In this episode, Jeffrey discusses how to align a software team for high performance. Recognizing that the team's architect is the leader and has a big job to do, a tool called the Team Alignment Template facilitates the documenting and teaching of the team's purpose, values, and other strategic decisions so that all engineers can work and pull in the same direction.

• Situation At the beginning of a project, when a new team is formed, or when the staffing of an existing software team changes, all team members need to align and get going in the same direction. Without intentionally achieving this, each team member will have a small or large difference in the vision for how to proceed. It's the job of the architect to make clear the path and to align all team members on that path in order to establish quality, achieve stability, and increase speed of delivery.

• Mission The goal of the Team Alignment Template is to:

  1. Help the architect clearly communicate the purpose, values, and strategy of the software team
  2. Team and align the software team in the same direction, working toward the same goals, and thinking in the same manner.

• Execution The Team Alignment Template is a simple, 1-page document. After filling in the blanks, gather your team together and discuss the contents. Invariably, there will be discussion around some items in order to gain understanding. Any time the staffing of the team changes, and at monthly or quarterly boundaries, review the Team Alignment Template again.

• Summary Without intentionally aligning a software team, each team member will have a small or large difference in how to proceed. This will result in reduced quality, stability risks, and missed opportunities for increasing speed of delivery.

Download the Team Alignment Template

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