Sacred Cow: Teams

    The comments from the "Killing the sacred cows of project management" post brought some heat (not much light yet) to bear on the approach of "knocking out" thoughts in a blog.

Teams
    So here's the first topic a bit more depth.
    It is very popular these days to consider "teaming" and "teams" as the approach to all project management problems. Trouble is there are missing elements in this approach:

• Of the members of the Team, who is the leader?
• Who is accountable for the teams outcomes?
• How is the team directed?
• Is it self directed?
• Is it self organized?
• When the team is doing the work they have been assigned, or somehow become accountable for, how is this performance measured?

The Katzenbach book The Wisdom of Teams was (and still) is popular. Having used this book to construct agile (XP) teams in the mid-90's, one of the sacred cows is that "teams know best." Here's some troubles with that concept in the project management world:

• If the team is collectively accountable for the outcome, where does the role of "leadership" come into place?
• How can the "collective" be held accountable?
• Is there such a thing as collective accountability?

Notice accountable is not the same as responsible. Accountable is a single source concept.
    Next comes the question of how does the team get its direction? Externally or internally? This can be sorted out when the team is chartered. Here's what has worked in the XP and CMMI world:

• Charter the team with two external interfaces:
  • Score keeper
  • Spokes person
• Find someone externally to hold accountable for the actions of the team. Having a collective accountability leads to the lowest common denominator of accountability.

We learned the hard way the "self directed" is not the same as "self organized." Once given clear, concise, and measurable direction, the team could organize to deliver on that clear, concise, and measurable direction. In the absence of this, the team tended to become "self managed" and got off track very quickly. The role of management in a "team work" environment is to provide guidance for the team. In the same way a quarter back for football, setter in volleyball, captain in cross country, and catcher in baseball. They are a team, but also have an identifiable and accountable leader.

Now the Bigger Question
    Do teams produce better ideas than individuals? Good question. Those who hold teams as a sacred cow conjecture that teams always produce better ideas. But here's the BIG missing point for those "sacred cow holders."

Teams and team work are not the same.
You can have team work in the absence of Teams. Teams may have poor team work within the team, as well as external to the team.

A colleague once stated - and I was not too favorable at the time, but have got religion...

I want one neck to wring

Who is that? Can you name a name?
Caution
    This post is not a tutorial, journal paper, or conference presentation. It's an opinion derived from 30 years of being a member of and managing projects. While possibly controversial in some circles, I've come to realize the project management profession holds many sacred cows - unassailable perceived truths - that need to be tested once in awhile.