Promoting Project Team Coordination in Repetitive Projects

Abstract

Interdependencies within and between project teams and changes occurring throughout a project’s lifecycle create a need for project team coordination. The existing research on project team coordination has mostly focused on large or innovative projects. In addition, the existing research has focused mostly on the ways project team coordination takes place in different projects, with less focus on how beneficial circumstances for coordination are created or promoted. This study contributes to these knowledge gaps by studying how a standardized project management methodology introduced by a parent organization can promote project team coordination in repetitive projects. An embedded single-case study design with qualitative interview-based data collection was followed. The case firm introduced a management framework in its service centers to promote project team coordination in repetitive maintenance projects. The interviewees perceived improvements in communication, visibility of project and portfolio status information, and information sharing. The improvements were enabled by two coordination mechanisms of the management framework: regular meetings and visual whiteboards. The perceived improvements were considered beneficial for project team coordination, both within and between project teams.