ARCHIVED 5.3.3. Organizing the Project Team

 

Archived Content

Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please contact us to request a format other than those available.

Consult the Pavel in ...

Español Português Italiano Nederlands العربية

Previous page Next page

Once the project has been judged feasible, a project team must be selected, work methods established and a project plan prepared.

Project Leader

Ideally, the project leader should be familiar with not only the subject field in question but also the principles and methods of terminology work. In selecting team members, the leader should take into account the subject field under study, the user needs and the need for a balanced representation of all parties concerned.

The Team

A team composed of subject-field experts and language professionals including at least one professional terminologist, produces the best results. Depending on the type of project, the terminologist may be formally part of the team or may be brought in as an outside consultant. In other organizational models, subject specialists work as outside consultants for a group of terminologists or language professionals. In the case of small projects, a single terminologist may simply work with a single specialist.

The size of the team is an important consideration. The team should be large enough to be representative yet small enough to encourage good communication and cooperation and maximize efficiency. Generally, teams composed of five to eight members work well.

Work Methods and Procedures

The work methods and procedures must be clear to all the team members. The project leader should ensure that all members are made familiar with the basic methodology to be used and with all applicable technical standards. Team members must have access to all ISO/TC 37 technical standards, general-language dictionaries, specialized glossaries in the field under study and all other appropriate resources. Every effort should be made to adhere to established technical standards in terminology and to maximize the use of existing terminology in the field.

Work Plan

The work plan should include a description of the subject field (stipulating the subfields to be included and excluded), the languages involved and the number of concepts to be studied. If the number of concepts is judged to exceed the parameters of the project, the work may be subdivided into parallel or successive subprojects.

The work plan should also include a detailed schedule specifying the time frame and target date for each phase of the work and the responsibilities of each team member. The schedule should allow for some flexibility or provide contingency plans in the case of resignations or absences of members, scheduling delays, publication delays, and so on.

An itemized budget forecast for each phase of the project, including publication and dissemination costs, should be outlined and cost control mechanisms should be developed.