Dysfunction of the self-managed project team

COMMENTARY

By Yogi Schulz

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Sometimes, senior managers think they can save money by not paying for a project manager. After all, the team members appear to have enough individual experience and maturity to manage themselves. Also, some managers believe self-managed teams boost performance and unlock creativity while freeing teams from the supposed shackles of traditional project manager-led teams.

These senior managers are oblivious to the risks they’ve trivialized or ignored. Unfortunately, self-managed project teams rarely complete projects and always take longer.

Competent project managers lead, organize and mentor experienced and junior team members to successfully achieve the project’s goal.

Here’s a discussion of the dysfunctional actions and behaviours that senior managers forget to consider when they wrongly conclude that a self-managed project team can achieve a successful project outcome.

Work as individuals and not as a team

Self-managed project teams is a misnomer. The individuals assigned to the project essentially work independently. There is little management, collaboration or coordination.

This environment creates uneven quality and considerable rework later in the project.

Prioritize harmony

Self-managed project teams prioritize harmony and individual well-being to excess. While harmony and personal well-being are desirable, self-managed project teams focus on them to the exclusion of work to complete required deliverables.

This environment creates happy team members and low productivity.

Prone to analysis paralysis

Self-managed project teams are prone to analysis paralysis in pursuit of unattainable perfection and eliminating or mitigating all risks. Quality is important. However, there comes a point of diminishing return beyond which the added quality is wasted.

Self-managed project teams work well beyond the point of fit-for-purpose because there’s no one to say: Stop.

Assume sufficient expertise and experience

Project team members never have all the expertise and experience to perform their planned work comprehensively.

Successful project teams compensate for what’s missing through:

More…

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How to cite this article: Schulz, Y. (2025).  Dysfunction of the self-managed project team, PM World Journal, Vol. XIV, Issue V, May. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pmwj152-May2025-Schulz-Dysfunction-of-the-self-managed-project-team.pdf

About the Author

Yogi Schulz

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Yogi Schulz has over 40 years of Information Technology experience in various industries. Yogi works extensively in the petroleum industry to select and implement financial, production revenue accounting, land & contracts and geotechnical systems. He manages projects that arise from changes in business requirements, from the need to leverage technology opportunities and from mergers. His specialties include IT strategy, web strategy and systems project management.

Mr. Schulz regularly speaks to industry groups and writes a regular column for IT World Canada and Engineering.com. He has written for Microsoft.com and the Calgary Herald. His writing focuses on project management and IT developments of interest to management. Mr. Schulz served as a member of the Board of Directors of the PPDM Association for twenty years until 2015. Learn more at https://www.corvelle.com/. He can be contacted at yogischulz@corvelle.com

His new book, co-authored by Jocelyn Schulz Lapointe, is “A Project Sponsor’s Warp-Speed Guide: Improving Project Performance.”

To view other works by Yogi Schulz, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/yogi-schulz/