A Perspective on Integrated Project Team Strategies

The purpose of IPTS is to unite the core project participants (those 20% of project participants responsible for 80% of the impact on the project success) with a common goal, so that they focus on what is in the interest of the project and not on their company's interest or local optimisation. Like a tripod, Integrated Project Team Strategies (IPTS) are supported on three legs that are referred to as its core principles. These principles are a common project incentive scheme, well-defined project success criteria and project control systems and procedures that focus on the project's needs and do not entice local optimisation. Because monetary reward is a short-term motivator for change in personal behaviour, it is a carrot under the donkey's nose for the project management team and the core project participants. As all the core project participants in IPTS now share in the same incentive scheme, their actions will be focussed on the same target because it determines the size of their bonuses / incentives. Project success criteria are their common target. It is therefore important that project success criteria are well defined for all three areas of success namely project management success, product success and relationship success. Traditional project control systems and metrics, which were used to measure the progress of the project, measure progress in isolation because they do not consider the overall need of the project. Local optimisation like tons steel erected per hour may occur because that is how managers on the project are assessed, however, that is not in the interest of the project. IPTS measurement systems focus on what is in the interest of the project and use performance drivers like critical chain and balanced scorecards differently to entice the required behaviour.