Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Magnetized teams

The Wikipedia definition for magnetism is:
Every electron is, by its nature, a small magnet (see Electron magnetic dipole moment). Ordinarily, the countless electrons in a material are randomly oriented in different directions, leaving no effect on average, but in a magnet the electrons tend to face the same way, so they all pull together, thus creating a strong total magnetic force.
In an unmagnetized material the magnetic dipole moments are randomly aligned:


In a magnetized material the magnetic dipole moments are aligned in parallel and in the same direction:


Imagine for a moment that every magnetic dipole moment is a person in a team. In a magnetized team everyone shares the same vision and pulls in the same direction, working together to achieve the same goal as shown in the following image by Mike Griffiths.



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Posted by Simon Baker @ permalink

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2 Comments:

An 'aligned team' is great...provided it is aligned in the right direction.

If the best direction is not clear, maybe a little dis-alignment helps a team explore what is the right direction.

Posted by Blogger timhoustontx @ permalink
 

Yup. Alignment is only good if it's in the right direction. That's why chartering and goal-driven planning (and development) are so important. They set the strategic direction - a shared vision, and the direction of each tactical step - release and iteration goals, respectively.

If a team is trying to find the best direction, e.g. which technology to use, I wouldn't term that dis-alignment. It's exploration using spikes. The team is still aligned but the shared goal is to find 'the right technology to solve the problem'. Dis-alignment is destructive.

Posted by Blogger Simon Baker @ permalink
 

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