Maybe when companies make you do “team-building” activities, what they’re looking for is a phase transition into a gelled team. Because it is a sudden, magical thing, right? When a group of people turns into a team.
Once you get there, to that feeling of team, it’s self-reinforcing. You trust each other, so y0u don’t take miscommunications personally; you work to restore communication, and so trust increases. You understand each other, so it’s easy to build further understanding. Working together gets smoother and smoother.
But how do you get there? pfft. How do you make sourdough bread? You grow it from sourdough starter, which you got from … someone else’s starter. Or from putting sugar water out on a windowsill and hoping some yeast lands in it. Seriously.
Will Larson suggests that when you have a gelled team, keep it. If you need to adjust how many people are helping with which pieces of software, then shift responsibilities from one team to another, not people.
When you have a gelled team, you can grow it gradually. Let the team reform with the new member incorporated before adding another.
Will suggests that when you want another team, gradually grow a gelled team up to 8-10 (max size) and then fork it into two teams of 4-5 (minimum size). It’s kind of like the sourdough starter: grow it, divide it, make the bread. Keep it alive the whole time.
If you have one team where the magic is flourishing, don’t kill it. Feed it, grow it, and let it be a source of further strong teams. No rushing.
Otherwise – if you take the group to paintball, or get them to mob program, or put them in a team room with sugar and water, maybe the yeast will blow in?
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