Note 1: I wrote the below from the perspective of a team of software developers, but a team could also be a couple, or a family, or a group of friends, actually any group that has to make decisions on a regular basis.
In my opinion - A Team is Defined by HOW they Discuss.
I am not saying that, in order to be considered a 'good team', a team has to discuss a lot. How they discuss, whatever they discuss, and how decisions are made is what is important.
In general, today, there is a lot of emphasis on Productivity - a measurement of work done by a team.
In general, there has been a backlash against having too-many-Meetings.
In a continuous quest for Productivity, sometimes teams may sacrifice/forgo Discussions that actually need to happen. This can happen when there is a feeling that Discussions do not qualify as Work.
I have the opposite opinion. Discussions are needed to arrive at Solutions.
Discussions/Brainstorming/Solution-Reviews help in the following ways:
- whether it will Pushed to everyone
OR
- if it will have to Pulled by each team-member.
Teams that have discussions involving everyone on a regular basis, would be following the Push strategy and I feel that, that is a better model to keep everyone motivated which is very important to achieve success as a team.
Note 2: Related: There is general consensus about the importance of 'etiquette of discussion' - http://www.exforsys.com/career-center/group-discussions/group-discussion-etiquette.html
In my opinion - A Team is Defined by HOW they Discuss.
I am not saying that, in order to be considered a 'good team', a team has to discuss a lot. How they discuss, whatever they discuss, and how decisions are made is what is important.
In general, today, there is a lot of emphasis on Productivity - a measurement of work done by a team.
In general, there has been a backlash against having too-many-Meetings.
In a continuous quest for Productivity, sometimes teams may sacrifice/forgo Discussions that actually need to happen. This can happen when there is a feeling that Discussions do not qualify as Work.
I have the opposite opinion. Discussions are needed to arrive at Solutions.
Discussions/Brainstorming/Solution-Reviews help in the following ways:
- prevents the dreaded-feeling-of-exclusion - give everyone the opportunity to propose/debate/just-listen-to solutions Before a decision is made
- when decisions are made without a discussion, a lot of times, people get angry/discouraged Not by the decision itself that has been taken, but by the fact that they were not considered important enough to be a part of that discussion (even as listeners).
- prevent Blunders
- when more than one person is involved in arriving at a Solution, the chances of making Blunders reduces
- this increases developer's confidence & happiness
- keeps everyone in the loop i.e. share information with everyone
- On a daily basis, people work on code that others wrote, so sharing of information is very important
- lets everyone know that they can influence decision-making, and in fact are expected to do so
- levels the playing-field
- gives the chance for talent/knowledge to come out
- junior devs can debate with senior devs or the lead and get their solution accepted if it is the better one
- whether it will Pushed to everyone
OR
- if it will have to Pulled by each team-member.
Teams that have discussions involving everyone on a regular basis, would be following the Push strategy and I feel that, that is a better model to keep everyone motivated which is very important to achieve success as a team.
Note 2: Related: There is general consensus about the importance of 'etiquette of discussion' - http://www.exforsys.com/career-center/group-discussions/group-discussion-etiquette.html
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