How Can You Tell if the Team Is Doing a Great Job?
A great team consistently delivers value, understands the problems to be solved, learns and improves through each iteration, and effectively collaborates with stakeholders.
Their work is focused on solving real problems, achieving goals and fostering an environment of growth, innovation, and adaptability.
They manage to do work that consistently meets or exceeds customer expectations. The team consistently meets its goals and provides complete transparency into its progress through reviews.
This openness builds trust among stakeholders and the team, reducing uncertainties and fostering a sense of reliability.
1. Consistent Delivery of Value:
They focus on delivering value rather than simply churning out requests or features. The team communicates with stakeholders frequently to ensure alignment with changing needs and user or customer feedback, always prioritising the most valuable items. This ordering based on value ensures that customers receive tangible, meaningful results.
2. Continuous Improvement and Adaptability:
Through regular retrospectives, the team identifies areas for improvement and promptly addresses them. Their ability to reflect and adjust makes them resilient to changing business environments, requirements or challenges. They experiment with different approaches to streamline their work, remove bottlenecks, and embrace new tools or frameworks that could boost productivity and reliability, resulting in higher efficiency and effectiveness over time.
3. Cross-Functional Collaboration:
A great team is a cohesive unit that shares responsibility for the final product and works together to solve problems creatively. This collaboration extends to the product or team leader, who ensures everyone understands the goals, the problems to be solved, and their accountabilities in achieving them. When cross-functional partnerships are strong, handoffs are smooth, and team spirit is high.
4. Engaged Stakeholder Involvement:
An excellent team actively involves the appropriate stakeholders throughout the development process. They invite stakeholders to reviews, seek their input to understand the problems to be solved and engage in meaningful conversations about vision and product direction. This involvement ensures the team builds something valuable and aligns their work and product development with business goals.
5. Psychological Safety and Motivation:
Psychological safety encourages team members to voice ideas, concerns, and feedback without fear. A great team nurtures an environment where everyone feels heard and valued. The team is also motivated, proud of their work, and driven by a shared vision. They celebrate wins and support each other through challenges, creating a positive and productive atmosphere.
A great team stands out because of the value they deliver and the environment they create. They cultivate a culture of learning, transparency, and customer focus.
The joy they find in working together and solving problems translates directly into valuable, innovative products and approaches.
A great team knows the journey matters as much as the destination, making each work iteration purposeful and rewarding.
