenges become evident when the client conducts a mid-project health check. The findings are overwhelmingly negative, highlighting the project's failure to meet critical milestones. Additionally, the quality of deliverables is poor, characterised by incomplete and inaccurate details, such as missing data sets and erroneous analytics.

In response, the organisation's leadership intervenes, assigning a new project manager, Dawn Pitt, who reinstates the organisation's frameworks, standards, and best practices.

Resolution

With the reintroduction of structured approaches, Project Overreach begins to improve. Dawn focuses on realigning the team with the organisation's standards, providing clear guidelines and reassessing team competencies. Gradually, the project gets back on track and receives positive feedback from the client.

In response, the organisation's leadership intervenes, assigning a new project manager, Dawn Putt, who reinstates the organisation's frameworks, standards, and best practices.