Book: SE@Google Ch: 2 - How to Work Well on Teams

[sopa301]

Book: SE@Google
Chapter: 2 - How to Work Well on Teams

Summary:

• People can be insecure about their code, because they are afraid that their unfinished and imperfect code reflects badly on them, or that someone will steal their idea, leading them to conceal it until they deem it complete.
• However, there are many downsides to working alone that end up wasting a lot of time. One may reinvent the wheel, make fundamental design mistakes, and generally forfeit the benefits of collaboration.
• The true key to success is to have a high functioning team that achieves more than the sum of its parts.
• There are 3 key pillars: Humility, Respect, Trust.
• In practice, these are expressed in being humble, learning to give and take criticism, being willing to take risks and fail, being patient, being open to influence.
• At Google, they are expressed as such: thriving in ambiguity, valuing giving and taking feedback, challenging the status quo, putting the customer first, caring about the team and doing the right thing.

I find this chapter quite relevant when discussing issues and when reviewing pull requests with my peers, mentors and mentees.
Although this is generally applicable to any project with more than 1 person, I find it particularly important in the early stages of the project, when people are not used to each other's styles and trust has yet to be built. Employing the 3 key pillars effectively would be helpful in easing everyone into a good workflow.