The strength or growth of a team is difficult to measure – as far as we are concerned most maturity models can be thrown away – but it can be felt. When you walk into a space where a team works together effectively, you feel the energy . To explain the dynamics of a team, this page contains inspiring visual metaphors.
In our experience, (Scrum) teams synchronize just as magically as these metronomes. Just look…
1. Put a number of people together (the metronomes) and they all do their own thing. But if you support them well and give them enough freedom of movement (the shelf with the Coke cans), they will run in sync. The most important team supporter is the scrum master and he must therefore be patient. Don’t send too much. Pushing (correcting the Coke cans) is even counterproductive. You cannot grow the grass by pulling it.
2. And the analogy continues: place an extra metronome (team member) on the shelf and it will first go out of line and then (if the team is large enough) automatically synchronize with the team.
3. And what happens when you remove the support and freedom of movement (the shelf with the cans) again? Indeed, then it doesn’t take the metronomes to get out of step again. Just like with teams
4. One to think about: What will happen to the synchronicity if team members start working remote (like from home)?
Below you can see another inspiring video.