Project team: Roles, structures, and how to manage

In project management, building the right team takes planning and attention to detail. When you get it right, it can make a big difference in your project's success.

Before you build a project team, it's important to know what a project team is and which roles you need to fill. In this article, we'll explain the basics of a typical project team and show how the right team can help your employees do their best work.

What is a project team?

A project team is a group of people who work together to complete a specific project. These teams are typically cross-functional, bringing together individuals from different departments to achieve a common goal within a defined schedule and set of objectives.

Typically, a project team consists of a project manager, who oversees and manages the team, and individual team members who complete specific project tasks. Project team members can be internal (e.g., full-time employees) or external (e.g., freelancers). A project team can also include other stakeholders who neither manage the project day-to-day nor carry out project work, but who still have an interest in the project's success.

What are the common roles on a project team?

Project teams are not all the same. At your organization, each project team may look different depending on the project's size and goals. No matter the goal, having the right mix of skills is key to success.

Here are the most common team roles that make up a project team:

1. The project manager

The project manager, also known as the project leader, is typically responsible for coordinating, overseeing, and managing the project and the project's team members. Project managers are responsible for ensuring that the project runs smoothly, from the kick-off meeting to the project post-mortem.

Project managers oversee projects and guide teams by setting expectations, assigning tasks, and coordinating work. They serve as mentors, guiding individual contributors and facilitating collaboration and communication between the project's team members.

The project manager's main responsibilities include:

• Working with high-level management to develop a project plan and outline project goals.

• Allocating project resources and developing a resource management plan.

• Determining project scope and keeping the project within the limits defined in the scope management plan.

• Communicating with and managing project team members.

• Assigning project tasks and delegating project work to individual team members.

• Keeping the project on schedule and developing solutions when priorities shift or roadblocks arise.

• Tracking project key performance indicators (KPIs) and pivoting if the project isn't on track to hit goals.

• Coordinating communication between team members and resolving any inter-team conflict.

• Setting expectations and communicating updates to stakeholders through stakeholder management.

Let's say your marketing agency is undertaking a website redesign. For this project, the project manager would be responsible for determining the time and resources needed to complete the project. They'd also oversee day-to-day operations, give feedback, keep the project on track, and manage team members.

2. The project team members

A project team member is an individual tasked with producing the work that contributes to the successful completion of the project. Typically, project team members are individual contributors with specialized skill sets they bring to the team and the project. They can be full-time or part-time employees, working in-house or as outside contractors.

You can think of project managers as the project overseers and project team members as the project executors. Project team members are often from different departments across the organization. These siloed teams need effective technology to work cross-functionally, such as a work management platform with tool integrations.

The main responsibilities of project team members include:

• Producing deliverables and individual work that contribute to the project's overall objectives and success.

• Providing knowledge and feedback based on their individual areas of expertise.

• Collaborating with other team members on project work.

• Completing individual work on time and by priority.

Let's continue with our website redesign example. Project team members might include individual contributors from departments like design, copywriting, and development. Their deliverables could include developing a new color palette, mockup homepage designs, wireframing the website, creating new copy, and coding the final site.

3. The project sponsor

A project sponsor, also known as an executive sponsor, is the person responsible for the project's overall success. The project sponsor is typically a company executive or member of senior management. They serve as a champion for the project, helping allocate project resources, advocating for the project, and securing project buy-in.

In the project team hierarchy, the project sponsor sits above the project manager, serving as a guide and liaison between the project manager and senior management. While the project manager is involved in day-to-day operations, the project sponsor may be looped into the project for feedback or status updates on a daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis.

The project sponsor's main responsibilities include:

• Advocating for the project during the initial planning stage, to get buy-in and secure funding.

• Aligning the project with the business's strategic goals and demonstrating to stakeholders how project success will provide value to the company.

• Appoint a project manager to lead the project and serve as a mentor for the project manager throughout the project lifecycle.

• Providing guidance or approval on high-level, senior decisions.

• Acting as a go-between for the project manager and members of the senior leadership team.

• Keeping senior-level executives informed of project progress and necessary status or deliverable updates.

• Closing out the project, including evaluating performance and ensuring a successful hand-off.

To round out our example, the project sponsor for the website redesign would be an executive at the marketing agency, such as a senior creative director. They may have championed the project and led the charge to redesign the agency's website. Once the project kicks off, their main role would be to mentor the project manager and keep senior management updated.

Bonus: Additional project roles

Most project teams include a project manager, team members, and a project sponsor. However, since projects can differ in size and scope, project managers may need to adjust the team to fit each project's needs.

Here are a few roles a project team may or may not include, depending on the project's size and objectives:

• Business analysts: Ensure that the business's operations run efficiently and identify areas for improvement. On a project team, they help define project goals and ensure the project delivers value to the company.

• Project team leads: On larger projects, individual contributors might be structured into mini-teams. Team leads work directly under the project manager and oversee specific individuals or mini-teams. They serve as a connection between the project manager and team members.

• The project steering committee: A steering committee is a group of senior managers or high-level executives who "steer" the project by providing guidance and support throughout the project's lifecycle. They're useful for projects involving many stakeholders.

• Subject matter experts: Subject matter experts (SMEs) have specialized knowledge in a specific field. They collaborate with project managers, team members, and stakeholders to provide expert opinions on questions related to their area of knowledge.

• Additional stakeholders: A project stakeholder is anyone who has a stake in, or can be impacted by, the project. This can include peers, cross-functional teams, clients, customers, investors, or even shareholders.

Types of project team structures

Depending on your organization's size and resource allocation, you may structure your project team differently. Here are three common structures:

• Dedicated project teams: Team members work exclusively on one project from start to finish. They report directly to the project manager and focus all their energy on the project's success. This model works well for high-priority initiatives that require full attention.

• Matrix project teams: Team members report to two managers: their functional manager and the project manager. This is common in large enterprises because it allows efficient resource sharing across multiple projects. However, it requires clear communication to avoid conflicts over priorities.

• Virtual project teams: Virtual teams bring together members from different locations, time zones, or even organizations. These teams rely heavily on digital collaboration tools and clear communication protocols to stay aligned and productive.

The best team structure depends on how complex your project is, your team's availability, and how your organization works. Many companies use a mix of these structures based on the project.

3 reasons why your enterprise needs project teams

Now that you know what a project team is, you might wonder why your organization needs one. Project teams help companies of all sizes work together and get things done. They are especially useful in large organizations where big teams and separate departments can slow things down.

Project teams help large organizations by:

1. Facilitating cross-functional collaboration

As organizations grow, they have more teams and often face more bottlenecks. Teams that work separately develop their own ways of doing things:

• Unique processes and tools: Each team establishes workflows that work for them but may not translate across departments.

• Team-specific language: Terminology and communication styles vary, creating confusion when teams collaborate.

• Scattered information: Files and work live in different places, making cross-functional visibility difficult.

Project teams break down these barriers by improving cross-functional collaboration, aligning everyone on shared responsibilities and strategic goals.

2. Increasing organizational efficiency

As organizations grow, producing cross-functional work becomes harder. Project teams reduce silos and redundancies, saving time and money. They also reveal insights that improve processes and long-term efficiency.

3. Driving high-impact work

When team members know their roles and share the same goals, they can focus on important work. Project teams reduce confusion from separate teams, helping everyone do their best and making the organization more collaborative and competitive.

7 ways to empower project teams to deliver high-impact work

When it comes to successfully running a project team, understanding roles and responsibilities is important, but there's more to it than that. Great project teams are collaborative, creative, and effective communicators.

Here are some tips to help you build a strong project team that can deliver important results for your business.

1. Understand how to choose the right team members

The first step in building a project team is picking people with the right skills for your project's goals. The team you need will depend on the type of project:

• Website build: Creative, technical, and client-facing team members like designers, developers, and account executives.

• Onboarding overhaul: Administrative and business-focused roles like human resources, business analysis, and people operations.

In addition to hard skills, it's also important that your project managers think about the soft skills they'll want to bring to the team, like adaptability, communication, critical thinking, and motivational skills. Finding team members with different skills and styles that complement each other is key to building a versatile team.

2. Help clearly define and align on the project's plan

Before the project kicks off, clearly define the project's goals and success metrics. This alignment ensures every team member understands what success looks like and how their work contributes to it.

Here are a few things to clarify at the beginning of the project:

• The project's goals, or the outcome or result they want to achieve with their project. For example, the project's main goal might be to launch a company blog.

• The project's objectives are the steps the project team will take to achieve the overall project goals. Project objectives might include developing an editorial calendar, choosing a content management system, and designing the blog.

• The project's timeline, including the general timeframe the project team will work on and complete the project.

• The project's scope outlines the total work required to complete the project and includes project resources and deliverables.

• The project budget, aka the overview of how much the project should cost to complete and how to allocate the spend.

Make this a collaborative process. Pull your team in early to discuss what work is feasible, what resources they need, and what success looks like. When everyone is aligned from the start, the team can begin with confidence.

3. Set the team up with clear roles and responsibilities

Once you've helped map out a plan for the project and defined the project's goals and objectives, it's time to clearly define the team's roles and responsibilities. Determining team responsibilities helps clarify the project, so every team member knows exactly what they're responsible for and by when. This can reduce potential miscommunication and duplicate work.

For example, let's say the project involves design work and there are two graphic designers on the project team. The project manager will need to determine how to split the design tasks and assign review and approval responsibilities. For larger projects where responsibilities feel especially murky, creating a RACI chart can help.

4. Help guide open communication

Strong project teams depend on open, consistent communication. Here are a few ways to build that culture:

• Be transparent with communication. Project managers set the tone for how their team communicates. They can help facilitate open, transparent communication by leading by example. That means being honest if they need to pivot the project, leading with empathy, and trusting their team to accomplish tasks without micromanaging.

• Use communication tools consistently. Communication tools, like Slack, Zoom, or Gmail, are the foundation of workplace communication. Project managers can work with their team to create a communication plan and determine best practices at the start of the project.

• Encourage everyone on the team to share their ideas, no matter their role. Project managers should ask for input from all team members to create an open and inclusive environment.

• Manage team conflict effectively. With the right conflict resolution strategies, project managers can resolve conflicts and encourage their team to learn and grow. They can start by holding 1:1 conversations with team members involved and practicing active listening.

• Welcome feedback from your team, whether it's in one-on-one meetings, anonymous surveys, or team discussions. This shows your team that their opinions are valued.

5. Make sure the team's hard work is recognized

Employees who receive consistent feedback are more engaged and more likely to thrive. Here are a few ways project managers can recognize their team's hard work:

• Send an email or note highlighting specific ways they've contributed to the project's success.

• Shout-out about one of their deliverables or contributions in a team Slack channel.

• Share the client's positive feedback about them or their work.

• Take them to lunch or send them a small thank-you gift, like their favorite ice cream.

• Implement a time to share weekly wins during project meetings, and call out employees who have stood out that week.

• Celebrate with the whole team with a team outing or surprise treats.

• Acknowledge and celebrate the completion of project milestones.

• Offer project-specific bonuses or monetary rewards for specific performance metrics.

• Give the team visibility by spotlighting their work at company-wide meetings or similar public forums.

6. Help the team grow with constructive feedback

Constructive criticism is just as important as positive recognition. While positive feedback boosts employee morale, constructive criticism helps employees learn and grow.

When giving constructive feedback:

• Be direct and specific: Provide clear examples of what to improve and how.

• Make it a conversation: Give team members time to ask questions and clarify.

• Lead with empathy: Share a time when similar feedback helped you improve.

7. Encourage the team to build on project success and learn from setbacks

Just because the project is completed doesn't mean the work is done. Encourage your reports to hold a post-mortem meeting to discuss what went well and determine what could have gone better.

Post-mortems are great for learning how to run a project more effectively, like how to better mitigate risk or plan ahead for roadblocks. They can also be tools for collecting team feedback on how the project went from a team-building perspective.

Effective project teams create successful projects

Project teams lay the groundwork for success. They improve communication between departments, reduce barriers, and help everyone work toward the same goals, leading to creative and effective results.

Ready to set up your project team for success? Get started with Asana to bring clarity and collaboration to your cross-functional work.

Frequently asked questions about project teams