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Summary
Why do some project teams work well, while others just can’t seem to get it together? Why do some teams have a strong sense of culture while others feel like a group of strangers working on the same task? When a team comes together, whether it’s for a short-term project or ongoing long-term operations, a culture emerges: you can see it in how the team works toward common goals and how they interact with one another. Although you can’t force team culture, you can design for it. Through an enterprise project case study, we look at onboarding techniques and methods that can be used to deliberately build strong team cultures.
Key Insights
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Poor onboarding and revolving, under-skilled staffing lead to fractured teams and project failure in enterprise contexts.
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Designing the team member experience is as important as designing for users to create effective collaboration.
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Sharing project folklore and a common understanding of history and decisions helps align new team members quickly.
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Clear, honest, and simple job titles that reflect actual work promote team cohesion and prevent mistrust.
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Temporary team assignments benefit from longer terms (6-12 months) rather than brief 3-month bursts to foster productivity.
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Deliberate onboarding reading lists and one-on-one walkthroughs significantly improve context absorption for new team members.
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Creating a shared sense of purpose and collective goals aligns individual effort and reduces siloed, consultant-like behavior.
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A simple, plain-language team code of conduct focusing on behaviors like honesty, collaboration, and accountability can build positive culture.
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Remote work can be supported effectively through frequent office hours, 'unstuck meetings,' and collaborating rituals that sustain connection.
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Onboarding timelines vary; for complex environments a month-long onboarding with gradual integration is necessary for lasting impact.
Notable Quotes
"We cannot fail was the mantra, yet there was no serious onboarding for team members."
"New hires acted more like faceless individual contributors than a real team."
"Project folklore is made up of the stories we tell ourselves about the work we're doing."
"We herded all of our unicorns and named them appropriately with simple meaningful titles."
"Although you can't force culture, you can design for it."
"Speak plainly. Speak simply and plainly and say what you mean to say."
"Collaborate daily; more than one brain is always better for problem solving."
"Research over opinions; decisions should be driven by data and evidence, not hunches."
"It's hard for students who come in — their job isn't just to close tickets, it's to learn and move work forward."
"The pandemic pushed us to host office hours three times a day so people could drop by and connect."
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