Effective Project Management: Traditional, Agile, Extreme, 7th Edition

Chapter 14

Organizing Multiple Team Projects

The productivity of a work group seems to depend on how the group members see their own goals in relation to the goals of the organization.

—Paul Hersey, California American University, and Kenneth H. Blanchard, University of Massachusetts

CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, you will be able to:

• Define the multiple team (multi-team) project situation
• Know the different types and complexities of multi-team projects
• Understand the challenges presented by multi-team projects

In larger organizations, it is not unusual for projects to draw independent teams from across the organization. These teams often come with their own tools, templates, and processes, which they expect to be using to complete their work on this project. In fact, with the added need for globalization affecting nearly every application, most, if not all, projects will involve more than one team. This chapter examines this unique but growing situation and explores several ways to scope, organize, plan, and manage such projects.

What Is a Multiple Team Project?

The multi-team projects that populate the project portfolio of large organizations are unlike any other development projects found today. If you organize business initiatives around client groups and business units, any project that crosses client lines gives rise to a multi-team project. The temptation is to let each team act on its own, with some integrating activity at the end to “glue” ...