Team Management Creating a State-of-the-Art Microsoft Windows-Based Software Application

Through Leadership and Teamwork

Developing new enterprise software applications that are built on the Microsoft Windows operating system requires an intensive level of commitment, communication, collaboration and shared task ownership across all team members today. Every member of the group today has a unique role to play in creating the best possible enterprise software application running on the Microsoft Windows platform. In order for this ambitious project of creating a state-of-the-art enterprise application to succeed however, the team needs to concentrate on making each of their unique strengths deliver value daily to the fulfillment of this ambitious objective. This plan defines how to create greater levels of team motivation, satisfaction and performance, while also addressing the differences in attitudes, emotions, personalities and values. All of these factors taken together are a strong catalyst for the accomplishment of challenging, complex goals leading to the Windows-based enterprise software application being completed and launched on schedule.

Plan for Completing Microsoft Windows-Based

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System

The team of developers who are working on the initial phases of the CRM project on the Microsoft platform today are collaborating on defining the initial sets of features and functional requirements. In reviewing their work and meetings it is apparent they need to have a greater inclusiveness and ownership for their overall project. There are several key developers who are willing to deliver more contributions than the direction of the meetings are allowing today. It is very important for every member of a team to have a very strong foundation of autonomy, mastery and purpose in their roles within an organization (pg. 19), as this is the catalyst of long-term learning and motivation (Ramsey, 2010). The project teams are showing that they have this attribute across the different program and project leads in varying levels. What's needed is a more equal distribution of autonomy, mastery and purpose throughout work teams today to further ensure the challenging goals ahead of the teams...

Bringing greater levels of autonomy, mastery and purpose into each of the teams today will also set the foundation for greater motivation, satisfaction and high performance in the future as well. The first phase of the plan needs to solidify the development teams around the core concepts of autonomy, mastery and purpose to set a foundation of future growth.
Our engineering teams today also have varying levels of cross-functional ownership of tasks with just ten engineering committed full time to this development effort. Today these engineers must attain certifications in Microsoft software development tools while also complete initial coding of the new applications as well. All of these activities are at times making the cohesiveness and performance of the team itself suffer. What's needed is more of a focus on how to unify the team and keep the entire group moving in the same direction, continually contributing new programming ideas. Today it is apparent that key members of the team are struggling to stay aligned with the overall direction of this project. This can be attributed to how they are pulled from one project to another based on the matrixed organizational reporting lines in place today. This is a common problem on large-scale engineering project, as the study and published results indicate in Leadership, Team Building, and Team Member Characteristics in High Performance Project Teams (Ammeter, Dukerich, 2002). In this study the researchers found that 71% of those respondents interviewed placed the highest value on team orientation and the sense of belonging to a team (pg. 5) in addition to having frequent team meetings and communication (61%) (Ammeter, Dukerich, 2002). Employees are often looking for the opportunity to find meaning in their work, and the foundation of this meaning is found in the ability to make a difference on projects. The greatest challenge going forward with building a new CRM application on Microsoft Windows is the need for creating and sustaining a strong team mindset of everyone being part of the team, critical to the accomplishment of very challenging goals and objectives. Accomplishing this level of team identification today is critical for the long-term growth of the team and will help to overcome the challenges it is…