Team Performance
Self-organisation and motivation
Agile teams are self-organising (they decide how) and cross-functional (they hold the skills to finish). T-shaped people and generalizing specialists reduce bottlenecks. Know Tuckman's stages - forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning - and expect the dip. Intrinsic motivation (autonomy, mastery, purpose) outperforms carrots and sticks for knowledge work; bonuses tied to velocity or individual output typically damage behaviour.
Leadership, conflict, working agreements
Servant leadership means removing impediments, coaching, and creating safety. Psychological safety is the precondition for honest retrospectives and fast problem reporting. Establish explicit working agreements, ground rules or a team charter, and revisit them. In conflict, use the Thomas-Kilmann modes as a guide: collaboration is best when the issue matters and trust is high; avoiding or accommodating is fine for trivia. Address peer conflict at the lowest level first; escalate only when it stalls or becomes personal.
Traps
- The leader assigning tasks, approving estimates, or picking who does what.
- Praising individual heroics that mask a systemic problem.
- Comparing velocity across teams, or adding people to a late project.
- Re-forming the team each project and losing the performing stage.
Rule of thumb: the team owns how; the leader owns the boundaries - vision, priorities, resources, and impediment removal. When the barrier is technical or personal safety, fix it before touching process.