What makes High Performing Engineering Teams?

I have been asked about my opinion on what makes high performing engineering teams. Drawing on my conclusions alone, despite the fact that extensive research has been conducted on organizational behavior concerning High Performance Team. "For the absence of a bibliography I offer neither explanation nor apology." as Dijstra would put it, I present the points bellow with no bibliography.

Among the many anecdotal accounts surrounding high-performing engineering team, we can remember Obama's famous Tiger Team, that did save and deliver the HealthCare.gov project under one month, or the infamous team known as the PayPal Mafia that did change the disrupt silicon valley. These remain extreme cases of high-performing engineering teams, I try to highlight common points that I draw from my personal experience.

A High Performing engineering team is..

..small..

should not exceed 8 members, ideally 6 per squad. Beyond 12 a team can lose velocity, or needs to be split into smaller squads, assuming a team makes two or more people.

.. and co-located*

If the team is environmentally limited (remote, or the workplace is far from the living space), the team would need to construct a virtual environment and fine tune its effectiveness to their interaction. The virtual substitution for colocation would require intensive require to have para-engineering members (masters of the universe), that need to configure the Virtual Interactions, Evangelize everyone to use them, and establish routines and habits that can substitute the natural interaction that teams generally have in a co-located environment. Such as 15-minute daily calls , documentation, real-time chat.??

.. has no hierarchy, but one arbiter, each member has full autonomy..

Everyone has access to default resources without need for validation or authorization (including spending). Everyone should be autonomous in their area, and does not need justification for their tasks, time, estimations, and spending.?The accountability is mainly in the outcome, and the threshold is limiting resources.

.. as well equity on its stakes.?

Built on trust and good-will, and calling things out as they occur.??

But it must be limited by resources.

This is why a high performing team has a culture of tooling and measurement.?

Its members must adopt a measures in their work, to fine tune their performance. Measurement needs to be carried out frequently.

However measurement should renounce universality for specificity.

Renouncing the noblesse of processes and formality, but gauging what is necessary to avoid surprises.??

Employs annotations instead of documentation, for effective guidance and coordination.?

A high performing team is..

..market intelligent.

Surveys market available products and commodities.What has been already be built by others that can substitute partially, or completely, the tasks at hand.??To accelerate the time to market, and to lower the risks. Colloquially, developers use open source, or paid libraries, while electrical engineers acquire patents. At large, what has already been developed partially by others, and is accessible at a fraction of the cost, Now.

.. takes frequent time-outs..

Timeouts are not restricted to retrospectives,?But time for doing all the boring and useless work. To clean the kitchen sink. Reconsider the decisions taken. To step back take a breath look at the overall Canva.?Delegate what can be delegated and call for external help.?

.. seeks expertise when it is clueless..

Does not necessary need to have experts, but needs to seek expertise, by communicating with experts in its extended community, or within the company and seeking their input on timely matters, in a steady basis.

.. does not work over time only when it is necessary.

Finally, adopts in its language the singular form of the noun

Priority.

1. A high performing engineering team is small and "co-located"; Has no hierarchy, each member has full autonomy, as well equity on its stakes. But it must be limited by resources.
2. This is why a high performing team has a culture of tooling and measurement.?However measurements should renounce universality for specificity. Employs annotations instead of documentation, for effective guidance and coordination.
3. A high performing team is market aware, seeks expertise when it is clueless, and does not work over time only when it is necessary. Finally, adopts only the the singular form of the noun Priority.