Building great teams that complete great projects

I have seen teams that complete great projects and teams that don’t.

Anybody that leads innovative and strategic initiatives wants a team that complete great projects.

Most individuals want to be part of a team that completes great projects.

The book “Scrum, the art of doing twice the work in half the time” gives one of the better recipes to build successful teams.

Here is a brief summary that you can use as a health check for your initiative and team:

Purpose

Great teams have a purpose that is greater than the individual. When teammates know not only what needs to get done, but also the context for their work, they can prioritize effectively, make better decisions, and feel empowered to do their best work.

Autonomy

Give teams the freedom to make decisions on how to take action. To be respected as masters of their craft. The ability to improvise will make all the difference.

Cross functional

Build one team for the project. The team has to have every skill needed to complete the project.

Small teams

Small teams gets work done faster than big teams. The key here is team members that is skilled in more than one area of specialty. 

Blame is stupid

Don’t look for bad people. Look for bad systems. Once that incentivize bad behaviors and reward poor performance.

Scrum meetings

Get a scrum master that can lead and coach the team on the scrum process.

Have daily scrum meetings no longer than 15 minutes. During these meetings each member has to answer three simple questions:

1. What did you do yesterday?

2. What will you do today?

3. Are there any impediments in your way?

Scrum originated as a development methodology to develop and deliver software projects. But the methodology can be applied throughout the enterprise to deliver any type of project.