Keeping in Mind the Impact of Social Relationships When Managing Software Project Teams

Social relationships are a phenomenon all IT professionals are exposed to and in many cases involved in. These relationships are used by software project team members for personal as well as professional purposes. The impact these relationships have on the success or failure of any given IT project is in most cases ignored by IT management. This paper demonstrates that these relationships play a significant role and should be managed in such a way that the team members and the project as a whole can reap the benefits thereof. A conceptual framework is proposed for the management of these relationships.