Do you have a Team or a Mob?

Teamwork is Hard

Photo by Nareeta Martin on Unsplash

You’ve probably already learned that developing in a team is much different than working as a solo developer. However, organizations you’ll be applying to for jobs all follow a team approach, since applications are generally too complex for a single person to create and maintain.

The primary goal of Chingu remote team projects is to provide experience working in a real team to help you prepare for the workplace. Working in a team is hard at first since it’s radically different from working solo. As a result some Devs regress into solo habits since that’s their current comfort zone.

But, remember that a group working towards a common goal individually isn’t a team, it’s a mob!

One signal that your team is acting as a mob rather than as a team are conversations that start out with ”But I thought you were creating/doing/providing…???”

Part of your team’s weekly reflection must be to identify when you are slipping into solo habits that can turn your team into a mob. This allows you to take steps to correct these unproductive and disruptive behaviors.

Here are some questions to ask that may help:

1. Are you meeting in a video conference or in a chat at least once a week to review and reflect on the previous Sprint and to plan tasks for the next Sprint?
2. Are you following the Sprint plan defined in your Backlog or are is everyone working on whatever they feel like working on?
3. Does everyone have current team status? Do you know what everyone else is working on and if they are experiencing any problems?
4. Are team members updating Backlog tasks when they are completed, new information, or issues are found?
5. Are you using a chat channel between meetings to discuss changes, ask for help, share information, etc.?

Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

Teamwork is hard and requires “soft” skills that are foreign to many Developers. But, following an Agile process that stresses continuous improvement, being open to the ideas and feedback from your teammate, and building trust across the team are the path to success.

Before you Go!

Chingu helps you to get out of “Tutorial Purgatory” by transforming what you’ve learned into experience. The experience to boost your Developer career and help you get jobs.

You can learn more about Chingu & how to join us at https://chingu.io

---