was some discussion around roles and responsibilities - with team members vying
for "key" positions on the team - overall there was agreement on what needed to
get done and who was responsible for particular components of the project.
The onsite /..
The onsite meeting is going well. The team members are getting to know each
other and have been discussing their personal lives outside of work - hobbies,
family, etc. Sandra is thinking that this is a great sign that they will get along well
- they are engaged with each other and genuinely seem to like each other!
The Project Work Begins (Stage 2: Storming)
The team members have gone back to their home offices and are beginning work
on their project. They are interacting via the SharePoint site and the project is off
to a good start. And then the arguments begin.
Peter has put up the project schedule based on conversations with only
Mohammed and Ameya on the team. Donna and Sarah feel as if their input to the
schedule was not considered. They believe because they are more junior on the
team, Peter has completely disregarded their concerns about the timeline for the
project. They challenged Peter's schedule, stating that it was impossible to
achieve and was setting up the team for failure. At the same time, Sarah was
arguing with Ameya over who should lead the database design and development
effort for this project. While Sarah acknowledges that Ameya has a few years
more experience than she does in database development, she only agreed to be on
this project in order to take a lead role and develop her skills further so she could
advance at the company. If she knew Ameya was going to be the lead she wouldn't
have bothered joining this project team. Additionally, Mohammed appears to be
off and running on his own, not keeping the others apprised of progress nor
keeping his information up to date on the SharePoint site. No one really knows
what he has been working on or how much progress is being made.
Sandra had initially taken a side role during these exchanges, hoping that the team
would work it out for themselves. However, she understands from past experience
managing many project teams that it is important for her to take control and guide
the team through this difficult time. She convenes all of the team members for a
virtual meeting to reiterate their roles and responsibilities (which were agreed to
in the kick- off meeting) and to ensure that they understand the goals and
objectives of the project. She made some decisions since the team couldn't come
to agreement. She determined that Ameya would lead the database development
design component of the project, working closely with Sarah so she can develop
further experience in this area. She reviewed the schedule that Peter created with
the team, making adjustments where necessary to address the concerns of Donna
and Sarah. She reminded Mohammed that this is a team effort and he needs to
work closely with the others on the team.