Building high-performing software teams

Transcript

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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