Chapter 11 • IT Project Management 419workers who will be using the new software need to be
selected with the help of the project sponsor. The careful
selection of business employees can obviously be a critical
step in the staffing process. IS specialists are dependent on
business users for their functional expertise (referred to as
subject matter expertise, or SME). Formal documented
procedures are not always the way that work tasks actually
get done, and the project team must also be able to elicit
these differences from business users as part of the
Definition phase. Further, making major changes in the
ways that business personnel get their work done can be a
major project objective. Changes in business processes are
most common when an organization is implementing a
new software package without modifications (referred to
as “vanilla” implementations), and the right business per-
sonnel need to be part of the project team to accomplish
this objective. In addition, business personnel who are not
formal team members may have a role as “extended” team
members to help with defining the systems requirements,
testing, and training over the life of the project.
Even after a well-managed selection process, there is
sometimes a need for special team-building exercises to
build team spirit and to help team members who have not
worked together before to get to know each other quickly.
The degree to which team building is needed will depend
on the characteristics of the project, the prior experiences
of the team members, and the degree to which the systems
methodology or other project practices will be new to the
team members. Team-building and fostering ongoing
motivation for meeting the project objectives are easiest
when team members are in the same physical location
(colocated), there is a stable roster of team members, and
the project manager is able to manipulate the appropriate
motivating factors. (See the section “Special Issue:
Managing Virtual Teams” at the end of this chapter.)
Because project incentives can influence individual
performance and productivity, projects that require espe-
cially intense efforts, personal sacrifices (e.g., postponed
vacations), and possibly geographic relocation might also
have attractive project-based incentives to help ensure that
the project goals are achieved. The dot-com IT start-up cul-
ture within the United States in the late 1990s epitomized this
highly intensive lifestyle for which stock options were the
primary reward. Similar motivators are sometimes needed
for IT projects with highly aggressive schedules in order to
meet project deadlines. (Unlike a dot-com start-up, however,
the duration of the project is usually known and the rewards
can be more certain.) For example, key project team mem-
bers on multiyear enterprise implementation projects could
be asked to make commitments to the project in return for
special project completion bonuses or even stock options.
(See the box entitled “Project Completion Incentives when
the Stakes Are High ”) When designing incentives, it should
also be kept in mind that an individual’s response to a partic-
ular incentive can vary over time due to changing personal
needs (e.g., family pressures for work-life balance).Project Completion Incentives When The Stakes Are High
When NIBCO’s project planning phase ended, the company’s leaders had a better understanding of the
level of change that would be required for a successful “Big Bang” ERP project and the potential
impacts of this project on the company’s bottom line. To help motivate the right behaviors throughout
the company, management established an incentive plan that would reward all NIBCO employees for a
successful on-time, within-budget project completion, as well as a special bonus for all project team
members. The specific metrics were clearly communicated, and the board of directors was charged with
the responsibility of determining whether the metrics were met. For example, for every $1 over the proj-
ect budget, the incentive pool would be reduced by a half dollar. (For more details, see the Case Study
in this textbook entitled “NIBCO’s ‘Big Bang.’”)
One of the public goals for the merger of Sallie Mae and the USA Group was a 40 percent reduc-
tion in costs, including a 25 percent headcount reduction that would partially come from a consolida-
tion of the two companies’ data centers, as well as the elimination of one of the two loan processing
systems that had been custom-developed at each company. This meant that the new company was at
risk for losing IT talent before these IT integration projects had been completed. To mitigate this serious
risk, Sallie Mae quickly offered a retention package to the IT workers most likely to leave. The incentives
offered were perceived by these workers as being “generous” ones, and the CIO was able to keep the
IT talent that he needed to successfully complete a complex data center move within an aggressive
timetable. (For more details, see the Case Study in this textbook entitled “Fast Track IT Integration for
the Sallie Mae Merger.”)