Project Management For Dummies®

Chapter 10. Defining Team Members' Roles and Responsibilities

In This Chapter

• Characterizing authority, responsibility, and accountability

• Making key assignments

• Developing and using a Linear Responsibility Chart

• Handling micromanagement

Your project team typically includes people with different skill sets and operating styles who work in different parts of the organization. You may not have worked extensively with these people before. In addition, your project usually has a tight time schedule, and team members most likely are working on several other projects at the same time.

Success in this environment requires that you all agree how to work with each other to maximize contributions and minimize wasted time and mistakes. The team needs an approach that gives everyone confidence that members will live up to their commitments. The team leader and every team member must understand and be comfortable with the planned roles.

This chapter explains different degrees of team‐member task involvement, how to make key assignments, how to encourage people to keep their promises, how to present an overall picture of team members' roles and responsibilities, and how to handle a micromanager.

Understanding the Key Concepts

A typical project activity entails performing specific pieces of work, making decisions, and coordinating the activities of others. To accomplish the activity with a minimum of time and resources, each piece of work must be done in the correct order and each person must work at peak ...