Designing the A-Team

A reflection from Interaction Design Practice

For one of our projects in graduate school 13 facilitators were chosen and allowed to pick their own teams. This meant going through past work, strengths, weaknesses of my peers to make a list of the best — the A-team! I was picked as one of the facilitators and so the quest of finding the A-team began. In graduate school the smallest things seem to give you power or as I correctly see it today, the illusion of power. As I went through every students’ portfolio I asked myself –

What makes someone A-team worthy? What is A-team worthy? We are constantly looking for the best in everything. The best school, the best car, the best friend, the best job! But what really is the best possible job? Is the same job the best for everyone? Can there only be one best job? Can best be measured? Does it have a set of guidelines? And who decides?

While I liked to think that our professor (like Santa) had a list of all the students in descending order of best, that wasn’t the case. When in doubt I make lists, they always work, and so I did in this case too.

It took me 4 lists to realize that this wasn’t working and so I went back to the basics.

What is an A-team? Is it formed by A-people or people with an A-attitude? Is there even such a thing as the A-team? Can any team be an A–team?

In the end I picked a team similar to my List 4 and I’m so glad I did because they helped me understand that a team is bigger than the sum of its parts. Just like there’s no perfect design or ideal solution, there is no such thing as ‘the A-team’. And if there is, turns out an A-team is any group that can bring out the exceptional in each other. They don’t come with superpowers or all the answers. But they do come with an open mind — to be flexible, to be sensitive, to know when to lead and when to follow, and most importantly to communicate honestly. In my experience, just being mindful of these things is the first step. It’s always a work in progress.

In my quest for the A-team I learned that you have to start being the A-team and that it’s a mind set and not a specific set of people. This experience has changed me in a way that I’m no longer looking for an A-team, but a bunch of awesome people heading towards the same goal.

With summer just around the corner, I’m starting to look for internship opportunities, meet new people and join new teams. It’s time to open up, adapt and be a part of their A-team. Keeping this in mind, I begin with a little life lesson I learned from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

(Conversation between frustrated team leader Leo and mentor Splinter)

Leo: I don’t know what to do. Donnie’s nose is in his computer, Raph’s brains are in his biceps and Mikey’s head’s in the clouds! I can’t get them to think on the same page, to think with ONE mind!

Splinter: You shouldn’t want them all to think the same, it’s their different points of view that make the team strong. A good leader understands this. A good brother accepts it.

So this was my story. I would love to hear your experiences of an A-Team.