Organizing Large Project Teams, part 2

Another type of large project team can be termed as a “Foosball” team or a static team. For those who may not know, Foosball is, according to Webster.com, a table game resembling soccer in which the ball is moved by manipulating rods to which small figures of players are attached (also called table soccer). Two to four players can play at a time to win the game.

The thing about that connects a “Foosball” team to a project team is the fact that both can become static. In a sense, not moving or changing it’s strategy. Constantly doing the same thing can cause either to become static and prevent the team from growing. However, a static project team can get past the “static” phase by choosing to change different aspects of it’s operations.

Case study 2: Foosball Project Team

Image: www.SXC.hu

The whole plan of Foosball is to make sure your ball goes into your opponent’s goal while stopping it from going into yours by using the player rods that you push, pull and turn. This is related to a project team in the following ways:

• Static positions: no matter how much you push, pull, or turn the handles in foosball, the players stay on the same particlar row. No room for growth within a project team can cause the team members to become static and thus affecting the project.
• Tunnel view: because one of the objects is to make a goal, sometimes you can become so concentrated on doing that, you may forget to gaurd against your opponent’s attempt to make a goal. Within a project team, it is important to keep in mind that a broad view is good to have as well as a focused view so that you can keep all aspects of the project in focus. Allowing both views to be a part of your project team may allow you to see upcoming project issues and give you an opportunity to plan on how to handle them strategically.
• Loosing control: when playing foosball, sometimes it’s hard not to lose control of the ball and your foosball players. To gain control in foosball, it takes practice and the honing of your skills. Just the same when dealing with a project team, it takes practice and the honing of your skills as a project manager in order to continuously stay in control of your team. If you find that control is slipping out of your hands, it’s always a good idea to regroup everyone, analyze what’s going on with the team and then make a plan on how to get control back.