Productmangement in the Chemical Industry: Project Teams

This section describes how to manage a Project Team (PT) responsible for a global project of relevant strategic importance for the BU.

The standard case is, the project basics have been already discussed within the BU management:

• Goals
• Timeline
• Project Team lead
• PT members
• Reporting lines

Following that, the direct lead addresses the task to the PM. During this meeting the main frame should be discussed. Despite the project basics have been already settled, the PM will come back to her/his lead with a well defined concept for agreement with the BU head.

The PM has to go along with certain given. He contacts his network and then the BU managers to pick up “sensitive points”:

• Which is the strategic weight of the project for the BU?
• Which position holds the project in the individual regions?
• Which are the key points?
• Which position take marketing, product management, development, production, sales versus the project?
• Who are the stakes holders?

In case the project is about the development and the market introduction of a product, the following points are to keep firmly in mind:

• Is the project market, or technology driven?
• How much market pull, how much technology push are behind the project?
• Which is the customers’ position versus the product?

The password for this preliminary phase is: ask & listen!

Team Members

The Team Members should be selected to cover

• The relevant functions
• The involved regions
• The necessary expertise

Again, in the standard case the Team Members have been already selected. In such case the PM contacts them (face to face as far as possible) and talks about the project.
Every organization has “problematic” functions and/or persons. What is better: to have them excluded or embedded in the PT? Think about.
Most probably it will be difficult to have already named PT members exchanged. Very strong arguments have to be put down. It’s easier to take in additional members (not too many), if necessary.

Reporting Line for the Team Leader e.g. PM 

This will be one of the given, almost impossible to change. At the same time it renders a good indication about the project weight within the BU. The PM will keep her/his direct boss continuously updated, in case the reporting line for the project is different. It’s a very clear message, if you don’t. Keep in any case contact with the individual BU managers. Within them, look for “sponsors”: those how are genuinely supporting the project.

Planning and Organizing the Team Meeting

For the Team Meetings form and frequency have to be set.
Face-to-face meetings would be the best, but for a global project involving different regions, almost impossible to organize and cost wise to justify. The second best choice is video conferences: via internet easy to organize, each participant can show her/his presentation. In most cases, the majority of the Team Members and the PM her/himself are located in one region. In this case the PM will have them all sitting in the same room, when attending the Team Meeting. In case America, Asia and Europe are involved, the time should be taken into account. A rolling change distributes the pain of very-early-in-the-morning / very-late-in-the-night.

The following table summarizes pros and cons:

Face-to-face	-high members involvement	-high cost -high organization effort
Video conference	-good members involvement -easy set up	-low cost -easy to organize
Phone conference	-members involvement questionable -easy set up	-low cost -easy to organize

The Team Meeting frequency depends from the sense of urgency the project has and the timelines. Experience shows that one meeting per month is a good choice. The PM will set a clear message that she/he will call additional meetings if necessary. It’s useful to plan the dates for the Team Meeting at the very beginning of the project for the following 12 months (for example: each last Monday of the month).

Team Meeting Agenda

The Team Meeting Agenda is used for three scopes

• As agenda itself, setting topics and the meeting time line
• Depicts the minutes summary (best case: it’s the minutes)
• Is the follow up and depicts the decisions/actions status

Fixing the agenda gives the PM the chance to keep direct contact, face-to-face (or on the phone) with all Team Members and the BU management, giving them the feeling, they are involved and up to date. In return the PM will receive the scent of what is “behind the curtain”. Not everything is communicated during the meetings. This way the PM will be in the position to discuss upfront with the Team Members and the management, which should be the outcome of the next meeting in basic terms, avoiding possible conflicts. Best case is: the Team Meeting will endorse decisions, which are already in place.

The attendees are not always the Team Members only. Depending from the agenda experts, or guests (the BU if necessary?) to join.

Organizing and Performing  the Team Meetings

Organizing the Team Meeting

• Submitting an agenda proposal to all members asking for additional topics about two weeks upfront to the meeting
• Collecting and building in the inputs
• Distributing the final agenda via e-mail to all the Team Members, copying the BU management, confirming the schedule and informing about the access to the meeting (internet link, password, etc.)

Performing

• Attendees check
• Previous actions status review
• Decisions and actions are written in the agenda during the meeting
• Minutes are distributed the latest the day after the meeting to all attendees for final agreement, amendments are built in
• Finalized minutes and the presentations are distributed to all attendees and the BU management, including the date for the next meeting

Dealing with Problems within the Project Team

By keeping contact with all the Team Members and the BU management, the PM will develop a feeling, where problems may arise and consequently take appropriate action to avoid them upfront. Never the less it may happen that a Team Member, a function, a region doesn’t perform as discussed. Especially in such cases a good relationship to the BU management can help. In extreme cases an escalation could become unavoidable. A way to do it: the topic containing the problem is put on the agenda (yes, the PM too submits input to it), the problem maker is set to introduce the topic, an appropriate BU manager (the head?) up in the reporting is invited to the meeting as a guest.

The Data Base

All the agendas, Team minutes, presentations and relevant data will be stored in a data base accessible to all the Team Members and the BU management. Solely the PM has rights for storing and amending.

The Kick Off Meeting

This should be in any case a face-to-face meeting. Attendees are all the Team Members, the reporting lines and possibly also the BU head, who introduces the project, its goals and timelines,  as well as the Team. The PM introduces what he previously had agreed with his direct boss and the BU head: his concept how the Project Team work will be performed.