In this video, I'll take you through the process of choosing roles and responsibilities of all the people on your project team. In order to decide who does what on a project, we have to consider and outline our needs. Choosing the right people for a team is a big task, and one every project manager should take seriously. After all, these are the people who do the work on the project, so we want to make sure we have the right people lined up. When identifying people resources, we need to carefully consider the project needs and use that info to guide our decision-making. First, a project manager will make a list of roles that they'll need on their team to complete each task. In the same way that a project manager is accountable for the overall initiation, planning, execution, and completion of a project, the person in each role is accountable for specific tasks within the project life cycle. For example, a home construction project team might include roles on their lists like an architect, a site manager, and multiple construction workers. Once the tasks are clearly laid out, the project manager decides how many people they'll need on their team. This can vary greatly depending on the project size. For small projects, a team may only need three or four people to complete the deliverables on time, and for larger projects, a team might include dozens. At Google, we sometimes have hundreds of Googlers working on the same project. Getting the team size right is important for a bunch of reasons. For example, when there's a lot of people on a project, communication sometimes becomes difficult. That makes it more likely for someone to miss important details. But if your team is too small, there might not be enough people to finish all the tasks. Once you know how many people you need on your team, you have to think about who does what. To decide on the right person for each role, a project manager needs to think carefully about skills. Makes sense, right? If you're managing the construction of a house, you want to note that the construction workers who are building the frame or installing the drywall have the skills needed to do it properly. It's on the project manager to ensure that everyone on the team has the right skills to do the job, but it's also important to remember that skills can be taught. If someone doesn't have a certain skill initially, they might still be a great fit for the team. Maybe this person brings a positive attitude and attention to detail— perfectly good reasons to have them on your team. Just keep in mind that if a teammate doesn't have the necessary skills, it's important that they are trained in time so as not to cause project delays. When choosing teammates, a project manager also has to factor in each person's availability and whether they'll feel motivated to complete their assigned tasks. For example, you might know a fantastic site manager who would make a great asset to the team, but if they're already staffed on another big project, they might not have the time to commit to yours. Or even if they do have the time, they may not feel like this project will give them the visibility they need for a promotion. Motivation is a key ingredient to great work. It's a good idea to pick people who are excited to get involved, but of course, we don't always get to choose our resources. Sometimes another manager or team lead might just assign people to roles. When this happens, it's the project manager's challenge to deliver the best work with what we're given. Let's check in on our project at Office Green, where we're rolling out a new service. As a project manager, it's up to you to decide who you need on your team. You have to ask yourself questions on things like staff experience, availability, the workspace, team member workload on other projects, and more. For example, who on the team has office landscaping experience? Who's local to the city where the launch will happen? Who can be fully dedicated to this project for the next eight weeks? There's no exact formula for putting together the right team, which makes it a little tricky. Every situation is different and calls for a different set of skills, experience, and perspectives. It can be helpful to look deeper into each task on the project. Always ask yourself these key questions: how many people do I need on my team each step of the way? Which team members do I need and when? Are those experts already busy on other projects? Who makes the final decisions on project resources? So there's a lot to think about when putting together your dream team. Up next, we'll learn more about all the different roles on a project. See you there!