Group Dynamics

Tom Wujec presents some surprisingly deep research into the "marshmallow problem" -- a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. Who can build the tallest tower with these ingredients? And why does a surprising group always beat the average?

Scrum Inc.'s Team Working Agreement Canvas combines key Scrum elements with a Lean Canvas in order to guide your team towards hyper-productivity.

Team working agreements are a great tool to get new teams productive as soon as possible, and starting on the right foot towards effective team practices. In this article Avi Schneier explains that this tool can also be used to launch many teams at once. It covers the steps for chartering a new team, helping them reflect on their individual and collective values, and identifying the key events and stakeholders of each delivery.

A look at the elements needed to turn a group of strangers into a quick-thinking team that can nimbly respond to challenges.

Business school professor Amy Edmondson studies "teaming," where people come together quickly (and often temporarily) to solve new, urgent or unusual problems. Recalling stories of teamwork on the fly, such as the incredible rescue of 33 miners trapped half a mile underground in Chile in 2010, Edmondson shares the elements needed to turn a group of strangers into a quick-thinking team that can nimbly respond to challenges.

In a culture that prizes extroverts, a case can be made for the encouragement and celebration of the contemplative - who bring extraordinary talents and abilities.

In a culture where being social and outgoing are prized above all else, it can be difficult, even shameful, to be an introvert. But, as Susan Cain argues in this passionate talk, introverts bring extraordinary talents and abilities to the world, and should be encouraged and celebrated.

The RC social rules help create a friendly, intellectual environment where you can spend your energy on programming.

As an center for educational retreats for anyone who wants to get dramatically better at programming, The Recurse Center has instituted some social rules that they have found to help create a friendly, intellectual environment where you can spend as much of your energy as possible on programming. In this quick guide they describe the 4 social rules that must be followed at all times.

How the surprisingly modern leadership skills of Sir Ernest Shackleton, like emotional intelligence and empathy, kept this marooned team alive in the Antarctic continent.

A look at the elements that compose truly great teams.

What makes teams better and more productive, and more importantly, how do you build a great team? Ozren Colic defines the categories of teams, and points to the connections between individuals as the recipe. This superb article breaks down the prerequisites, and the three most important enablers for teams to really gel. A must read.

Analyzing the process-product paradox as a way to scale output.

The process-product paradox, outlined by Misrab Faizullah-Khan, states that it is the underlying communication structures in an organization that chiefly determine the product. By taking an organic approach to engineering principles, companies can create an atmosphere where people can simply be themselves. This article takes a mathematical approach to the analysis of scaling.

There are many ways of conducting agile team health checks to visualize areas where there are opportunities for improvement.

Continuous improvement is central to the agile methodology, but it must be guided in order to maximize benefit. Instead of observing "traditional" measurement, which are lagging, Andy proposes focusing on the health and well-being - since they are leading indicators. To identify what can really be measured, and what things would produce the largest impact, the author has done a complete survey of the solutions available to help teams get the most of their improvement efforts.

You need both diversity and safety.

An analysis of 150 senior teams showed that the ones who solve problems the fastest tend to be cognitively diverse. Further analysis of the study also showed this is not always true, and that an element of psychological safety is also necessary. This article explores the need for both traits to enable curious and encouraging behavior that keeps a learning momentum on the team and wards off combativeness and/or group-think.