I was recently asked to share some customer moments. One of
my defining customer moments was during a project we were doing more than 10
years ago. This was a very large elearning project to convert huge amount of
content to elearning in a short period of time. The times were short of the
volume of work and everyone was under severe pressure. This included our client
contact, who was also under pressure from her stakeholders and customers. As happens
in elearning projects, we were expecting to get content from SMEs. Our client
was managing the SMEs and they were to provide the content. There were delays
and we were having a rather tense call about how to ensure that the project
will complete on time. Given the pressures, I also reacted saying the content
has been delayed by SMEs and so we need more time. That’s when the client asked
in a terse voice as to who is project managing the project? “We are paying you
for project management and you now expect me to ensure content is on time?” For
a few moments I wasn’t sure what hit me and how to react. It was quite a
defining moment of how I view the responsibilities of a project that we
undertake.
Lately I have also been working with a lot of government
departments in India. It’s been a different experience from working with mostly
US-based enterprises. The most common challenge is getting signoffs. However
that’s not really my key learning. What I have figured while working with
government clients is primarily two things:
1) Think big. The problems government is trying to solve are
really big problems, be it at country level or at state level.
2) Align yourself with the government official's vision of
the scheme and work towards the success of the scheme, irrespective of the
scope of your project. Always have the bigger picture of what the scheme is
trying to achieve. Remember, if the scheme succeeds, your project succeeds, and
it will result in long term continuing projects. If your project succeeds but
the scheme doesn't, there will be no future projects.
What have your defining customer moments? Do share here.
I have been reading about agile development lately. One of the key components of agile development is team structuring. Typically in large organizations, content development teams are organized either as functional teams or as project teams with larger organizations typically having functional structures in place. Agile methodology suggests a more project structure. Teams work dedicatedly for the project, preferably located close to each other.
Having seen both functional team structures and project team structures, I believe both structures have their inherent strengths.
Advantage Project Teams
- Projects can be completed faster. Decisions are taken faster since the complete team is working only on one project (or a few dedicated projects). There are fewer formal hand offs between functions and therefore fewer opportunities for communication gaps. There is lesser waiting time for functional resources to be available. There are fewer review/approval cycles for each function.
- Project teams are generally more cohesive. There is better understanding between members of the project teams. The team is more aligned to the project. Functional teams are also cohesive but more towards the function than the project.
Advantage Functional Teams
- Utilization is better in functional team structures. This is specially so in larger teams. Functional experts can move from project to project faster without having to wait for one project to complete. They don’t need to be idle while waiting for client feedback, SME inputs, or any anything like that. Number of people required in each function is better optimized and you have lesser redundancy in terms of people required.
- Functional teams are more scalable. Critical skilled resources when available in a functional pool can be better utilized across the projects. Also training and development of new hires is probably easier in a functional team.
- Provides individuals with growth opportunities in functional areas. This is more so in the Indian context. Typically growth is seen as change in designation, preferably when the designation has ‘Manager’ in it. Functional team structures provide more opportunities for individuals to be functional managers. Growth in project teams is fairly hierarchical. You need to become a project manager to ‘grow’.
Both team structures have their inherent strengths. The trick is to leverage the strengths of each team structure and see if best of both is possible. Which one you choose depends on many factors, like the size of the organization, skill level available, maturity of people, scalability required etc.
Whether you chose project team structure or functional team structure, in both cases there are some common things that are a must to have a successful team/project:
- Common goal, vision
- Frequent and open communication
- Mutual respect for each function
- Good project planning and tracking
- Workflow tools (more so in larger projects)
Additional reading:
