Cross-Dysfunctional Teams: Where The Magic Stops
Phil Royston
Tesena
Does working in your team feel a little like magic? If so, you might be in a truly cross-functional team. If not, your team could be dysfunctional. But how do you know? To answer this, we need to understand what cross-functional teams are, how they work, and why we need them.
Cross-functional teams are the cornerstone of Agile software development. Although they are not explicitly mentioned in the 2001 Manifesto for Agile Software Development, they are foundational in both Scrum and Extreme Programming (XP), which predate it. The concept actually originated in manufacturing product development. Since the 1990s, cross-functional teams have been the mainstay of innovative organizations in many industries. They are everywhere, not just in software development.
If you fear your team might be dysfunctional, you are not alone. A frequently quoted Harvard Business Review article from 2015 reported that 75% of cross-functional teams were dysfunctional.
What you will learn
- Be able to identify and start to address dysfunctions within your team.
- Set goals and build strong motivation to improve collaboration and team dynamic.
- Practical steps to improve team dynamics and effectiveness, regardless of your role.
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About Me!
Having wandered reluctantly into IT about 30 years ago, my first contact with formal testing came unexpectedly in 2002, when I was made the Test Manager on a project. It was then that I felt that I had found my true calling.
I became the go-to person they called when there was a “problem in testing”. But after a few years of fire-fighting troubled projects, I began to wonder if there wasn’t a better way. This first led me first to start a testing company 11 years ago and eventually sparked my current fascination with quality engineering and self-organization.