Soft options [project management]

This paper, which draws from the experience of working with a range of project teams, proposes that the ability of project managers to deliver successful projects is dependant on their ability to get things done through others, which some may see as “soft skills”. The paper proposes that the most effective way of achieving this is through team building, and goes on to describe the four stages of team building and how the project manager should handle each stage. Processes determine how things get done, and the paper identifies the most common processes a project manager needs to consider and improve if the team is to be successful. The paper concludes by describing how to change behaviour in teams and proposes that, far from being a “soft option”, managing people is neither soft, nor an option, if projects are to be successful