I think its definitely better to work with the people who have more knowledge on their department. As Dr. Schesser has metioned several times in the begining of the capstone project choose a person from each biomedical branch. This is necessary because while you are working on a project, you might start hating your friend. If he has different work standars than you, and then you will lose that person as a freind and you will not get your project done. However, if you choose a person who is knowlegable in that specific department, then you get a good group and you can force them to work if they are not doing their job.

I think that better relation is more necessary for the team. I have joined a horrible team before. Most of the team members are knowledgeable, but they only think themselves. During the meeting, they only talking about their thought, never listen to others. Finally, the project failed. So I believe that the team members are more helpful with the quality of better relations.

In my opinion, it should be both. Having departmental knowledge is very crucial in forming a team since that person needs to know in and out about every little thing about the department and how to do it. But when forming a team, relationship is also equally important. You need to have good relationship to work with each other. In case of emergency or urgency, if relationship is good, everyone can come together to fix it, rather than just Project Manager handling by him/herself.

It would be ideal to work in a team where the members are knowledgeable in their department role and I have a good relationship with. When you have this combo, it is a setup for success. When you have someone who is good at their job but doesn't get along with everyone, it makes it really hard to be on the same page and get the work done. But when you have someone is really nice but doesn't know how to the work they are given, it sets the timeline back and might require extra resources to finish up the project.

I believe you need to have a good balance of someone who is knowledgeable in their role as well as a good relationship with them. Someone who you do not get along with might be more difficult to work with but someone who is more knowledgeable in their role might not see eye to eye with the rest of the group. To form a team, I believe there needs to be a few people who get along with majority of the group but some people that are knowledgeable about their role. I would avoid people who like to do things their way and won’t compromise with other people. I would choose people who know how to keep things professional and leave their personal issues at home. The team members would need to be team players and work with one another. I would avoid people who do not know how to communicate well with others. Also, someone who does not listen to the team or the manager and does their own thing would need to be avoid too.

In my opinion, with a new group of people, it is better to have the project group with people who are competent in their expertise vs people who you have a good relationship with. It would be great if everyone got along somewhat, but I would rather have a great product with a team I may not get along with. If you are a team where everyone likes each other, but no one does the work then your project will suffer immensely.

I think in a project team you need team members who can carry out the workload. The team should be comprised with individuals from different groups with knowledge of a specific subject matter or with a specific skill set who carry out the work of the project. Project team members should be able to: contribute to overall project objectives, complete individual deliverables, provide expertise, work with users to establish and meet business needs and document the process.

The main aim of project is to accomplish the goal of the project by completing it successfully. In a company when working with people you may know would be easy as compared to work with strangers since you know them well before hand. I would prefer to work with people who have more knowledge and experience in their departmental roles. It’s a great opportunity to break the comfort zone. Working with someone with different skill set can help you to discover a new source of ideas. The main is working on the same project which has to be successful in the market. The project team requires more technical skills and knowledge so working with knowledgeable people is always an advantage to accomplish the goal. I think communication with the team members is very important and it keeps the track on how much every member is contributing. Sometimes working with people you know will make it difficult to work since at some time there are chances that it may hurt the relationship with people you may know which may affect the output of the project. Mistakes should be avoided by meeting up the team and setting up the goals in advance. By prioritizing the project and the tasks which to be achieved.

In terms of forming a project team, I think it's important to always find people who are qualified enough to participate their roles in the project, and meanwhile, have a good sense of collaboration and moderate subordination. It's always all about finding the balance over these two qualities from a competent before recruiting one in the team. Other qualities also needed to consider are: the interpersonal skills, the willingness to go down details, the sense of responsibilities, and more essential professional traits and likable personal characters, etc.

If I am to form a project team, I would choose people who have the qualification and experience over people who I know get along with each other. From my work experience so far, people who do not really get along put aside their differences for the sake of the project. As professionals that is something we should all be able to do. If I know people in my team do not get along, I would make sure they are constantly communicating by setting meeting times weekly.

Since we are doing project-based organization it is very tough to answer this question. As the teams were made the project managers were given little time to go around and talk to each department and explain their project to them. Also the project managers only learned of the project right before they had to explain it to the departments. So it is hard for anyone besides the project manager to have say in who gets chosen to be part of the project team especially if you were one of the last ones to get chosen. I think it would be beneficially to have both people who you have a better relationship with and also people who are knowledgable in their department. I say this because someone can be so smart in their department but if they do not know how to work with you or with the rest of the team the only benefit they have is finishing their part. But since its a team project it would be nice if everyone can work together and help each other out. For example when my project team had our first team meeting we were able to work on documents together even though it was our departments document but if you have a teammate who does not know how to work well with people then they do not really benefit the entire project. Even though it of course is very important to be knowledgable but it also is as important to be able to work with your teammates and be very open into making new relationships especially since you will be working and interacting with people everyday either in person or over the phone.

I agree that in the real world not everything will work out the way you want it as in working with people you are friends with. But it is also important to work with people who you know you can get along with or have good people skills. If people in your group do not know how to work or have a professional relationship this can cause a big problem as delay the project from finishing. I understand that sometimes you might end up with people who you do not get along with because in the real world you do not always get what you want but it is important that the people that are hired to work not only know the material and have the right skills to get the job done but also have good people skills and can get along with anyone they might have to deal with.

As it's mentioned quite a few times in the previous posts, in a real-life scenario you most likely won't have the opportunity to finger pick the persons you want to work with. I think, if you are given the task to form a team you want the project to succeed, therefore you would want to have the right team that can make that happen which means that the persons you select must excel at their role. However, team harmony is also very important, but I believe that keeping matters professional in the work environment shouldn't block the team for accomplishing their goal. For example, during my internship, I took the lead on a small project that was trusted only in me initially, after a few weeks I had a meeting with the project manager and my manager to discuss the possibility of having another intern join my project. They asked me first if I would not mind working with another intern and sharing the responsibility. Personally, my first thought was "I don't really need the help, I already know this person and the idea didn't excite me" however, I also thought to myself that this is a professional environment and therefore I must concentrate in what the goal is. Both the project manager and my manager explain to me that the other intern did not fit in the project he was previously given and that they were glad we could work together. The project was delivered as expected on time and in the end, I was told what a great job we did. I felt appreciated and my partner was also glad to join my project. In the end, if all parties have the same goal the project will be a success and this is sensed by everyone.

As stated you don't usually get to choose. That being said, I think you need to lean on the knowledge vs compatibility side. For the sake of giving percentages, let's say 70/30. You can people who have great relationships but if they don't know anything whats the point. You wouldn't be able to get anything done, but you'd agree on it. On the flip side, you need to have some compatibility or no middle ground can be reached and the project falls apart. The threat of losing your job is not always enough motivation, or at the very least it's a minimal incentive. A balance is needed in order for the team to function effectively.

Creating a productive dynamic for a project group is definitely a critical and tricky task. I believe having members that are both knowledgeable and easy to communicate with are equally as important; one cannot make up for the other. For instance, projects rarely progress as planned and the ones that meet deadlines and ultimately succeed are the ones that can adapt quickly and pivot accordingly. This, however, requires a great amount of collaboration and communication. Group members that have a hard time interacting with others will ultimately be the limiting factor and potentially prevent the project from succeeding in the end. Alternatively, each member of course needs to be knowledgeable in their roles to efficiently move forward and prevent roadblocks along the way.