Managing a Diverse Team

When you take on the task of serving as project leader for a complex software
development effort, there are a lot of challenges ahead. And the ackone of the success
of any great software development effort is the project management team who makes the
decisions, gathers the ackground information and makes the project move foreword in a
timely and efficient fashion.
To run a project team that is guiding a development effort, you are going to need suject
matter experts from a lot of disciplines. !ou are going to need management from the "T
and the usiness side of the corporation so decisions made during team meetings have the
clout to turn into action. !ou will need heads of departments of every part of the
company to e effected y the software solution. And you are going to need technical
development people to help you make decisions aout the direction of the technical
solution and to take assignments for the next phase of the project.
When a company takes on a very large systems development project, that often means
ringing in contractors and outsourcing talent to participate in the development effort. "f
the project involves uying a vendor package and heavily modifying it to make it meet
your usiness ojectives, you will have developers and "T people from the vendor and the
corporate side of the discussion meeting together to find the right path and to research
and deliver solutions to keep the project moving forward.
The only way you can see success is to manage that team setting so these many diverse
personalities can come together as one team to get things done. #ow you facilitate not
only discussions ut teamwork etween staff "T personnel and consultants who are there
for specific parts of the project that have een outsourced can e a delicate management
challenge. !ou will need skill, tact and show leadership to make this happen. $ut if you
can get these diverse technical talents to cooperate and ecome productive as one team,
the product that comes out of their work will e much stronger and more roust than
anything they could have done separately.
%taff developers and contract software professionals come to your team meetings with
entirely different agenda. &or a staff developer, he or she will see this project as one of
many and look at it in terms of the long term affect on the company over time. The staff
person sees the jo as their home and each project as a change to that environment so
they will e more delierate ut also more defensive at times. The contractor sees the
project as an entrepreneur so the goal is for short term project success. $oth have a value
to ring to the discussion and it is up to the project leader to get the est from oth while
facilitating their cooperation.
'ne outstanding tactic when it comes to any potential source of disagreement that could
come up during a team meeting is to anticipate that conflict and head it off efore you
call the entire project team together. This means facilitating your staff "T personnel to
meet and enter into discussion aout the project and the goals and methods to e used
efore that first meeting ever occurs. This is more than just a (meet and greet) with
finger sandwiches and cookies. $y helping highly speciali*ed technical suject matters
experts egin to estalish a working relationship, you are forging partnerships that will e
productive throughout the life of the project.
!ou as the manager of the project must e ale to see the work to e done through the
eyes of oth the staff developer and the contractor and ease any misunderstandings so
oth can ring their speciali*ed talents to the tale for the mutual good of the project and
for the company. $y easing any suspicions and aove all, assuring oth staff and
consultant personnel that there is no need for insecurity or dout aout why each is there,
you can help that trust to e uilt.
$efore long, they will e aling their (techno speak) to each other and sharing their
speciali*ed knowledge so they find common ground in their love of systems
development. And that mutual and respect and shared vocaulary will turn individuals
into a team that can take this project to a successful conclusion. And then it will e time
to ring out the finger sandwiches and cookies.
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