Ads by TechWords

See your link here
Subscribe to our e-mail newsletters
For more info on a specific newsletter, click the title. Details will be displayed in a new window.
IT Management
Computerworld Daily News (First Look and Wrap-Up)
Computerworld Blogs Newsletter
The Weekly Top 10
More E-Mail Newsletters 
 

Sidebar: The 'Whole Brain' Team

April 12, 2004 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - Veteran project managers say that great project teams include individuals with complementary talents that go beyond IT skills. Here are some classic individual workstyles that could help make yours a "whole brain" team.
• The Architect thinks of options for how things could be done. He never stops at the first solution; he raises and ponders many possibilities. Without him, the team may jump on the first good idea and never consider a better one.
• The Facilitator helps the team get to closure. He can present the pros and cons of the architect's various ideas and add insights to help the group narrow the choice. Without him, team members may separate into opposing camps.
• The Devil's Advocate is the iconoclast, the troublemaker, the questioner. He forces the group to defend its direction. Without him, the team can too easily fall into groupthink.
• The Big-Idea Guy comes up with the "out there" solution. He fuels the brainstorms and enables the team to take leaps of faith. Without him, the team may miss opportunities for important breakthroughs.
• The Anchor is a stickler for process, procedure and cold reality. He knows what will and won't work and what can and can't get through the bureaucracy. Without him, the team may get carried away with a big idea that's not feasible.
• The People Guy understands how typical users behave. He provides reality checks for the team by envisioning how people will use what the team creates. Without him, the team may create an elegant product that users hate.



Additional Resources

POLL RESULTS
Accelerate your knowledge of the IT world you inhabit by viewing the results of a series of polls taken by your IT peers. These polls of 100+ IT professionals each are available for full viewing. They cover key topics such as virtualization, processor performance, green IT, cloud computing and many others. Be a part of the buzz.
WHITE PAPER
Technology is complex. Keeping it running productively shouldn't be. To that end, you want to minimize the number of solutions needed in-house to simplify operations, maintenance, and support. Kodak offers a best-practices model. One company provides support for both scanner and software, for fast problem resolution without vendor finger-pointing. Download now!
WHITE PAPER
Utilizing demand intelligence improves the precision of pricing, product assortments, channel/store placement, and promotion, which are all essential for sustainable revenue management performance. Learn more, download this free whitepaper today.

White Papers & Webcasts

A Truly Global HCM System
Learn about a system built with advanced object-oriented technology that support multi-national requirements and costs less to implement, maintain and upgrade....  

Usability Is Everything
Learn what sets Workday's HR and Payroll solutions apart from the competition....

Moving Beyond Monolithic - What's Next for Enterprise Application Architectures?
This white paper reviews the current state of enterprise application architecture and presents a prediction on what might come next....  

SaaS at Flextronics, Inc.
Dave Smoley, CIO of Flextronics, discusses the real value of software-as-a-service and why he chose Workday for his HR solution....

The Shortcut Guide to Managing Certificate Lifecycles
(Source: Thawte) If you have ever shopped for a certificate, you know that there is a wide selection of products and vendors from...  

Agile Enterprise Content Management (ECM) for Rapid ROI
Find out how combining ECM and BPM will help adress issues about content rich business processes....

MarketVibe: Communications and Collaboration Needs at Business Organizations
In April 2009, IT and business leaders were invited to participate in a survey on business communications and collaboration solutions. The goal of...  

Modernizing the IT Infrastructure
(Source: Oracle) There is a lot of legacy in many government IT systems today - legacy hardware, legacy software platforms, and legacy skills...

The Value of Network and Application Visibility by Aberdeen
This survey-based paper analyzes best practices for improving application visibility and analysis. This paper can help serve as a guideline for organizations looking...  

Taking the Service Desk to the Next Level
Listen to this conversation with Doug Mueller to learn how standards and processes have evolved to bring us the service desk of today...