Ten Qualities of an Effective Team Player. If you were choosing team members for a business team in your organization, who would the best team players be?
Assuming that people have the right technical skills for the work to be done, what other factors would you use to select your team members? Teams need strong team players to perform well. But what defines such people? Read on. (Also, check out How to Hire the Best Brains for the Best Team for some tips on putting a team together.) Demonstrates reliability You can count on a reliable team member who gets work done and does his fair share to work hard and meet commitments.
Communicates constructively Teams need people who speak up and express their thoughts and ideas clearly, directly, honestly, and with respect for others and for the work of the team. Listens actively Good listeners are essential for teams to function effectively. Functions as an active participant Good team players are active participants. Shares openly and willingly Good team players share. Exhibits flexibility. Requirements Gathering 101. Requirements gathering is an essential part of any project and project management.
Understanding fully what a project will deliver is critical to its success. This may sound like common sense, but surprisingly it's an area that is often given far too little attention. Many projects start with the barest headline list of requirements, only to find later the customers' needs have not been properly understood. One-way to avoid this problem is by producing a statement of requirements. This document is a guide to the main requirements of the project. A succinct requirement specification for management purposes.A statement of key objectives - a "cardinal points" specification.A description of the environment in which the system will work.Background information and references to other relevant material.Information on major design constraints.
The contents of the statement of requirements should be stable or change relatively slowly. 10 Rules for Successful Requirements Gathering Common Mistakes. How to Create a Gantt Chart Using Microsoft Excel. A Gantt chart is a popular project management bar chart that tracks tasks across time.
When first developed in 1917, the Gantt chart did not show the relationships between tasks. This has become common in current use, as both time and interdependencies between tasks are tracked. Since their first introduction, Gantt charts have become an industry standard. They are an important project management tool used for showing the phases, tasks, milestones and resources needed as part of a project. This video presentation is a step-by-step guide to creating a Gantt chart using Microsoft Excel 2007. Project Planning A Step by Step Guide The key to a successful project is in the planning. How to Plan and Schedule More Complex Projects How to create a Gantt chart step-by-step. 17 "Must Ask" Questions for Planning Successful Projects Why do some projects proceed without a hitch, yet others flounder? Belbin's Team Roles Roles: The Simplified Project Management Process.
One of the challenges of explaining project management to people who are unfamiliar with the approach, is that descriptions are often either so high-level as to be meaningless, or so detailed that they are overwhelming.
Over the years, I have come to use a model as a framework for introducing and discussing project management tools and techniques. It can be used as the basis for a five-minute explanation of what is involved in project management, but also as an outline for more detailed discussions. (The actual model can be found on the Key Consulting website under free templates and info.) A brief description of each step follows: Assemble Team The project planning team will be assembled, including appropriate representation from customers/clients, and sometimes subcontractors and vendors. Deliverables: Initial project setup documentation. Define Project Objective With the project team in place, the overall project purpose will be verified and detailed project objectives developed.