Collective Wisdom from the Experts 53
• At the beginning of each new project, the software project manager, the
departmental manager or supervisor, the sponsor, or another key stake-
holder should send out a personalized communiqué inviting each team
member to participate in the project. This letter or email should explain
the high-level objectives of the project being undertaken, and the high-
level responsibilities of this specific team member.
• Announce that at the successful conclusion of this project, each team
member will receive a Certificate of Recognition and Achievement suit-
able for framing. Note that a second copy will be placed in his/her Human
Resources file to be referenced during quarterly performance reviews.
• The departmental manager’s boss should make it clear that projects
advance organizational goals at an even more important level than the
routine information technology tasks do.
• The executive should specifically request that the departmental manager
help the project team member free up time on a regular basis to complete
the project activities, even if his regular tasks must be temporarily off-
loaded to another member of the IT group.It should be clearly understood that those who successfully participate in proj-
ects are “going the extra mile” for the organization and should be recognized
and rewarded. Those who participate successfully in large or small projects
should be singled out for praise. As they say in the agile world, this puts the
“art of the possible” in proper perspective, aligning organizational objectives
with employee motivations.