The clear benefits of empowering smaller teams
Aug 3 2008
Today’s New York Times features an article on the benefits of creating smaller teams. As a team increases in size, so do the difficulties in ensuring the team has clear responsibility, clear accountability, and is able to innovate quickly. The author, Janet Rae-Dupree, writes “By breaking huge business units into smaller, nimbler teams, companies stand a chance of rekindling the creative spark that got them rolling in the first place.”
Ben Grimes, a high-tech CTO, makes another important point: “By making sure products in development meet customer needs each step of the way, Avocent has been able to avoid spending weeks correcting errors in the final product”. How did they do it? By empowering a small, cross-functional team who involved customers throughout the product process.
In my experience, when it comes to creating a more effective team, smaller is better — customers and organizations see better results sooner, and the people on the team are energized and eager to take on the next challenge. Count on it.
– Jeff
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