What Are The Top 10 Qualities For A Strong Project Team
Build a strong team with good humans, and your project will succeed.
I have been in the technology space for a long time, and while technology changes quickly and constantly, the one thing that remains constant is this — your team needs to be comprised of good humans. That’s it.
The most important thing is not skillset or experience in the industry; it is the quality of the humans that you are working with. Do not get me wrong. Skills are important, and so is experience, but the things that you should look for the most when hiring are:
- Honesty
- Collaborative
- Realistic
- Empathetic
- Curiosity
- Ease
- Friendly
- Affable
- Work Ethic
- Humility
Regardless of title and job role, it is critical that you look for these soft skills when hiring. Now, I do not mean to ignore a project manager’s ability to set milestones and accurately road map a project. Do not ignore a developer’s strength in designing a solid user interface. It would be wrong to put aside a database administrators’ ability to architect an efficient data model. All of these things are necessary for each of these roles. But what I personally do not want on a team that I am working on is talented knuckleheads. I do not want selfish rockstars. I do not want hard to get along with heroes. I do not want fast and accurate solutionizing douchebags.
I have had the role of application development manager before, and I can tell you plainly. If you hire a butthead, regardless of how good they are at their role, your team will suffer. Your projects will suffer. Your chance for success will tank.
Anyone can be trained to do any job — IF YOUR ARE GOOD AT TRAINING. That being said, not everyone is a good human. Not everyone will energetically be a good mentor — or want to be. Not everyone is friendly and affable. Eventually, these toolboxes will bring down the morale of the team and eventually affect the product the team is producing.
Also, you need to look at the effect that a toxic person brings to the people on your team on a personal level. They create stress. They create chaos. They can create bitterness and just an overall sense of crappiness to everyone. They will bring unhappiness. I do not want to spend 40+ hours a week in an unhappy environment with unhappy people.
When you look at soft skills as the Mount Olympus of qualities to look for, then this might mean hiring some super awesome people with huge potential but who might also need a bit of a skillset upgrade. That is fine. This is a chance for your team to grow together with a sense of helping. You should look at training with enthusiasm. You should look at mentorship with excitement. If you cannot do this, then hire people who can.
I have written articles on this subject before because I believe it is important. Whether you are an HR person or an application development manager, or even in the “C” suite, I believe 100% we need to change the IT landscape and become better people. I guess it comes down to a simple mantra — “Life is short. Don’t be a dick.”
