Teams I've Worked With

I think this is a good summary of what makes great teams, and it is true of all great(productive and high performing) teams.

The point about management empowering individual employees is key to this, I believe. I have been on many highly productive teams - and not-so-good ones, also.

The key difference I've noticed in the functioning that was different for high-performing teams was the management being keyed-in and pumped about what they were doing. There was little scope for dirty politics to seep in as everyone was aligned with the mission.

Now every org says these things. But the key difference, I have come to believe - is the management of these teams.

Sometimes, things appear rosy in the interviews. The numbers look good and everybody on the team is nice. Then you end up joining and discover some of these actors have hidden motivations and they are not working for the organization. Misaligned objectives. Anyhow, this is a good read nonetheless.

I would suggest caution and making your own judgement, going with your gut feeling - when joining new teams in tech!!