Damian PereraMonitoring & Evaluation Specialist| ChrysalisMellawagedara, Western Province, Sri Lanka
As a project manager you can help your project team to achieve more or less. What techniques do you use to improve productivity of your project team? Saving Changes...
RAJESH K LProject Manager, PMP| Bharat Electronics, Bengaluru, IndiaBengaluru, Karnataka, India
Hi Damian,
There are several ways to achieve improved productivity. One of them is to use Six Sigma Concepts. Use automation tools whereever work is happening manually. Saving Changes...
Alok PriyadarshiProject Manager| Tata Consulting Engineers LimitedJamshedpur, Jharkhand, India
Agree with Rajesh.
Proper job allocation and effective delegation of jobs are key to improve productivity of project team. Reduction in rework by understanding of requirements may also improve productivity. Saving Changes...
1. Reduce multitasking - focus improves flow
2. Conduct regular retrospectives to identify improvement opportunities and implement them
3. Remove identified blockers quickly
Kiron Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Empower your team to make decisions and entrust them to contribute to the project. It's important to allow experienced professionals to showcase their talents. They were brought onboard for a reason right. Lead them by providing a direction and allow for them to help get to the goal.
Also important to provide motivation and rewards. Even if a simple fist bump to say 'you're rockin' it. Take notice of the exceptional work by the team and individuals. For those struggling, provide leadership, mentorship, and empathy to help get them where they need to be.
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1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Aug 18, 2018 1:18 PM
Adrian Carlogea
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I will never understand what people mean by empowering the project team. In my opinion the project team members are already empowered to take decisions in their areas of expertise.
For instance if you have a solution architect on a project team he/she would have by default all the power to take the decisions related to his/her work. The SA does not need to be empowered by the PM to take those decisions and usually the PM does not even have the authority or the knowledge to override the architects decisions.
In my opinion empowering is when a senior expert serving as a project technical lead lets a more junior expert to take decisions on his behalf.
Empowering by the project manager could mean that the PM asks the team members to perform tasks that are not related to their expertise but to project management. I believe that many team members, especially the technical ones, would not be too happy to be involved in project management.
Saving Changes...
Jesus MartheynProject Manager SR Lvl 2| GlobantMedellin, Antioquia, Colombia
HI Damian,
Well as an agile project manager, I can say that I try to follow some recommendations from the Scrum framework but also some complementaries. Some of then, I explain below:
1- Empower the team. I try the team feels with empowerment, so in that way I try the team feels important.
2- Not multitask. I plan releases considering the capacity of work available and I consider a float, just in case a task delays.
3- Recognize the best team members by sharing at the end of every month a top 3. In that way I try they feel encouraged to try doing their work better.
4- Listen carefuly their needs and worries. I try to avoid noise in the communications. Saving Changes...
Empower your team to make decisions and entrust them to contribute to the project. It's important to allow experienced professionals to showcase their talents. They were brought onboard for a reason right. Lead them by providing a direction and allow for them to help get to the goal.
Also important to provide motivation and rewards. Even if a simple fist bump to say 'you're rockin' it. Take notice of the exceptional work by the team and individuals. For those struggling, provide leadership, mentorship, and empathy to help get them where they need to be.
I will never understand what people mean by empowering the project team. In my opinion the project team members are already empowered to take decisions in their areas of expertise.
For instance if you have a solution architect on a project team he/she would have by default all the power to take the decisions related to his/her work. The SA does not need to be empowered by the PM to take those decisions and usually the PM does not even have the authority or the knowledge to override the architects decisions.
In my opinion empowering is when a senior expert serving as a project technical lead lets a more junior expert to take decisions on his behalf.
Empowering by the project manager could mean that the PM asks the team members to perform tasks that are not related to their expertise but to project management. I believe that many team members, especially the technical ones, would not be too happy to be involved in project management.
...
1 reply by Thomas Walenta
Aug 19, 2018 2:56 AM
Thomas Walenta
...
First, empowering the team is different from empowering individuals.
Second, even an empowered specialist cannot make all decisions, as he only knows about his specialty, not the full picture.
In your example, the solution architect can recommend decisions about the architecture, but if they mean to increase the budget or lengthen the project, they might not be acceptable.
In a high performing team, other specialists could reign in on him and there is the possibility of decisions reflecting all aspects. If there is a project manager in charge, his task is to integrate all aspects.
Saving Changes...
Henry HattenrathProject Consultant| Tectonic Engineering MSA LLCNew York, Ny, United States
Here is a To Do List to improve productivity of project teams:
1. Simply Processes
2. Simply Procedures
3. Follow the Plans
4. Follow the Contract (s)
5. Expedite Decisions
6. Assure data and metrics are aligned with project domain
7. Encourage face-to-face interactions of project participants
8. Visit and observe the project office and project site
9. Regularly inform the team and individuals on performance, achievements, work quality and on the client’s constructive reviews. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
I second Kiron, Jesus and Andrew.
A prerequisite of making the team productive (efficient) is to make them a trustful team. So I recommend to reframe the problem: how to instill trust within the team? Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Aug 18, 2018 1:18 PM
Replying to Adrian Carlogea
...
I will never understand what people mean by empowering the project team. In my opinion the project team members are already empowered to take decisions in their areas of expertise.
For instance if you have a solution architect on a project team he/she would have by default all the power to take the decisions related to his/her work. The SA does not need to be empowered by the PM to take those decisions and usually the PM does not even have the authority or the knowledge to override the architects decisions.
In my opinion empowering is when a senior expert serving as a project technical lead lets a more junior expert to take decisions on his behalf.
Empowering by the project manager could mean that the PM asks the team members to perform tasks that are not related to their expertise but to project management. I believe that many team members, especially the technical ones, would not be too happy to be involved in project management.
First, empowering the team is different from empowering individuals.
Second, even an empowered specialist cannot make all decisions, as he only knows about his specialty, not the full picture.
In your example, the solution architect can recommend decisions about the architecture, but if they mean to increase the budget or lengthen the project, they might not be acceptable.
In a high performing team, other specialists could reign in on him and there is the possibility of decisions reflecting all aspects. If there is a project manager in charge, his task is to integrate all aspects. Saving Changes...
Gina AbudiPresident| Abudi Consulting LLCAmherst, Nh, United States
I kick off each team with a team building activity, which helps them to develop strong relationships and establish trust - thereby enabling them to collaborate more effectively. I also utilize technology to help collaboration - especially for global teams. In particular I use Microsoft SharePoint but there are so many other options, too! Saving Changes...
