Self-managed teams and Project Management

Dear Luis,

If a project does not have a project manager then you have decision by consensus process a not decisions making process by any authority. Also their is no continuity in management style within the team and the mood and confidence of the team could change with the weather. Also this would be the case for a rotating project manager system. We have already discussed attributes required for a project manager and they need the ability to rise above the internal operations of the team in order to ensure that the project in on target, meeting requirements and budget and not be caught up in the internal dynamics of the team. If you were to 'upgrade' a self managing team to the management of an organisation then we would all live in a commune.

Daire

PMs will still be needed for larger scale or complex initiatives where multiple well-managed teams are involved but they may not always be called PMs.

Most Project Managers are not real managers in the sense that nobody directly reports to them. Project team members report to their line managers and those line managers actually manage them and not the PM.

While the project team is executing the project the PM just tracks and reports the progress without getting involved too much into the details of the work. Also the PM ensures that what is done is part of the scope and also that there is budget allocated for the work being done.

PMs have many other duties outside the project team and those duties have to be performed by someone no matter if the team is self-organized or not.

I have seen software development projects that used Scrum to develop the software but still had a PM to deal with client relationship, high level scope management, finance, etc. If the team hadn't used Scrum the PM would have still been there doing the same job.

Conclusion: the PM role will survive no matter if the teams are self-organized or not since leading the team at the work level is not the main responsibility of the Project Manager.

Dear Luis,

'What prevents self-managed teams from being able to interface with organizational governance beyond the product?'

Short answer: the lack of communication capabilities of their members.

When I saw teams without a PM, this role was often emulated by the scrum master. They normally have the best communication behaviors towards the team and also towards the outside. While they can be servant leaders inside, they should be strong negotiators in the outside world, which often is a jungle.

Team members in their specific roles often are product and technology oriented and avoid being exposed to the corporate world. They should be client oriented but often are not. A scrum master and product owner also serve as translators between the technical and business cultures. This is also required by the team interface to the outside world.

If any team member would be allowed to speak for the team, this would result in a cacophony of opinions, lack of decision making and confusion on both sides. Every functional team has a (one) speaker with delegated authority.

Dear Thomas
Thank you for your opinion

Has it occurred to you that all people can learn if they wish and that we are facing a paradigm shift about the way of working (methods and organization)?

PMs will still be needed for larger scale or complex initiatives where multiple well-managed teams are involved but they may not always be called PMs.

I once worked on a project as the single project team member. I was reporting directly to the functional manager but still a PM worked on the project and the project I think was also part of a program. I only saw the PM once and just said hello and shaked his hand. All the communication with the PM was done by the functional manager so as the single project team member I never had to talk with him again.

Large organizations would always be using PMs even for small projects to handle at least the administrative work needed by the project.

The need for the PM may not be to lead the project team as there are other people more qualified to do this but to handle purely project management issues. If the project is delivered to an external customer the PM is needed to be the main point of contact for the customer and also to negotiate with the customers scope and financial related issues.

The size of the project or whether or not the team is self-organized does not have much to do with the need for a PM. Small organization may however not hire dedicated PMs but instead they may give the role to another team member in addition to other duties he may have.

Hi Luis,

yes and no.

People are different and will learn what they think is most valuable for them. In any point in time there will be good communicators and bad ones, and some inbetween. The team better had its best communicator communicating (and its best developer coding).

A paradym shift from one perspective might look like a stable attitude from the other. The perspective of agilstas seems to driven by the intention to make a difference. With lots of ideas and discoveries that were around before they were born.
Humans are similar in most aspects since 100000 years and certainly how they behave in tribes.

A self-managed team is a group of employees that's responsible and accountable for all or most aspects of ...[the project].
The project still has to be managed whether its a named individual (PM) or by consensus (team effort). I suppose in a true self-managed team, the team determines the model it will follow in delivering the project - traditional project management with structure or something else. Thus the role of the PM, if one is named, would be determined by the team.
A project team, self-managed or otherwise, is typically made up of SMEs and hangers on (juniors) and, depending on the size and complexity, maybe some administrative staff. Most people think of SMEs as staff with specific disciplines or expertise (hence the acronym) mechanical, electrical, civil, architecture, IT specialists, programmers, etc.
I see project management as a discipline and the PM a project management SME - it is a subject matter and he is (should be) an expert.
Staffing a project, self-managed or otherwise, without an project management SME is high risk as he should be bringing all the project management functions or elements - cost, time, quality, communications, risk, procurement, integration, etc. I'm sure some will argue that the other traditional SMEs can do that but they should be focused on their areas of expertise. I wouldn't want electrical work assigned to a civil engineer, although he may be able to turn on the lights - so why would I assign the electrical engineer to the project management role?
Now, on a simple straight forward repetitive project maybe the roles can be combined. In that case the person assigned two hats should find a way to differentiate between the roles.