Most companies practice individual performance reviews (also called performance appraisals). This practice is quite well-established even though 40 years of management science concluded that it has caused great damage to teams in multiple areas. One can assume as to why the practice still exists: lack of knowledge and/or sunk

Turnover: turnover is the act of replacing an employee with a new employee Since 1983, numerious studies have looked into the detrimental effects that companies suffer from high turnover. First and foremost, high turnover cost companies a fortune. Popular sources including Gallup publish alarming articles like this one: A trillion

Quality strongly depends on the system's efficiency of the information flow — when information flow is effective, losses are lower, and quality is higher. Efficient information flow implies that parties perform a cognitive function well: Cognitive function is a broad term that refers to mental processes involved in the acquisition of

Every manager does their own bit of people management at work, even though many don’t realise it. Some call it leadership; some call it just management. By definition, people management is: the practice of recruiting, training, engaging and retaining employees to optimize their talent and maximize their productivity Essentially

As discussed in the parent article, team size should be as small as possible to provide value to the client. To note: Studies prove that the smaller the team is, the higher the quality. There’s another study by QSM which says: Teams of 3 or fewer people were the

In one of the previous articles, I stated that team knowledge should overlap. How can one achieve that? Knowledge comes from learning and practice. Learning can’t be enforced. People learn best when team design, culture, and work conditions encourage them. As our goal is to make people’s knowledge

In the previous post, I suggested considering getting rid of the whole concept of time pressure imposed on developers. Here I will review the most common scenarios when this concept emerges and think with you if the concept can be avoided. It’s well-established scientific knowledge that the stress induced

In the first chapter, I focused on team topology aspects that affect the information flow in principle. Here I will focus on the aspects of team design that influence people's behaviour (or motivation). I’m sure you must have seen ‘tired and unhappy’ receptionists at some hotel, try to recall:

As Harold F. Dodge said: You can not inspect quality into a product. He meant that the system should be designed to produce a quality product. This article is about team design: principles of team construction that will allow the team to produce a quality product. We know what ‘product’