Team Gelling

A test of a happy engineering team: “If you buy them pizza in the evening, will they stick around and socialize together, or will they race out the door as quickly as possible?”

⊕ (Fournier 2017, chap. 5)

This is more than empty small talk; it fosters relatedness, the sense of people as individuals and not just anonymous cogs.]⊕ (Fournier 2017, chap. 5)

These days, most places claim that they don’t tolerate brilliant jerks, but I personally don’t believe that is true. It’s incredibly hard for a manager to justify getting rid of someone who produces great work, even though she’s a drain on everyone around her – especially if this person is only irregularly a jerk.⊕ (Fournier 2017, chap. 5)

Another very common problem team member is the noncommunicator – the person who hides information from you, from his teammates, from his product manager.⊕ (Fournier 2017, chap. 5)

By creating a strong and enduring alignment between the team, its individuals, and the overall company, this purpose-based binding makes teams: - Resilient to loss of individuals … - Driven to find better ways to achieve their purpose … - First-team focused … - Open to changes that serve their purpose⊕ (Fournier 2017, chap. 6)