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Building high-performing software teams

Building high-performing software teams

Samuel James

July 28, 2023
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  1. Building a High-Performing
    Software Team
    James Samuel

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  2. I'm James
    ▪ 10+ years of experience writing software
    in teams.
    ▪ Previously Head of Engineering @TIER.
    ▪ Engineering Manager @Reddit.
    ▪ Linkedin: abiodunjames.

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  3. You're building a team when you:
    • Bring a small number of people with
    complementary skills together.
    • Have them committed to common
    goals.
    • Have them hold themselves mutually
    accountable to these goals.

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  4. A team is high-performing when:
    It delivers superior results
    And does that consistently

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  5. Key factors that impact team
    performance
    • Teams have to be situated in an
    organizational context that is supportive
    of high performance.
    • The culture within the team has to be
    supportive of high performance and
    effectiveness.
    Team
    Organisation

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  6. How do you build a high-
    performing team?

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  7. Create team clarity
    Confused teams have a hard time
    achieving their goals.
    1

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  8. Clarity of purpose
    • Why does the team exist?
    • Why are they doing what they
    doing?
    Create team clarity

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  9. Clarity of plan
    • How are they getting to where
    they are going?
    Create team clarity

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  10. Clarity of responsibility
    What roles would individuals on
    the team play in enabling the team
    to get there?
    Create team clarity

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  11. Creating team clarity is not a one-off thing
    Create team clarity
    ▪ Over-communicate team's purpose, plans
    and individual roles.
    ▪ Let the team's purpose inform who you
    hire.

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  12. Compose a strong team
    A high-performing team starts with hiring
    the right talent.
    2

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  13. Hire strong talents
    Hire strong folks in product,
    design, engineering, e.tc
    Compose a strong team

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  14. Maintain an optimum size
    • Team sizes ideally between 6 – 9.
    • Create teams that are no larger
    than can be fed by two Pizzas –
    Two-pizza teams
    Compose a strong team

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  15. Stability matters
    Compose a strong team
    Creating high performance in a team
    takes at least 4-6 months. Consider
    creating long-lived teams.

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  16. Create synergy
    Coming together is a beginning, staying together is
    progress, and working together is success – Henry Ford
    3

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  17. Synergy is the ability of a group to
    outperform even its best individual
    member.
    Create synergy
    There is synergy when:
    1+1+1+1 > 4

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  18. Create well-defined shared goals
    • Connect individual's goals to
    team's goals.
    • Hold everyone accountable to
    the team's goals.
    Create synergy

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  19. Break down communication barriers
    • Implement good communication practices.
    • Create an open environment where
    information flow effortlessly.
    Create synergy

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  20. Facilitate trust building among members
    Affective trust: Emotional bound and
    interpersonal relatedness.
    Cognitive trust: Springs from reliability
    and competence
    Create synergy

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  21. Empower
    The goal of all leaders should be to work
    themselves out of a job – Jocko Willinks.
    4

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  22. • Extrinsic motivation – Imposed by external
    factors like rewards, punishments, etc.
    • Intrinsic motivation – Motivation from the inside
    of us.
    The different types of motivation
    Empower

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  23. We do our best work when
    we are driven by intrinsic
    motivation
    Empower

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  24. Autonomy
    In control what we do
    and how we do it
    Components of intrinsic motivation
    Empower

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  25. Autonomy
    In control what we do
    and how we do it
    Mastery
    Desire to continue to
    learn, improve and be
    better
    Components of intrinsic motivation
    Empower

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  26. Autonomy
    In control what we do
    and how we do it
    Mastery
    Desire to continue to
    learn, improve and be
    better
    Purpose
    A NorthStar to aim for
    and a reason it's worth
    doing
    Components of intrinsic motivation
    Empower

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  27. How to empower your team
    Empower
    • Foster autonomy by providing context.
    • Treat them as curious problem solvers, not
    mindless resources.
    • Coach and grow everyone to become a leader.
    • Make room for the team and get out of the way.

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  28. Continuous improvement
    A bad system will beat a good person every time –
    W. Edwards Deming
    5

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  29. Tuckman's team and group development model
    Continuous improvement

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  30. Key areas to continuously drive improvement
    Continuous improvement
    • Process
    • People
    • Tools/Dev Environment
    • Product

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  31. Creating a culture of continuous improvement
    Continuous improvement
    • Run effective retrospective meetings (Project retro, quarter
    retro and sprint retro).
    • Create phycological safety.
    • Re-assess processes and tweak them as needed to remove
    unnecessary frictions.

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  32. Summary
    • Create team clarity
    • Compose a strong team
    • Create synergy
    • Empower and get out of the way
    • Create a culture of continuous improvement

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  33. Thank you for listening
    Wrote a post about this topic

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