Team dynamics

Have you wondered what makes certain teams tick? Why is the Paypal mafia all that great? There certainly are some ingredients that help in bolstering the dynamics within the team. From my own experience in working in projects in high school, I have tried to identify a few of these ingredients myself. 

1. Hurling expletives at each other helps to break the ice

Believe it or not, all the $^%* and &@*^ you shoot across the room at your teammate helps to improve your communication with them. Contrary to popular belief, vulgarities helps to melt the ice quickly. Nevertheless, do not - I repeat - DO NOT say too many at one time. If not, it could destroy the entire relationship that you are trying to build. One or two profanities - that too CASUALLY - will help ease the tension in the room and help in creating the open environment (where people are not afraid to ask each other anything even if they are stupid questions) that many people envision. So much said, this tactic usually works with Gen Y and Z age group only. If everyone around you are Gen X (which is rarely rarely rarely the case in an engineering/com sci project), you have to deploy other, probably more conventional, means of breaking the ice. As long as 40% of more of your group members are within the same age group as you, I am almost sure that this tactic will work.

2. Having breakfast/lunch/dinner together, play games with each other

Building a team where you can rely on one another for completing work goes beyond being friendly with each other in the office. People trust each other more when they realize that they share a lot of similarities with their colleagues. This usually means that teammates need to spend time with each other and talk to each other about such "external" stuff either over a meal or game. It is probably a good idea to have lunch (and if possible dinner) together and take one weekend off every month or two for a retreat. 

3. Allow your discussions to digress, but do not let it interfere the work you are trying to achieve

It is inevitable for your discussions to go off topic. However, I would recommend you allow the conversation to digress BUT bring back the conversation to the main point after a while. This way, you build a personal rapport with all the teammates and at the same time, get your work done. It may waste a bit of your time but such small time wasters sure go a long way in getting to know one another better.

4. Depending on the type of project, decide wisely between an open office concept or a closed cubicle style workspace. 

Basically, if the project requires a lot of interaction between each other, you will want to chose the open office concept. And if the project requires a lot of individual thinking, you may want to give all the members a cubicle. As for most of the projects, you will require a mixture of both the concepts. It would be good to have an area - like the lounge - where you can do work together with a few cubicles so that people who want to focus and get some privacy can use them. Experiment with various styles and see which suits your project best.