IPM.SP 1.6 Establish Teams

The work is managed using teams that reflect the organizational rules and guidelines for team structuring, formation, and operation. (See the definition of “team” in the glossary.)

The work group's shared vision is established prior to establishing the team structure, which can be based on the WBS. For small organizations, the whole organization and relevant external stakeholders can be treated as a team.

One of the best ways to ensure coordination and collaboration with relevant stakeholders is to include them on the team.

When a work group is a service provider, one team may be responsible for overall service development and maintenance and another team responsible for service delivery. In the case of multiple critical services each requiring a different skill set, the staff associated with each service can form its own team with an objective to ensure the successful and continuing delivery of that service (or timely response to an ad-hoc request or incident resolution as appropriate).

In a customer environment that requires coordination among multiple service development or service delivery organizations, it is important to establish a team with representation from all parties that affect overall success. Such representation helps to ensure effective collaboration across these organizations, including the timely resolution of coordination issues.

Example Work Products

1. Documented shared vision
2. List of members assigned to each team
3. Team charters
4. Periodic team status reports

Subpractices

1. Establish and maintain the work group's shared vision.

When creating a shared vision, it is critical to understand the interfaces between the work group and stakeholders external to the work group. The vision should be shared among relevant stakeholders to obtain their agreement and commitment.

2. Establish and maintain the team structure.

The WBS, cost, schedule, work risks, resources, interfaces, the defined process for the work, and organizational guidelines are evaluated to establish an appropriate team structure, including team responsibilities, authorities, and interrelationships.

3. Establish and maintain each team.

Establishing and maintaining teams encompasses choosing team leaders and team members and establishing team charters for each team. It also involves providing resources required to accomplish tasks assigned to the team.

4. Periodically evaluate the team structure and composition.

Teams should be monitored to detect misalignment of work across different teams, mismanaged interfaces, and mismatches of tasks to team members. Take corrective action when team performance does not meet expectations.