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Since its inception in 2015, the PMI Talent Triangle has constantly evolved, reflecting changes in project management.

Published in early 2022, the new PMI Talent Triangle reflects the realities of the modern market. Project leaders must assess:

Project needs

Organizational culture

Skills of their project team

To help project management professionals navigate this changing world and employ more effective ways of working, PMI has updated the facets of the PMI Talent Triangle. This allows professionals to focus on:

Ways of Working

Whether it’s forecasting, flexibility, design thinking, or new methods yet to be developed, it’s clear that there is more than one way to get the job done today. That’s why PMI encourages professionals to master as many ways of working as possible so that they can apply the right technique at the right time and achieve successful results.

Power Skills

These interpersonal communication skills include collaborative leadership, communication, innovative thinking, determination, and empathy. Teams possessing these skills can maintain influence over stakeholders, which is critical when managing changes.

Business Acumen

Professionals with business acumen understand the macro- and micro-impacts in their organization and industry and possess functional or subject matter expertise to make the right decisions. Professionals at all levels must be able to cultivate effective decision-making and understand how their projects align with the overall picture of organizational strategy and global trends.

For a team to be effective, individuals in the team must know how to work together. This is crucial for achieving team success. However, teams don’t become effective automatically, and not right away.

The formation of a team takes time, and team members often go through several stages, gradually transforming from a group of strangers into a cohesive team with common goals.

Psychologist Bruce Tuckman first mentioned the stages of team development in 1965 in his article “Developmental Sequence in Small Groups.”

Initially, Tuckman identified 4 stages:

1. **Forming**
2. **Storming**
3. **Norming**
4. **Performing**

Later, Tuckman added a fifth stage – **Adjourning**.

Let’s take a detailed look at each stage.

**Forming**

At the beginning of the project, there is enthusiasm and high expectations regarding the project’s outcomes. Team members experience an emotional uplift at the start of this new phase, promising excellent prospects. The first contact is made. Future team members still perceive each other as strangers at this stage.

At this point, the project manager should clearly define goals for both the team and its individual members and guide the team.

**Storming**

The need for the first results arises.

However, there is still no consensus in actions; it turns out that not everything is as smooth as it seemed at the beginning. The first problems have emerged, and conflicts have arisen. Typical questions at this stage include:

– Who is the leader?
– Why is my point of view not being accepted?
– What is our goal?
– How do we achieve our goal?

Here, the project manager needs to establish processes and structures. Organize work in a way that fosters friendly and trusting relationships within the team. Resolve emerging conflicts quickly and support team members.

**Norming**

Team members develop norms and procedures for collaborative work, learning to solve problems together.

The socio-psychological climate gradually improves. Goals become clear. The team starts to work as a unified entity. Team members begin to think about how to help each other.

At this stage, the project manager should allow team members to take responsibility for progressing towards the goal. It’s a good time for team-building activities.

**Performing**

Project participants feel like a unified team and, on an emotionally even keel, carry out their assigned tasks.

Productivity increases. Trust is established within the team. Everyone understands what they are doing and why. Team members start to hear each other.

At this stage, the project manager needs to delegate tasks as often as possible. Once the team begins to thrive, your task is to control the work and intervene in the process as minimally as possible. Now you can focus on other goals.

**Adjourning**

Concern about the termination of group functioning. A sense of sadness about parting with group members associated with the end of the project.

This is the concluding stage. The project manager should celebrate the team’s achievements. Perhaps you will work with someone on a future project, so it will be much easier if people have pleasant and positive memories.

One of the indicators of complexity in a project is the number of potential communication channels. It is considered that there is a significant number of potential communication paths between team members and stakeholders, which grow exponentially with the increase …

The MoSCoW method is a prioritization technique used in many management spheres to achieve consensus on what is most important to stakeholders and consumers.

This term is an acronym, where each consonant letter represents one of the possible priority categories (with the added letters O for better memorization). Thus, priorities are classified as:

Must have – everything under this category is critical and must be included in the product. If something from it is not included, the release is considered a failure. However, this priority can be lowered if there is stakeholder agreement.

Should have – these are important requirements but not critical for the release. These are the first level of “wants,” and generally, in terms of importance, they correspond to Must requirements but are not as time-sensitive.

Could have – these are desirable but optional requirements for the release. Typically, these are inexpensive product improvements. Despite their low importance, this is the second level of “wants.”

Won’t have – these are functional features that are least critical or do not align with the product strategy. They should be set aside or kept in mind for subsequent product releases.