Building Impactful Teams

Effective teamwork is crucial to getting things done, and making these teams as impactful as possible amplifies what you can achieve. There are many aspects to successful teams - from hiring good people, facilitating communication and fostering a healthy culture. In this talk we’ll explore the logistics of building and growing great teams, based on experience from working in a fast paced startup and seeing it grow over 18 months from 50 to 320 people.

Presented at Women of Silicon Roundabout 2018

Transcript

1. Building Impactful Teams
   Emma Guy
   @emmaguy
   

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4. Team #1
   ‘All engineers in the whole company’
   ~12 people
   @emmaguy
   

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5. Team #2
   ‘Android team’
   2 engineers, 1 product manager
   @emmaguy
   

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6. Team #3
   ‘Product team’
   Multi discipline, ~10 people
   @emmaguy
   

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7. Team #4
   ‘Product squad’
   Multi discipline, ~5 people
   @emmaguy
   

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8. Teams at Monzo
   

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9. Are cross functional
   @emmaguy
   

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10. @emmaguy
    Subdivide into focused squads
    

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11. @emmaguy
    Can be formed as needed
    

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12. Relentless focus
    @emmaguy
    

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13. Own a metric
    @emmaguy
    

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14. @emmaguy
    Have a lot of autonomy
    

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15. Building the team
    

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16. Initial phone call
    Take home exercise
    Onsite
    @emmaguy
    

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17. Will they be great at this job?
    Will they thrive?
    @emmaguy
    

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18. Hiring great people is really hard
    @emmaguy
    

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19. Make the process as close to the job as possible
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20. Open exercises are difficult to evaluate
    @emmaguy
    

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21. Consider how you ask the question
    @emmaguy
    

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22. Calibration of answers is tricky
    @emmaguy
    

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23. People are biased
    @emmaguy
    

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24. Hire inclusively
    @emmaguy
    

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25. Refine the process
    @emmaguy
    

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26. Set clear expectations
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27. Culture
    

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28. @emmaguy
    “We don’t do that here.”
    http://thagomizer.com/blog/2017/09/29/we-don-t-do-that-here.html
    

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29. @emmaguy
    Concise, to the point
    Non-judgemental
    Firm, but polite
    

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30. Transparency
    @emmaguy
    

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31. Feedback
    @emmaguy
    

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32. Willingness to take risks
    “How can we do this in half the time?”
    @emmaguy
    

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33. Psychological safety
    @emmaguy
    https://rework.withgoogle.com/blog/five-keys-to-a-successful-google-team/
    

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34. Can I take risks without feeling
    insecure or embarrassed?
    Can I be who I am?
    @emmaguy
    

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35. Diversity & Inclusion
    @emmaguy
    

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36. Diverse teams build better products
    @emmaguy
    

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37. “Hey guys”
    @emmaguy
    

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38. If I do not relate to being a “guy”, this term
    actively excludes me every time it is used
    @emmaguy
    

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39. @emmaguy
    

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40. Conclusion
    

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41. Invest in hiring
    @emmaguy
    

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42. Embrace change
    @emmaguy
    

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43. Be mindful and empathetic
    @emmaguy
    

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44. Thanks!
    @emmaguy
    

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