This is my summary of Diana Larsen’s “Creating a Climate for Project and Team Success”, a session I attended at ScanDevConf 2010. Please understand that, except for the notes at the top and bottom, this post reflects the opinions of the speaker, not me.
What is a team? A group of people with…
- a common purpose, understood and committed
- interdependent work and skills
- a shared approach to this work
- joint accountability
- small size
- a mutual history (at day one, you are not yet a team)
How do you achieve these? What do these imply?
- A project kickoff, project charter; reminders and mini-re-kickoffs
- Think about what skills are needed before you select people for your team
- Have a working agreement – “we aspire to work this way”. Make implicit norms explicit.
- If the team is too large, it will break into sub-teams.
- Common adversities and successes; stories to tell about the team; knowing each other.
My opinion: Basic stuff. I guess there are groups out there that need these tips but they were not of much use to me.
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