Cheetah teams in product development: the most extreme form of temporary organization?

Research into product development and temporary organizations has focused largely on structures and actions that are designed and planned in advance. Starting from three case studies, this paper illustrates the way organizations deal with unanticipated problems by the ad hoc launching of temporary organizations--here called cheetah teams. A cheetah team's most significant feature is that it is never planned in advance. This distinguishes it from most other temporary organizations, which base their actions primarily on plans and schedules. As demonstrated below, the launching of a cheetah team can be an effective means of dealing with unanticipated and urgent problems in the course of an ongoing project.