I traveled to China this past fall to meet and greet the excellent students participating in our post-grad work program at Nankai University and to give a guest lecture on the history of Software Engineering. My true objective for this trip was to make a first-hand assessment of how our China team is performing as a member of the whole global software engineering organization.
My philosophy on good team building is the same whether it’s a 2-person startup in your basement or a global software organization of 1000s. It’s based on Tuckman’s stages of group development, a model developed in 1965 which posits the idea that teams are always in one of four distinct phases:
- Form
- Storm
- Norm
- Perform
The mistake that team managers make most often is to fail to recognize which phase their team is in. They waste time and effort focused on tasks that don’t help their teams evolve to the next stage. For example, teams that don’t have the right people can’t become normative no matter how much effort a manager puts into it. The result of such an effort will be frustration for both the manager and the team members. Recognize which phase your team is in and pour all of your effort into leading your team to the next level.
Form is simple. Fire and hire well. Cut players that aren’t contributing to the team. Cutting is the worst part of the job but it’s the most important. Recruit the very best talent you can attract. You’ll be surprised how talent attracts talent like a magnet. If you find yourself stuck in Form then odds are you’re the problem. You’re either unqualified to recognize and hire talent or you’re unwilling to fire the dead weight. Fire yourself immediately and choose someone more competent to do the job for you.
Storm takes care of itself if you've given Form the attention it deserves. There are natural leaders in any tribe. They want your job. Everyone else in the tribe is hell-bent on accomplishing your grand mission. Nurture both of these drives. If you don’t have natural leaders you’re still in form. If you don’t have a grand mission that you can speak passionately about then stop what you’re doing right now and go find one. It’s your job! If your team isn't passionate about what they’re doing it’s because you’re not passionate about what you’re doing. Fire yourself immediately and choose someone more competent to do the job for you.
Norm means normative. Getting normative means aligning everyone’s efforts such that your team as a whole makes measurable iterative progress towards a common goal. It requires process, cultivating a culture of growth, and leadership. Don’t know where to start? Start with these three psychological needs: autonomy, relatedness, and competence. Susan Fowler has a great run-down of these needs in her latest article, What Maslow’s Hierarchy Won’t Tell You About Motivation. If autonomy is counter to your management style then it’s time to consider firing yourself to make room for someone that can take your team to the next level.
Perform is a unicorn. The advice I follow (remember, it’s only worth what you paid for it) is to:
- Have a little luck.
- Persevere through the grind. No great thing accomplished was ever easy.
- Lead from the front. Participate in the process of accomplishing the grand vision. If you’re not competent enough to contribute to the project then it’s high time you fire yourself and hire someone who is.
Enjoy your time in Perform. It’s fleeting. You’ll spend the rest of your career chasing it.
Adjourn is the rarely talked about unofficial fifth phase. It reflects completing the task and breaking up the team. Teams that I've been lucky enough to participate in at the Perform phase never stay together for more than a single cycle. This is why it’s vital for companies to hire management not based on how well they run a team, but rather how well they build a team.
This is a topic that deserves the attention of a good practical reference book. Know of any? Leave a comment.
(Special thanks to my long-time friend Cameron for turning me on to Bruce Tuckman years ago when I first made the move to management.)
