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…

  1. a common purpose, understood and committed
  2. interdependent work and skills
  3. a shared approach to this work
  4. joint accountability
  5. small size
  6. a mutual history (at day one, you are not yet a team)

How do you achieve these? What do these imply?

  1. A project kickoff, project charter; reminders and mini-re-kickoffs
  2. Think about what skills are needed before you select people for your team
  3. Have a working agreement – “we aspire to work this way”. Make implicit norms explicit.
  4. If the team is too large, it will break into sub-teams.
  5. 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.