High Performing Teams

"An appeal to Principles is the condition of any considerable reconstruction of society, because social institutions are the visible expression of the scale of moral values which rules the minds of individuals, and it is impossible to alter institutions without altering that moral valuation."

1. Inspire people to create. It’s even more effective than money.
2. Challenge people to explore, to learn and to get comfortable with uncertainty.
3. Find ways to help others on the path to self reliance find firm footing.
4. Help others write/break rules to allow them to achieve their aspirations, goals & dreams.
5. Treat others better than the way you’d want to be treated.
6. Don’t criticize for fun. Do it when it helps educate, even if it’s not entertaining.
7. Stick with your tactics long after everyone else is bored with them.
8. It’s okay to let the pressure cease now and then.
9. Don’t make threats. Do or don’t do.
10. Build a team with the Capacity and the patience to do the hard work that needs doing.
11. If you bring your positive ideas to the fore, again and again, you’ll raise the bar for everyone else.
12. Solve your own problems before you spend a lot of time finding problems for others.
13. Celebrate people, free them to do even more, make it about the cohort and invite everyone along.
14. Disagree with Systems of Thought & Institutions of Power, not with people or individuals.
15. Don’t Hire intelligent people and tell them what to do. Hire brilliant people to show you what you don’t know.
16. Understand the cultural differences, in how they want things communicated to them and how they want to communicate to you.
17. Ensure requirements, decisions, and primary meeting points are communicated in writing as well as verbal conversations.
18. Consider what management/project management is needed within the vendor instead of hoping to fully understand the needs and manage the resources yourself.

19. Consider what motivates them and ensure that they feel the same empowerment and responsibility as the onshore portion of the team.

20. Small teams - Bezos style two pizzas 2.

21. Treat like your own team, they need to care.
22. Make sure they know they can challenge what is being done and challenge when short cuts are taken (doesn’t mean you always side with them, but they need to help keep you out of ditches).
23. Don’t underestimate relationship management.
24. Invest in a champion there, a bit of an overhead position but someone who knows the domain, communicates well and has your trust.
25. Measure as much as possible what makes sense to measure, use self-analysis & quality improvements for everything else.