Imagine the scenario where you are the Coach (forget the time and nationality), and the best football players are on your team: Pelé, Maradona, Platine, Becker, Neymar, Messi, Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zidane, among other players.
The perfect team to win the World Cup and become the best team of all time. However, even though you have on your team the best players, there is no cooperation between them ... There are no ball pass when the team has a player in a better position to score. Everyone wants to score the goal, everyone wants to be the main star of the team and win the award for best player in the world.
What do you do as the Coach (project manager) this team for all players to work cooperatively "pass the ball" and play their role in the best way and win the World Cup (deliver the project)? Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Aug 04, 2016 2:14 PM
Replying to Sergio Luis Conte
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Stéphane, you take a great point. First of all, sorry about I intervene lot of times but it is a topic I have studied a lot mainly from two sports I have the opportunity to play as a professional player (tennis and futbol) and being a coach (tennis). In 1986 the Argetina´s futbol (this is the right way to name what in USA is footbal soccer) was World Champion. The coach, Carlos Salvador Bilardo, because he had no possiblitity to take the team together, traveled a lot from 1982 to 1986 to each location where each player was located (the players were playing outside Argentina). Bilardo explained to each player, in theory and practice, the function, movements and objectives each once have to achieve in the field. But here, a critical an ancient point arrives: you, as the coach, must gain confidence for the team. You, as the coach, must gain respect from the team. An NBA example comes to my mind, perhaps because an Argentine player is there: San Antonio Spurs. I have not enough information to talk about (so I could be wrong) but the team have stars and nobody discuss Mr. Gregg Popovich decisions or way to behave as a team.
Most sports fit the typical project team dynamics, where each person must work individually well to have the total sum of their work produce the expected results. This is true of fútbol, hockey, basketball and baseball.
You can be the best scorer in the league but if you do not have someone who can pass you the ball, you won't produce goals. It is the same in a project team. Saving Changes...
I believe that the comparison between a sports team head coach/manager and a project manager is wrong. The coach of a sports team mainly provides technical leadership to his/her team and as such he is basically a functional manager.
In order to be the coach of a sports team you must have a deep understanding of the game or in other word you must be a subject matter expert. While it is theoretically possible to be a coach without previously being a player in practice this is virtually impossible. I have never heard of a coach that was not previously a player.
I don't deny the fact the a coach must also rely on his soft skills in order to lead the team but I believe that the hard (technical) skills are much more important.
I also think that the answer yo to your question is very easy. In a football team the players are not allowed to run freely on the field and do whatever they see fit to score. Each player has a specific position on the field and must fulfill a specific task.
For each game situation each players knows where he must be and what to do. It is the coach who assigns to each player the position on the field and the task he must perform. The only exception would be the goalkeeper since his position and task are more then obvious.
In conclusion it is virtually impossible for all the players to want to score as they most obey the instructions of the coach and stay in their assigned positions. While theoretically any player could score only those designated as forward players have actually the task to score.
If the players don't stay in their position and don't do what they have been told by the coach then the coach will inflict punishments which can go up to the the removal from the team of the offender.
If the team is composed entirely of super stars then the coach will assign a position for each player. Obviously there are going to be multiple players for the same position so the coach will send in the field at the beginning of the match the players he thinks are the best for their specific position. The other players will stay on the bench as substitutes.
A football team is not based on the free collaboration between the players but instead the whole structure of the team is being built by the coach and the players must execute the strategy defined by him. Saving Changes...
More often than not, top stars wear their egos on sleeves. In the case in question, managing their egos and make them gel together as a team is the challenge. If that is managed properly, more than half of the battle is won and you are the leader of the invincibles. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Adrian: I understood that Gisele is talking about how to manage this type of teams with super starts. I have faced this type of situations when I have to manage a team of people that are super starts or think they are. About fulbol, I could agree with you about the coach could be a SME in the sport and the PM is not, but on the other points the team behaive in the same way in a project and it is not exactly right what you state. But futbol is not the discussion matters I think.
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1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Aug 05, 2016 6:14 PM
Adrian Carlogea
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If you don't mind, how did you manage that team of people that think they are super stars? Did you provide technical leadership to them? Did you tell them how to do their jobs? I am not sure if you are working in IT, but if you are then were you the solution/software architect or technical lead?
I know that as a general rule PMs don't manage the technical aspects of the projects on which they are being involved but the managers of football/sports teams do tell players how to play in effect providing technical leadership to them. Unlike a PM a sports team coach/manager is deeply technically involved in the work of his team.
The best former players are not automatically the best coaches/team managers but you can't be a coach if you have never played the sport or don't have a deep understanding of it. The same is true for engineering, the best engineer is not automatically the best engineering manager, but you can't really be an engineering manager if you don't have some experience as an engineer.
In my opinion being a leader is not all about organizing and reporting the work of other people or engaging and motivating them to do the work. Leadership is also about taking decisions of technical nature that the team most follow. That's exactly what a coach/sports team manger does, he/she defines the strategy and the tactics of the team and tells each player were and how to play.
If the coach defines good tactics, optimally assigns positions and tasks to his players then you will not end up with all of the players trying to prove themselves by trying to score. In order for the coach to do this he needs to make use of his/her subject matter expertise which involves deep understanding of the game from a technical point of view. That's why I believe that the coach is similar to a technical leader or functional manager and not to a project manager.
I think taking the time to go through the processes of forming a team before you start a project. It's important to not just jump straight in but take time to build a team. Even if they've been working together before. If there's a new person on the team, they should be encorporated accordingly.
It's important to do this before you start so that you can avoid difficulties during the project itself (and trust me that these issues will come if you don't take the time initially) Saving Changes...
Adrian: I understood that Gisele is talking about how to manage this type of teams with super starts. I have faced this type of situations when I have to manage a team of people that are super starts or think they are. About fulbol, I could agree with you about the coach could be a SME in the sport and the PM is not, but on the other points the team behaive in the same way in a project and it is not exactly right what you state. But futbol is not the discussion matters I think.
If you don't mind, how did you manage that team of people that think they are super stars? Did you provide technical leadership to them? Did you tell them how to do their jobs? I am not sure if you are working in IT, but if you are then were you the solution/software architect or technical lead?
I know that as a general rule PMs don't manage the technical aspects of the projects on which they are being involved but the managers of football/sports teams do tell players how to play in effect providing technical leadership to them. Unlike a PM a sports team coach/manager is deeply technically involved in the work of his team.
The best former players are not automatically the best coaches/team managers but you can't be a coach if you have never played the sport or don't have a deep understanding of it. The same is true for engineering, the best engineer is not automatically the best engineering manager, but you can't really be an engineering manager if you don't have some experience as an engineer.
In my opinion being a leader is not all about organizing and reporting the work of other people or engaging and motivating them to do the work. Leadership is also about taking decisions of technical nature that the team most follow. That's exactly what a coach/sports team manger does, he/she defines the strategy and the tactics of the team and tells each player were and how to play.
If the coach defines good tactics, optimally assigns positions and tasks to his players then you will not end up with all of the players trying to prove themselves by trying to score. In order for the coach to do this he needs to make use of his/her subject matter expertise which involves deep understanding of the game from a technical point of view. That's why I believe that the coach is similar to a technical leader or functional manager and not to a project manager. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Adrian: the coach will not say to Messi how to execute a kick. It could be, but is not the coach`s work. In fact, if the coach is in this situation then the coach is in a big problem. That is technical leadership. The coach`s work is, as you mentioned, to define strategy and tactic. And is the same for project manager related to the project. The worst situation is when you, as project management, has to be a technical leader. That is the situation when organizations search for a project manager with expertisse in a field. And that is wrong,. The results are catastrophics. PLEASE, take into account I have faced situation and sometimes I am involved on this type of situations too.
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1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Aug 08, 2016 3:13 AM
Adrian Carlogea
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Sergio do you honestly believe that a project manager or someone who has previously managed teams can be the coach of a sports team even if he/she has never played that sport or does not have a deep technical understanding of the sport?
In order to define the strategy and the tactics of a football team you need to have a deep technical understanding of the game. I honestly couldn't image how someone who has no connection with the game of football (in other words no technical background) can be a coach or team manager.
In a software development project the technical lead doesn't tell the developers how to write the algorithms to implement functions and methods but he decides the technical architecture of the software in the same way a coach defines the strategy and the tactics of the team. Large software development efforts may have a dedicated software architect but even he must have a deep technical understanding of software development in order to do his job.
I strongly agree that it is not a good idea for the roles of PM and technical lead to be played by the same person ( with the exception of less complex projects) but a PM that is not also a technical lead will not be able to provide full leadership to the team. In this case the leadership of the project team is being split between the PM and the technical lead/leads. The project manager however because of his lack of technical knowledge will not be able to control the decisions taken by the technical leads meaning that a lot of decisions in the project are going to be taken with the PM having absolutely no say in them.
Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Fully agree with your point of view, Sergio.
The most interesting projects are the ones that nobody has done before.
So there is no technical experience anyhow and we have to rely on leadership, passion and inspiring people. Example Olympic games for a country.
A good football coach employs tactical specialists, if they find a winning tactics, he will follow, if they offer two choices, he will make a decision. Saving Changes...
Adrian: the coach will not say to Messi how to execute a kick. It could be, but is not the coach`s work. In fact, if the coach is in this situation then the coach is in a big problem. That is technical leadership. The coach`s work is, as you mentioned, to define strategy and tactic. And is the same for project manager related to the project. The worst situation is when you, as project management, has to be a technical leader. That is the situation when organizations search for a project manager with expertisse in a field. And that is wrong,. The results are catastrophics. PLEASE, take into account I have faced situation and sometimes I am involved on this type of situations too.
Sergio do you honestly believe that a project manager or someone who has previously managed teams can be the coach of a sports team even if he/she has never played that sport or does not have a deep technical understanding of the sport?
In order to define the strategy and the tactics of a football team you need to have a deep technical understanding of the game. I honestly couldn't image how someone who has no connection with the game of football (in other words no technical background) can be a coach or team manager.
In a software development project the technical lead doesn't tell the developers how to write the algorithms to implement functions and methods but he decides the technical architecture of the software in the same way a coach defines the strategy and the tactics of the team. Large software development efforts may have a dedicated software architect but even he must have a deep technical understanding of software development in order to do his job.
I strongly agree that it is not a good idea for the roles of PM and technical lead to be played by the same person ( with the exception of less complex projects) but a PM that is not also a technical lead will not be able to provide full leadership to the team. In this case the leadership of the project team is being split between the PM and the technical lead/leads. The project manager however because of his lack of technical knowledge will not be able to control the decisions taken by the technical leads meaning that a lot of decisions in the project are going to be taken with the PM having absolutely no say in them.
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1 reply by Sergio Luis Conte
Aug 08, 2016 5:48 AM
Sergio Luis Conte
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I do not agree with you. And I can write about a lot of examples mainly in sports. I think you are mixing the subject matter expert with PM role. A PM has to have knowledge but not strong knowledge or expertisse. But I prefer to stop here because I think I am deviating from the core of discussion topic.
Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Aug 08, 2016 3:13 AM
Replying to Adrian Carlogea
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Sergio do you honestly believe that a project manager or someone who has previously managed teams can be the coach of a sports team even if he/she has never played that sport or does not have a deep technical understanding of the sport?
In order to define the strategy and the tactics of a football team you need to have a deep technical understanding of the game. I honestly couldn't image how someone who has no connection with the game of football (in other words no technical background) can be a coach or team manager.
In a software development project the technical lead doesn't tell the developers how to write the algorithms to implement functions and methods but he decides the technical architecture of the software in the same way a coach defines the strategy and the tactics of the team. Large software development efforts may have a dedicated software architect but even he must have a deep technical understanding of software development in order to do his job.
I strongly agree that it is not a good idea for the roles of PM and technical lead to be played by the same person ( with the exception of less complex projects) but a PM that is not also a technical lead will not be able to provide full leadership to the team. In this case the leadership of the project team is being split between the PM and the technical lead/leads. The project manager however because of his lack of technical knowledge will not be able to control the decisions taken by the technical leads meaning that a lot of decisions in the project are going to be taken with the PM having absolutely no say in them.
I do not agree with you. And I can write about a lot of examples mainly in sports. I think you are mixing the subject matter expert with PM role. A PM has to have knowledge but not strong knowledge or expertisse. But I prefer to stop here because I think I am deviating from the core of discussion topic.
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1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Aug 08, 2016 3:38 PM
Adrian Carlogea
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I know that we might have deviated a little bit from the subject but I would really appreciate it if you could give me some examples of sports team coaches who had never played the sport of their teams before becoming coaches, or who had no connections with the sport before starting in this role. For me these would be something unbelievable.
Regarding mixing the roles of PM and subject matter expert I don't think I am doing this, all I am saying is that, in my opinion, a sports team coach, because of his/her duties, is more a subject matter expert than a PM. I also said that a situation such as the one described by Gisele is unlikely to happen because the players have different positions and tasks (defined by the coach) and the coach has the formal authority to punish the players who don't respect their assignments.
