The Incredible Shrinking Team: Firms Can Benefit From Lean Teams

  PM Network  

Whether it’s by design or default, not every project comes with a grand vision, a healthy budget and a nice, big team. And with the global economy in decline, lean teams are simply a fact of life.

The prospect of working with a small team might make some project managers shudder. But Greg Vukasovic, PMP, actually relishes the thought.

“People admire lean teams, they look positively on it. When people see a lean team, they see people who must, by definition, be working hard and being productive,” says Mr. Vukasovic, a principal at Moorhouse Consulting, London, England. “Conversely, these days most organizations have slimmed down so much that if a project is not lean, or has some extra resources, that gets people griping.”

Indeed, project managers may even find there are some hidden benefits to lean teams.

New agility

Randy Bennett, PMP, saw the project management office at Fiserv cut from nine to six because of the downturn. And that meant a new approach to projects at the Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, USA business unit he is a part of.

“We’re having to narrow down the scope of what we do,” says Mr. Bennett, a senior project manager at the company. “We’re really having to cut back on things that might be important to us, but are not critical to getting the project completed.”

But …

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