The Number One Myth about Teams

Some of the simplest ideas are the hardest to teach because of interference from an equally simple wrong idea. The number one misconception about teams that afflicts managers and team members alike is this:

The purpose of teams is to split up the work.

Follow this and you get silos, low value bus factors, miscommunications, bottlenecks, etc.

Here's the alternative.

The purpose of teams is to gang up on the work.

Follow this and you get pairing, swarming, bonding, low work-in-progress, continuous improvement, etc.