In my last post, I wrote about the choice between specialists and generalists on a team, using the metaphor of role-playing games to illustrate it. Now, I’m going to write a bit, over the next few posts, about my practical experience building and growing teams. This isn’t meant to be a guidebook on team development, or anything, but more of my approach and philosophy on team building.

Sure, I also happen to have another awesome picture for this post that I feel reinforces my credentials in Role Playing Games, but that’s a total coincidence, I swear. Yes, I do just have these books lying around my office.
At many jobs I’ve had leading teams, I’ve started with somewhat small teams. For illustration purposes, the team I’ll describe will be an example, and not really any particular team I’ve actually had. Continue reading “The Small Team”