Integrated Project Team Start-up Guide

This Guide suggests how to set up, manage, and evaluate IPTs in government. It describes the most important decisions and key steps in IPT formation based on MITRE’s research into best practices in industry and government as well as organizational behavior research on work team performance.
Numerous studies have clearly shown that failure of modernization, IT, and many other kinds of projects is more often caused by organizational and human – rather than technological – reasons. Integrated project teams hold great promise in addressing these organizational and human factors by bringing together all the key stakeholders in a collaborative team environment to address the most important decision points throughout the project lifecycle. However, ineffective formation and management of IPTs often cause them to fall prey to the same difficult organizational dynamics they are created to address. This Guide addresses these organizational and personnel factors so that IPTs can be more deliberately designed, implemented, and managed by taking advantage of the many best practices that have evolved in industry and government over the past 20 to 30 years.