Have you ever seen a group of children play soccer? The ball gets kicked into a corner and every child on the field runs after it. Then the ball gets kicked into another corner and they all chase it there as well. It is exhausting to watch and the game usually lasts a long time, with no/few goals being scored.
This metaphor can easily be extended to poorly run projects. All of the team members wind up ‘chasing the ball' wherever it goes rather than spreading the field and playing as a team. Often the same result occurs as the children's game; a long time goes by without many goals being made. This article will ponder the comparison between a well run project and a well run soccer team.
Soccer Match
1. Watching Children Play
A lot can be learned about running projects from watching children play soccer. It seems that project teams are always ‘chasing down' the most recent problem like chasing down a soccer ball. That is, they are always running to the next place that the ball is kicked. This problem usually involves the entire team or a large part of it to solve. This means that team members are not working on other aspects of the project, resulting in those areas having problems later. These new problems then require everyone working on them to solve. It seems to be a perpetual loop that is diagrammed below.
The result of this loop is that the team is always behind the ball chasing it wherever it gets kicked. This is usually accompanied by lots of yelling from the sidelines by the coach (Project Manager). The next sections will discuss approaches for scoring project goals.
2. Get In Front of the Ball
The best soccer players (and project team members) are those who have learned how to ‘run without the ball'. These players have the ability to anticipate where the ball will go and be there by the time it gets there. By not being behind the ball, they can focus on preparation for when the ball gets to them and they have a better idea of what to do with it when it gets there.
As this relates to projects, having a plan and being able to anticipate where the project will go is critical to the success of the project. If a project is always chasing down issues, then they are being controlled by the issues and wherever it takes them. Staying in front of the issues by scoring project goals allows them to be manageable and allows for preparation as they arise.
The plan must be realistic, however. Having team members ready at a place in the field where the ball will not go makes them unproductive. The plan must also be flexible enough to react to deviations in the track of the ball.
3. Teamwork
One of the biggest keys to getting in front of the ball is to trust in the other team members. This allows the players on the team to spread out themselves across the field and focus on their respective roles. The offensive players in the front need to trust that the players behind them will get them the ball and the goalie needs to trust that the defensive players will do their best to keep the ball away from the goal.
Productive teams also need to trust in each other's abilities. Designers need to trust that the Requirements were captured properly. Developers need to trust that the Design was done properly. Having this trust allows the team members to focus on their aspect of the project and not have to question all of the other information.
Another key to teamwork is to know where the other team members are located across the field. This allows whoever has the ball to get it to the appropriate person when they are ready to receive it. This results in proper handoffs between team members.
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