Effective Management of ‘Intellectual’ Teams with Specific Reference to Design

Abstract

SUMMARY This paper describes the essential requirements for the successful performance of a team of people whose primary activity is intellectual effort. The requirements consist of a set of eight job roles, structured walk-throughs, cost and schedule control, and vertical and horizontal linking between teams. Eight job roles are necessary to accomplish the intellectual and management tasks of a team: technical director, technical co-director, production director, client, inventor, critic, librarian and developer. Coordination and integration between teams is achieved by vertical and horizontal linking of some of the job roles. Team management is accomplished by structured walk-throughs to control quality and an integrated cost and schedule control system to control costs, resources and the timing of the team's tasks. Practical implementation of our model is illustrated using a design team as an example.