# Project tracking models

## Determining ideal scenarios

### Katzenbach and Smith model

It's a pyramid/triangle representation, with each corner and edge representing a different value.

- The corners represent the inputs/outputs:
  - Performance Results is at the top.
  - Collective Work Products is at the left.
  - Personal Growth is at the right.
- Edges represent how they connected:
  - Commitment binds Collective Work Products and Personal Growth.
    - This can include specific goals, a common approach, or a meaningful purpose.
  - Skills bind Collective Work Products and Performance Results.
    - These can be technical, problem-solving, or interpersonal.
  - Accountability binds Personal Growth and Performance Results.
    - These can be mutual, a few people, or individual.

While the model is great for observing the ideal scenario for the group, it doesn't work well as a [diagnostic tool](https://adequate.life/fix/).

The system is intuitive because it focuses on the necessary components for achieving outputs, and with plenty of specific information about each of the factors for it.

However, it emphasizes smaller-sized teams, even when it's not always realistic.

### LaFasto and Larson model (aka Five Dynamics of Team Work and Collaboration)

It draws from 5 common elements within almost all effective teams:

1. Members - need to be the right people
2. Relationships - members need to work well with each other
3. Problem-Solving - need to focus on work, openly communicate, and have a good attitude
4. Leadership - needs the right leader
5. Organizational Environment - the organization at large needs to give adequate support and resources

The model has been well-researched, and helps to distinguish between teams made of competent individuals and effective teams.

It also doesn't give guidance on how leaders and teams can acquire any of the missing elements.

### Robbins and Judge model

It indicates 4 key elements that contribute to a team's productivity and unity:

- Context - external factors in the organization that affect the team's success
- Composition - the skills, preferences, characteristics, and experiences of each member
- Work Design - the range of tasks each member receives and how they perform it
- Process - how the team plans and achieves goals, as well as shared values or mission statement

It indicates that a manager has to perform 4 main functions:

- Planning - [setting goals](success-3_goals.md), creating strategies, and preparing plans
- Organizing - identifying tasks, dividing them out, assigning, tracking, and building [decision-making systems](people-decisions.md)
- Leading - [motivating](power-influence.md) workers, directing actions, choosing communication channels, resolving [conflicts](people-5_conflicts.md)
- Controlling - determining others' work outcomes, checking on status, [taking corrective actions](mgmt-5_communication.md)

While it captures each member's specific traits, it also runs the risk of overlooking *how* people achieve unity together.

## Determining present status

### Drexler-Sibbet model

It proposes 4 key stages to build a team, then 3 stages that encourage the team to self-improve:

1. Orientation - the team asks why their responsibilities and efficiency matter
2. Building Trust - members learn more about each other, such as their respective skills and experiences
3. Goal Clarification - team determines and specifies its purposes
4. Commitment - team determines how it'll achieve its goals, often with a timeline and resource assessment
5. Implementation - team determines additional necessary details to complete tasks and achieve goals
6. High Performance - team begins improving their shared tasks and can work more autonomously
7. Renewal - members and leaders self-reflect to see what they did well and what they could improve on in the future

While it's very effective at seeing what can be improved, it doesn't easily capture how issues arise and how to resolve them.

### T7 model

It identifies 7 internal and external factors that constitute a team's effectiveness:

- Internal factors
  - Thrust - the team's [purpose](purpose.md)
  - Trust - team members' mutual [confidence](trust.md) and respect
  - Talent - qualified members with skills and [experience](understanding.md)
  - Task Skills - members' ability to complete specific processes efficiently
  - Teamwork/Teaming - members' individual skill at working within a team environment
- External factors
  - Team-Leader Fit - how well the leader works well with the team
  - Team Support - how well the organization itself can support the team

It gives a broad overview of the team's effectiveness, but doesn't work well at helping improve any of the factors.

- In particular, it's not very effective at pinpointing anything useful for external factors.

### Tuckman's FSNP/FSNPA model

It theorizes that highly effective teams move through a [story](stories.md) of 4-5 stages:

1. Forming
   - Everyone depends highly on the leaders for guidance.
   - Roles and responsibilities aren't very clear.
   - Members test other members' and leadership's tolerance.
   - Not much focus on processes.
   - The leadership will need to give very clear instructions on the team's purpose, goals, and outside relationships.
2. Storming
   - Clear [disagreements](people-conflicts.md) about group decisions.
   - While some purpose is clear, other things are still uncertain.
   - Cliques and factions form over values.
   - The leader will have to [convince](power-influence.md) the members to align their goals with the group's.
3. Norming
   - The team will generally find agreements on what to do and how to do it.
   - Roles and responsibilities are clear and broadly accepted.
   - The members are committed to the group, and may even engage in extra-group activities like social events together.
   - The leader is generally respected at this stage.
4. Performing
   - The team is now aware of the domain outside themselves.
   - Members have an independently-maintained shared vision that no longer needs the leaders' involvement.
   - Conflicts exist, but are resolved positively within the team without needing much management intervention.
   - The leadership is responsible to delegate more tasks and projects to continue motivating the members.
5. Adjourning/Adapting
   - When any significant members leave or enter the group, it begins the cycle again.
   - At the end of the project, the members part ways.
   - Some members will feel a sense of loss or insecurity over the end of the experience working together.
   - The leadership isn't responsible for members at this point, but the most humane thing they can do is direct members to other projects or efforts.

The model works well to know how and how much the leadership should be involved.

However, it only works for new teams, and doesn't give much context for long-term teams who constantly work together.

- Further, it doesn't give any context for teams who seem to be stuck at a certain stage without moving forward (e.g., Norming but not Performing).

## Diagnosing issues

### GRPI model

It has 4 groups stacked into a pyramid-shaped hierarchy:

1. Goals are clearly defined and achievable objectives at the top of the pyramid.
2. Roles are distinct duties and responsibilities that managers must track.
3. Procedures are well-defined ways to work, communicate and make decisions.
4. Interpersonal Relationships are the shared commitments members have made to communication, trust, and respect.

Design, planning, and development goes down the pyramid, from Goals to Roles to Processes to Interpersonal Relationships.

Diagnoses of issues go up the pyramid, from interpersonal relationships to processes to roles to goals.

It requires the team to observe their issues from many perspectives instead of making assumptions about how things are failing.

However, the system tends to oversimplify the natural complexity of interpersonal relationships within the group.

### Hackman's Five Factor model

It indicates 5 factors that can improve a team's functionality:

- Team Status - clearly defined membership, roles, and communication
- Compelling Direction - goals and incentives drive the members through clear incentives
- Enabling Structure - team processes and workflows that encourages teamwork and communication
- Support - the organization at large gives access to resources and information the team needs
- Expert Coaching - [influential](power-influence.md) leaders guide the team

While it looks at all aspects of the team, it doesn't consider how people can be motivated by different things.

There is also a Salas, Dickinson, Converse, and Tannenbaum Model that adds to Hackman's Model:

- Company Context - the organization at large gives very specific time-sensitive information to the team
- Team Design - the specific types of people and the specific roles they have
- Team Synergy - the shared attitude about the team's goals
- Effective Processes - proven skills, knowledge, and strategies for performing tasks
- Resources - how available an organization at large supports the team
- Team [Culture](people-culture.md) - the interpersonal dynamic, attitude toward the organization, and commitment to the project

### Lencioni Model

It focuses on how things can *fail* instead of succeed:

1. Absence of Trust - members don't feel they can be comfortable, honest, and vulnerable with each other.
2. Fear of Conflict - members are afraid to disrupt the situation, so they stay quiet to maintain harmony.
3. Lack of Commitment - members aren't devoted to the team's goal, so they won't work together.
4. Avoiding Accountability - members don't recognize, respect, or appreciate their role in the team.
5. Inattention to Results - members don't pay attention to the larger reason why they're working together.

While this model hasn't been proven scientifically, it helps in observing intuitive social failures across groups.

While it's great at diagnosing dysfunctional patterns, it doesn't help much to [actually fix the problems](https://adequate.life/fix/).