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ChaPter 3 • ProjeCt management 85

It is important for a systems analyst to keep an eye on cost and address the budgetary impli-
cations when unexpected delays or cost overruns occur. An analyst must constantly balance cost,
time, and scope (that is, which systems features will be included) when working on any project.

Managing the Project Team

Along with managing time and resources, systems analysts must also manage people. Management
is accomplished primarily by communicating accurately to team members who have been
selected for their competency and compatibility. Goals for project productivity must be set, and
members of systems analysis teams must be motivated to achieve them.

Assembling a Team
Assembling a team is desirable. If a project manager has an opportunity to create a dream team
of skilled people to develop a system, who should he or she choose? In general, project manag-
ers need to look for others who share their values of teamwork, guided by the desire to deliver a
high-quality system on time and on budget. Other desirable team member characteristics include
a good work ethic, honesty, competency, readiness to take on leadership based on expertise,
motivation, enthusiasm for the project, and trust of teammates.
The project manager needs to know about business principles, but it doesn’t hurt to have
at least one other person on the team who understands how a business operates. Perhaps this
person should be a specialist in the area of the system being developed. When developing an
ecommerce site, for example, a team can enlist the help of someone in marketing, and those
developing an inventory system can ask a person versed in production and operations to pro-
vide expertise.
A team ideally should include two systems analysts. They can help each other, check each
other’s work, and shift their workloads. There is certainly a need to have people with program-
ming skills on board. Coding is important, but people who know how to conduct walk-throughs,
reviews, testing, and documenting systems are important as well. Some people are good at see-
ing the big picture, while others perform well when tasks are broken down into smaller ones for
them. Every team should have both types of individuals.
Beyond the basics just described, a project manager should look for people with both expe-
rience and enthusiasm. Experience is especially important when trying to estimate the time
required for completing a project. Experience in programming can mean code is developed five
times faster than if it is developed by an inexperienced team. A usability expert is also a useful
addition to the team.
The team must be motivated. One way to keep a team positively oriented throughout the
entire process is to select good people at the outset. Look for enthusiasm, imagination, and an
ability to communicate with different kinds of people. These basic attributes hold the potential
for success. In addition, superior writers and articulate speakers can present proposals and work
directly with customers, so hiring such individuals is a good idea.
Trust is an important part of a team. All members of the project need to act responsibly and
agree to do their best and complete their part of the project. People may have different work
styles, but they all need to agree to work together toward a common goal.

Communication Strategies for Managing Teams
Teams have their own personalities as a result of combining each individual team member with
every other in a way that creates a totally new network of interactions. A way to organize your
thinking about teams is to visualize them as always seeking a balance between accomplishing
the work at hand and maintaining relationships among team members.
In fact, teams often have two leaders, not just one. Usually one person will emerge who
leads members to accomplish tasks, and another person will emerge who is concerned with the
social relationships among group members. Both are necessary for the team. These individuals
have been labeled by other researchers as, respectively, task leader and socioemotional leader.
Every team is subject to tensions that are an outgrowth of seeking a balance between accom-
plishing tasks and maintaining relationships among team members.
For a team to continue its effectiveness, tensions must be continually resolved. Minimizing
or ignoring tensions will lead to ineffectiveness and eventual disintegration of the team. Much of