7 Secrets to Successful Project Manager/Team Collaboration

Elisa Cepale

As project managers, it’s important that we know how to best support our development teams (and vice versa), especially in Agile environments. At White October we continuously reflect on our process to refine the way we work.

Here is what we learned from an invaluable brainstorming session with our Tech Lead. A lot of the points below relate to teams in Agile environments, but can apply to any type of project team.

Secret #1: Set the pace in the beginning

The start of the project is paced by a series of activities andworkshops to set the project vision, internal and external objectives, and theproject deliverables.

A project manager knows that these project fundamentals willguide decisions throughout the project, so their role in this initial phase isto support the team in forming a shared understanding and clear definitions ofthese fundamentals.

By setting a common basis the team will have a clear focus tosupport the decision-makingprocess, and ways to measure whether success is achieved.

Secret #2: Be clear on the structure expected

To ensure that the project direction doesn’t get compromised bythe lack of a good plan, the project manager chooses the most appropriateapproach to follow for the delivery of the project. Approaches you mightconsider in an Agile environment are Scrum,Kanban or Scrumban, but there are others.

Discuss and agree this approach with the team so that they haveall the information they need about the schedule, resources,type of activities, communications and ceremonies that are expected to takeplace during the project.

An unstructured project is frustrating and confusing for the teamand it is the responsibility of the project manager to ensure such structure isin place to facilitate team activities and discussions.

In the Planning phase, the project manager also defines internaland external communications. At White October, we encourage directcommunication between the development team and clients. However, at times, thePM should consider taking on client liaisons about specific issues, either toadd context to the matter, or simply to protect the team’s time.

Secret #3: Help the team track the work

In the Activity Planning phase, the project manager works withthe team to identify the tasks needed to accomplish the objectives that wereset in the initial phase.

These can be broken down in smaller, more manageable sub-tasksand estimated by the team.

Tasks are continually added during the project. These can relateto technical debt, bugs, new requirements, etc. The project manager ensuresthat these tasks are recorded as needed. It’s vital that they clarify to the teamwhere tasks should be logged and what the expectations and schedule to completethem are, so that the team doesn’t become concerned about tasks getting lost.

In some cases you might decide that it’s not necessary to recordcertain bugs if they won’t be worked on during the project lifetime. In thatcase, communicate this decision to the team as soon as possible.

Secret #4: Facilitate prioritization

Once the project is set up, milestones identified, and a backlog is created, a key responsibility for the project manager is to support the development team in organizing their workload.

This is something that as a PM, you will be working on with theteam throughout the project and includes:

Prioritizing tasks (especially when everything seems important) and epicsScheduling time (in the chosen resource management system).

In an Agile team, the team agrees what tasks should be worked onand what tasks can be deferred to later in the project. The project managershould be as explicit as they can when indicating task priorities, to allow theteam to stay focused on the assigned tasks for the current build/sprint.

Secret #5: Support time management

The project manager sets the project timeline and communicatesexpectations to the team at the beginning of the project. However, at times,resource requirements, blocks, and other issues may put the team’s time on theproject at risk.

The team will require the support of the project manager to liaise with others regarding their time when this is being requested for other work. It is the project manager’s responsibility to discuss priorities with the resource manager and management, and re-book, re-prioritize or re-assign the work accordingly (including updating the resource management system).

The project manager helps the team when focus is required by supporting a quick resolution of roadblocks on projects and taking ownership of timescale issues. The team can then return their focus to the project work, avoiding distractions or unnecessary stress around timescales.

Secret #6: Manage reports and documentation

Keeping documentation and producing reports is an essential partof any project management role. On a day-to-day level, the team relies on the projectmanager to take notes inmeetings and produce summary reports of what’s been discussed and agreed.

Documentation also helps the team to remember goals, objectives,and any other details throughout the project.

Project managers monitor the team progress and have a goodunderstanding of the project status at all times, which they communicateregularly to the team and stakeholders. The updates will include the risksidentified by the team associated with the project, to help the wider teamdefine actions to address these project issues.

Secret #7: Motivate the team

Last but not least, the project manager above everyone elseshould support and inspire the team and establish a trusting relationship withthem. Project managers should ensure that all team members’ views are sharedthroughout the project from the beginning. Every team needs to know that theirwork, their questions, and their concerns are valued.

The team’s work should be reviewed regularly by the clientthrough demos and sprint reviews to ensure that they receive the feedback theyneed to help them advance to the finish line, but also to give them a chance toshow the client the good work they do.

People in your team are the most important asset for the successof the project. Through understanding these secrets for better collaborationbetween the team leader and the team members, you can guide and support yourteam while getting great results for your clients.

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This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management