Becoming a Team
We've just had a "code camp". This is the first time, as a scattered team, that we have spent a whole week together.
We began by two days training in TDD. This had a technical content, and also made a challenge of a big culture change.
One person responded with many pedantic questions. One said several times "This is a complete waste of time for me, because I can't understand what is going on." He actually began working on something else on his laptop, and I gave him the option of leaving the session, which he declined.
Most people asked questions which showed they were seriously engaging with the content. But none of them (except me I hope) seemed to be trying to help each other, or team as a whole, to get to grips with it.
We then had two days coding together. This showed a varying willingness to explain to each other. In particular one person would bulldoze ahead to accomplish "his" objectives while disrupting other's work. (This is in part a question of technical maturity, as well as attitude.)
On the final morning we had a team meeting to consider whether we had to defer the next release. I intervened twice about the manner of the discussion, once when someone provided a distorted summary of a position he disagreed with ("What you are really saying is ...."), and once when someone said "I keep hearing excuses".
I wouldn't previously have responded to these things, but I think it is time. The fundamentals ofthe project are right, for the moment, at the management level. Before that was achieved, it would have been abusive to focus on teamwork skills.
Finally I asked for comments on good and bad features of the week. One person said that we don't discuss well together.
An observation that the trainer made during the first two days seems helpful. He pointed out that most of the team have PhDs, and this is training in the opposite of the approach he was trying to instill. This is also true of teamwork: it is several years experience of a situation where you can't rely on anyone else.
So there are some interesting challenges ahead.
Yes, OK
You are right Dan, it was a useful week. I guess that professionally I see the cup half empty.
The original goal was to learn by coding together. The training fitted in to that. The particular coding task for the rest of the week was integration. So hopefully everyone ended up with a much clearer idea of the software base we have. (OK, as PM I have to explain why we had a lot of software that wasn't integrated, but that's another story.)
The finances for a week together weren't a problem. We are based in scientific laboratories and we are a lot cheaper than scientists because we don't keep on using reagents. (For that matter, programmers are a lot cheaper to employ than farm workers. We are in labour-intensive industry, not a capital-intensive one.) So we each have a generous expenses allowance.
Financing the trainer was harder, because the project has zero central funds. That's one of the things that'll be different next time, I assure you. We've had enough success to give a proof of concept for project management and team leadership, so I now have enough credibility to get some limited access to various slush funds.
In regard to Donna's interesting comment, we are scattered, so competitive interests are a big problem, but competitive habits may be. Academia is a more competitive arena than industry in the UK today.
Team members: Friend, coworker, or competition?
I have a very diverse team in term of gender, age, ethnicity, and years of experience. Generally speaking I think we all work well together...and there is no time this is more evident than during a crisis. That's when people tend to put aside the petty and focus on what must be done. However, in the day-to-day doings, I see occasional evidence that employees can't help but view each other as potential competition for the next job opening/promotion. With such a focus they are less willing to hand their hard-earned knowledge to someone else on a silver platter. However, if the manager has his/her eyes open at all, such an attitude will hurt in the end because one is much more likely to appreciate and reward one who is a true team player like you seem to be Chrishmorris. Interesting post.
Sounds Like It Went OK
...no one killed anyone else, no one got fired, and everyone got to spend time with people they normally only know through electronic communication. :-) My guess is that some incremental improvement in teamwork will ensue.
I'm curious, was there a stated goal for the week, an overriding theme? And also, how did the higher level management, who would have had to approve the budget for this sort of thing, see it as important? Was there just a general goal of making the team more cohesive and effective?
As a side note, your post made me think of this post about coaching from Johanna Rothman's blog, which was also published today.
Best,
Dan