I believe that assembling a team of those specialized in the specific needs of the project is the most important requirement for success, although knowing their strengths and weaknesses as they may pertain to the project and how they work as a team is equally as important. First of all, a team member who is really good at project design, such as five plus years of CAD modeling, is great for the physical assembly of the project, but they can be held back if they lack the mathematical foundation for calculating appropriate dimensions or if work hours interfere with when they are actually available for team meetings. Furthermore, communication is key; team members should ideally be attentive to updates on the project and be able to translate their work for other members to understand the status of their component and what they need. For instance, as the software developer for my capstone team, it is my job to communicate the data points I require from the breadboard to my team and the ideal outputs so that the relevant features can be assembled. Finally, all team members should be trusted to be honest, let the team know if they are behind, if they aren't sure, and if they think that there is a problem with the output another team member is doing for the sake of the project. At the end of the day, this is a team-driven project; it may have differing personalities, you might not get along with everyone, but that should never stop the team from pushing the project towards success. That said, are there any project team dynamics you think may be red flags? If so, what do you propose as a resolution? 

These are very important questions to address! I see most of the replies here are referring to the "chemistry" within a team and everyone is emphasizing the importance of communication. I completely agree that communication is the most important skill a person can have and you must have open communication within a team in order to successfully finish a project. However, especially in the field of biotechnology, it is really important to build a team of people who not only communicate well amongst each other, but who complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. A project in this field requires people from different backgrounds with different areas of expertise to come together. It is great if everyone connects on a personal level, but that on its own can only get you so far. Variety is a must-have. If everyone on the team has a strong background in mechanical work, who will handle the electrical components? It is essential to build a team that has different strengths so that where one person is weak, their teammate can pick up the slack. Approaching it in this way will allow the team to avoid future complications if someone gets to the point where they realize the task at hand required more knowledge and skill than they originally anticipated; rather than wasting time having to do further research and possibly reach out to someone for further assistance, they can simply refer to their teammates who have more experience in that particular subject and overcome the challenge within the team. 

I believe a well-connected team will almost always produce better results than a team that cannot communicate. When you have good communication, you know each other's strengths and weaknesses, and how to support each other with your own skills. Good communication makes projects run more smoothly and tends to have better end results. 

While chemistry between team members is an important aspect of throughput, I think the main factor is trust and respect for one anther. Whether it's delegation or split responsibilities, the trust in each team member to complete their tasks is of utmost importance. I think individuals strengths and weaknesses are a great way to understand how to work best with your project team members. Multiple big name pharmaceutical companies have been giving the option for employees to complete DISC assessments and adding it to your teams profile so that everyone can understand how each employees communicates and understands topics.