Model: workgroup vs team

December 8th, 2020

I make the distinction between a team a a workgroup.

For many team means

  • people I work with

  • people who work on the same thing

  • people who report to the same manager

I call all that a workgroup

 

To call it a 'real' team, I need the following aspects:

  • we take decisions together

  • we want to collaborate on tasks

  • we share ownership of everything we do

 

Indications of a non-team workgroup:

  • naming components after people

  • don't conclude discussions into group decision, letting the person who picks up the task decide

  • decide on design / architecture without involving the team

  • never / rarely do a retrospective

  • no code reviews or pairing