Building a team based on diverse roles
Embarking on a brand new project means a lot of planning, not only for the project itself, but also for the team supporting it.
The management of projects involving business process and system change means a myriad of technical roles and responsibilities need to be put in place. But sometimes overlooked is the criticality of also including non-technical roles within the business.
Aside from the largely understood need for business requirements to drive a technical solution, diverse experience also brings a different element to team problem solving.
Recently we had a client who had the requirement that a customer could not complete a credit card payment until they agreed to the website’s term and conditions. They also wanted the payment form to be visible at all times – yet due to a technical limitation of the payment provider, technically this was not possible.
The issue was that once the payment form was visible to the customer they were able to complete it and proceed, without agreeing firstly to the terms and conditions.
A solution was found by a team member from outside the project who had no technical knowledge of the problem.
Their suggestion was to display an image of the payment form on the screen, instead of the actual payment form. This meant the payment form was able to be seen at all times, but the customer was unable to interact with it until they agreed to the terms and conditions.
This is a worthy example that shows how a difficult technical problem was solved in a simple way by a person with a non-technical background, but with business experience and good common sense.
By drawing on the skills and experiences of all team members, it is possible for us to look at an issue from all angles, providing the client with the best solution. Every client is unique in their own way, so taking a more flexible and all-inclusive approach is much more likely to meet their needs.
A project team needs to be cohesive and compatible, working together for the common goal, but this doesn't necessarily mean that the team comprises of identical roles and responsibilities.
