I'm James ▪ 10+ years of experience writing software in teams. ▪ Previously Head of Engineering @TIER. ▪ Engineering Manager @Reddit. ▪ Linkedin: abiodunjames.
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.
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
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.
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
Break down communication barriers • Implement good communication practices. • Create an open environment where information flow effortlessly. Create synergy
Facilitate trust building among members Affective trust: Emotional bound and interpersonal relatedness. Cognitive trust: Springs from reliability and competence Create synergy
• Extrinsic motivation – Imposed by external factors like rewards, punishments, etc. • Intrinsic motivation – Motivation from the inside of us. The different types of motivation Empower
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
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.
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.