The Power of Teamwork

We are this course called “Rapid Design for Slow Change”, in which we split into teams of 3, and have only 104 hours from receiving the prompt, interviewing the clients for requirements, designing with the team, to submitting the final deliverable. There is a little competition going on here, as the client will select the winner team a week later.

The highlight of last week’s experience is when I saw team 27's final deliverable. I was surprised what a well produced, comprehensive document showing system thinking while addressing great details. This document is designed and produced by team 2 and team 7, who came together during the design process based on their common belief on the direction of this project. Their “merger and acquisition” happened half-way through the project so they only had one or two days to combine their thoughts, documentation, and plans for moving forward, but they did it, and delivered this well executed document at the end.

It is true that they had more people, however more people does’t mean better work. Sometimes the number of people on a team is negatively proportional to the outcome. The essence of teamwork is that collaborative environment, and “yes, and…” conversations, little by little the team can build up on the idea and the execution.

I am convinced right at that moment how powerful teamwork can be, with the right attitude.