Who do you need on your project team?

Delivering IT projects well doesn’t come down to a single role or job title. It depends on a team equipped with a set of baseline skills that together shape how effectively a project is planned, executed, and delivered. These aren’t just soft skills,they include technical ability. Without hands-on technical execution, there’s no project to deliver.

To explore this, we’re looking at each skill through the lens of an archetype – a type of contributor whose qualities and actions help define a project’s success. These are not rigid personas, but shorthand for core competencies that every successful IT project team needs in the mix.

The Archetypes

The Communicator

Communication & Stakeholder Management

This is the person who ensures that everyone stays aligned. Whether speaking to engineers, execs, or end-users, they tailor the message so nothing gets lost in translation. They’re also great listeners, helping to draw out concerns before they become problems.

The Planner

Project Planning & Scheduling

The one who knows what’s happening, when, and why. They build a timeline everyone can follow, define deliverables, and coordinate the moving parts without overwhelming the team.

The Risk Watcher

Risk Identification & Mitigation

They constantly look ahead for what might go off course. With contingency plans in place and potential issues surfaced early, they help the project stay resilient and steady.

The Technologist

Technical Execution & Literacy

This archetype does more than understand the technology—they build it. They contribute hands-on through coding, system design, integration, testing, or architecture. Their technical skills are critical to turning plans into working solutions.

The Adaptor

Change Management & Adaptability

Things shift. This archetype helps the team shift with them, absorbing changes without losing traction and keeping the project moving forward even when conditions evolve.

The Problem-Solver

Problem-Solving & Decision-Making

They don’t freeze when issues hit. Instead, they think clearly under pressure, weigh options quickly, and help the team decide and move on.

The Referee

Conflict Resolution

This person handles tensions head-on without drama. They make sure disagreements don’t fester or derail the team’s momentum.

The Collaborator

Team Collaboration

They’re the glue. Always willing to jump in, share knowledge, or connect two parts of the project that weren’t yet aligned.

The Timekeeper

Time Management

They manage priorities and keep things ticking. Without them, deadlines slip and productivity falters.

The Coordinator

Leadership & Team Coordination

They don’t need a fancy title to lead. They support the group, keep priorities clear, and drive the rhythm that keeps the team aligned.

Where the Research Leads Us

Industry bodies and professional literature are consistent about what makes IT projects succeed. According to PMI’s Pulse of the Profession, communication breakdown is among the top reasons projects fail. Stakeholder engagement and expectation management are essential across project sizes and sectors. Similarly, CompTIA and CIO.com emphasize that a team’s ability to plan realistically, monitor scope, and track timelines is foundational to staying on course.

Risk management shows up again and again as a dealbreaker. ProjectManager.com and PMI’s risk frameworks both highlight how early identification and active mitigation can be the difference between a manageable delay and a derailed initiative.

Technical execution is a non-negotiable. You need people who don’t just understand the tech, they need to build it. CompTIA’s Project+ curriculum outlines technical competency as a delivery skill, not just a background trait. CIO.com makes the same point: teams that succeed in IT projects have contributors with strong, current technical skills aligned to delivery—whether that’s cloud platforms, custom software, integration pipelines, or infrastructure.

Change is inevitable in IT projects. Whether it’s shifting business needs or evolving tech stacks, McKinsey and Prosci both point to structured change management as a core success factor. This includes readiness assessments, stakeholder transition plans, and transparent communication around impacts.

Problem-solving and decision-making also carry weight. Harvard Business Review discusses how high-performing teams don’t avoid tough calls, they handle them with speed and accountability. PMI encourages teams to build a culture of prompt, informed decision-making to avoid paralysis.

Conflict resolution is a quieter but equally important skill. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) stresses the long-term productivity gains of resolving interpersonal friction early and openly. PMI’s interpersonal skills resources echo this, pointing out how unresolved team tension can sabotage timelines and morale.

Collaboration consistently ranks high in Agile-focused literature. Atlassian’s team playbooks and Agile Alliance case studies both show that shared ownership, cross-functional pairing, and open knowledge exchange directly improve delivery outcomes.

Time management is perhaps one of the most pragmatic skills. According to reports from Trello and Basecamp, teams that track progress and focus time deliberately deliver better work with fewer surprises. CompTIA reinforces this with recommendations around timeboxing and structured task prioritisation.

Finally, leadership. Not the title, but the behaviour. HBR case studies and PMI’s leadership development tracks point out that teams need someone to rally the group, advocate for priorities, and make space for others to lead too.

Conclusion

These ten archetypes aren’t ten individual people. They’re ten skillsets. A single person might carry several of them. A well-rounded team ensures all are covered. What matters is that these capabilities show up somewhere (and consistently!) throughout the project lifecycle.

Technical delivery is essential. A project team needs someone to actually build the thing, code the platform, configure the infrastructure, test the releases. Without those skills present, the rest is planning theatre. But those delivery skills must be backed by coordination, adaptability, communication, and leadership to translate effort into outcomes.

Too often, organisations hire for tools or roles but miss the balance of these broader, practical capabilities. Recognising and developing these skills within your teams helps build delivery strength, not just for today’s project, but for the portfolio ahead.