Most people use the software development team to build the software product.  And that makes a lot of sense.  Begin with the end in mind – focus on the product and make sure that is clear to the team – and they will build it well.  Unfortunately, and unexpectedly, this is painful and ineffective.  I have never seen a team reach high performance by doing that.

Instead, all of the teams that I have witnessed achieve high performance have done something differently.  They focused on the individuals and their interactions; the focused on the team and how they work.  The fact that they had a shared goal – the product – was the mechanism used to Build the Team.  When the team was built – the software was built as a by-product of the focus on the team.

So focus on building the team.  Use the product as a way to build a high performance team.  Do THAT and you will get a great product.  Every.  Single.  Time.

– Thanks Tim and Ashley!