Project Management for Team Members

By Marco Sampietro, SDA Professor of Organization and Human Resources Management, has been asked to write an Article Series on the Project Management World Journal.

Marco Sampietro noticed that, while it is clear and obvious that team members contribute to the success of a project, almost nothing has been written about the skills and behaviors that project team members should have in order to effectively and satisfactorily participate in a project environment. According to Marco Sampietro, it is time to fill this gap.
Project management for team members is not entirely different from “traditional” project management, but it should be recognized that participating in a project is not the same as leading a project. For example, organizing a kick-off meeting is different from simply attending one, coordinating the development of the Work Breakdown Structure, one of the most important project management methods, is different from contributing to its generation. Equally, setting project goals is different from setting goals for team members, and assessing change requests at project level is different from assessing them at task level.
For these reasons, Marco Sampietro argues that re-interpreting project management by taking into consideration the needs and perspectives of project team members is not a trivial exercise.

In this article Marco Sampietro explains the need for Project Management for Team Members and introduces how project team members can contribute to the success of a project.

During 2016, he will write another six articles. Here are the topics that will be addressed:
 - Correct behaviors of project team members
 - The role of project team members in stakeholder management
 - Project team members and the definition and interpretation of project goals and objectives
 - The crucial role of project team members in providing estimates and the issues they may face during the estimate process
 - Project team members and change requests
 - Participating in project meetings (kick-off meetings and status meetings).

SDA Bocconi School of Management