How to Build a Great Dev Team

Team Flexibility

Is your team open to exploring different ways of doing things?

Do you achieve goals together, by using the talents and strengths of all your team members?

Does your team share responsibility for team development?

Is there a "no-blame culture"? Do you all feel safe to report issues or potential risks?

Purpose & Team Values

Are you committed to a common purpose? Do you all know what your team's work is and why it is important?

Are your team goals clear, challenging, agreed on and relevant to the purpose of the company?

Do you have clearly defined strategies for achieving goals, which you all agree on?

Are individual roles and responsibilities clear? And their relationship to your team's purpose and goals understood?

Do you trust each other?

Empowerment

Is all relevant information readily available to your team?

Does your team have the authority to take action and make decisions, within understood boundaries?

Is training available to support individual and team development?

Is your team committed to the continued development of all team members?

Does your company and team value transparency? You don't guard relevant information, you share it freely?

Recognition & Appreciation

Do you acknowledge individual and team accomplishments? Do you celebrate successes and milestones?

Do you have a sense of personal accomplishment in relation to achieving goals?

Are your team contributions valued and recognised?

Do you feel as individuals appreciated within your team?

Are individual differences respected? Do you value diversity and inclusion?

Team Performance

Does your team have effective time management? Do you structure your meetings?

Are you committed to high quality?

Do you work at a sustainable pace? Does management and stakeholders support and respect that pace?

Do you learn from your mistakes, and are you committed to continuous improvement?

Are your team's problem-solving and decision-making skills effective? Can you overcome obstacles?

Does your team collaborate well with other teams, customers, stakeholders, and vendors?

Agile Manifesto

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

Relationships & Communication

Are different ideas, opinions, and perspectives encouraged from all team members? Do your team members listen actively to each other? Do you try to understand without judgment?

Does your team have methods for managing conflict and finding common ground? Do you offer access to conflict management training?

Are you wary of chat and email overload? Do you regularly turn off notifications to dedicate time for focused work?

Do you keep regular retrospectives, where you strive to give honest and caring feedback?

References

Buckingham M, Goodall A. Nine Lies about Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World. Harvard Business Review Press; 2019.

Sinek S. Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t. Portfolio Penguin; 2017.

Anderson G. Mastering Collaboration: Make Working Together Less Painful and More Productive. O’Reilly Media; 2019.

Hanlan M. High Performance Teams: How to Make Them Work. Praeger; 2004.

Chapman G, White PE. The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People. Northfield Press; 2012.

Livermore. Driven by Difference: How Great Companies Fuel Innovation through Diversity. Amacom; 2016.

Toomer J, Caldwell C, Weitzenkorn S, Clark C. The Catalyst Effect: 12 Skills and Behaviors to Boost Your Impact and Elevate Team Performance. Emerald Publishing; 2018.

Markova D, McArthur A. Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently. Random House; 2017.

Lencioni PM. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. 1st ed. Jossey-Bass; 2013.

Agile Manifesto

The Twelve-Factor App

The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code

How to Build a Great Dev Team

Team Flexibility

Purpose & Team Values

Empowerment

Recognition & Appreciation

Team Performance

The Joel (Spolsky) Test

Agile Manifesto

Relationships & Communication

References