I was speaking with a colleague who is thinking of transferring to a team in the same company. Something didn't feel quite right, so he tried to tell me what felt wrong.
"Everyone is all over the building. If I want to talk to someone else, I have to go over and around to find them. That team shares its servers with another team in another time zone. They're all working on more than one project at a time. I like the manager, but he's also doing technical work, and sometimes the management work doesn't get done. But the work looks really fun. What do you think?"
I think he's describing a group, not a team. And, maybe, not a very organized group at that.
If you're thinking of a new job or a new role, look at the makeup of the team you'll be joining. Here are things to look for:
- A team is small and has interdependent commitments. That means you need to work with the rest of team, not spend all your time trying to find them.
- A team should have equipment that's committed to them, so they can manage the equipment. (Same with space.) If they have to share equipment with another group or team, they are not masters of their own fate, and can't let tests run as long as they might need to.
- Team members who multitask cannot meet their commitments. That means they can't make progress when they said they will.
- Managers who do technical work are not managing.
Now, if the work is sufficiently fun and engaging, and if this team really is a group, maybe all those other reasons don't matter. Maybe my colleague can carve out some good work and can develop some great relationships. But, he's either talking about a group, or a team that's not working well together. Danger!!
