Teamwork Sucks

In: Business Ideas| Education By: Brian Armstrong

26 May 2009

Scott Adam’s has a great post out today on how teamwork can hurt your productivity.

I personally despise working in teams and rarely if ever do it.

If I need to get something done:

Outsource it to a contractor

If I need to figure out what to do:

Brainstorm it with select mentors and friends

“Friends” also includes making a blog post and getting feedback from people that way.

It’s better to be the sole decision maker on any project. Otherwise too much time is lost in keeping everyone on the team up to date and making sure their feelings don’t get hurt.

It’s also much more efficient to not have to justify your ideas to other people and try to convince them. If I’m convinced, or I think someone has given me some good advice, I just start working on it right away without delay.

I think it’s a mistake to ever say “hey can you two be in charge of XYZ?” If you watch The City or The Apprentice you’ve seen examples of this gone wrong. The same is true in planning a birthday party or night on the town. Pick one person to be in charge or you’ll get drama, not results.

What do you think about teamwork?

Update: Seth Godin agrees “Only one person in charge at a time”

17 Responses

Philip Arthur Moore

May 26th, 2009 at 7:58 pm

My goodness I could not agree with this sentiment more Brian, which is why I have maintained a predominately independent contractor status for so long. I have an intense fear of being sucked into a company that uses meetings and team decisions as a crutch.

In the event that I pull myself into a team for a large-scale project, I am anal about defining my role on the team and knowing exactly what it is that will be required of me (this is easy for me since the bulk of my work is coding). I also let it be known that I will not make myself available for hour-long “committee” meetings that never seem to get anywhere, and completely ignore requests for input on small decisions that don’t matter. And finally, 95% of my communication with teams is done via Basecamp and the other 5% is handled through phone meetings.

Compare this to the average office worker who spends much of his time in meetings, and more meetings, which are productivity killers and drains on the brain.

Don’t get me wrong, having a hive of people working on a product can be an amazing thing (see: WordPress and other open-source communities). But much of the contributions that come into these projects are from people who do work by themselves without distraction. Their work is judged on its merit and no useless meetings are required.

Teams can be a good thing, but the traditional meaning of “teamwork” sucks; there’s just no way around it.

Brian Armstrong

May 27th, 2009 at 4:46 am

Good point..working with other people is pretty valuable, it’s all about HOW you do it. Sounds like you’ve got a cool little virtual office goin Phil, from Vietnam no less!

Chris Guthrie

May 27th, 2009 at 12:57 am

About the only time I prefer to work on a team is when the individual being brought onto the team possesses a skill I do not.

i.e. upper level coding

But like you mentioned earlier – in those situations it’s also sometimes easier to just contract that work out.

I agree that when I work for myself I can just do what I want while at the same time bringing in feedback from those I trust if need be.

I think personality style has a lot to do with it as well. My guess is that you were the type of person in school to go do the project by yourself entirely (or at least try to do it all yourself)?

Brian Armstrong

May 27th, 2009 at 4:49 am

Sort of mixed on that…actually in school I did do a lot of projects in teams. Homework and problem sets I tended to do in large groups (especially on subjects where I wasn’t comfortable) because I felt like I learned as much from the other classmates as the teacher. The team was my crutch :) But yeah, I guess in my business stuff I generally know what I want to accomplish and bringing along others for the ride just slows me down.

Seraphim

May 27th, 2009 at 4:00 am

I disagree, almost totally. You’re describing dysfunctional teams and dysfunctional meetings. Teams and meetings don’t have to be that way.

Most of the world runs on teamwork. Ever try to have a family without involving other people? What about trying to manufacture something — pretty much anything beyond simple handcrafts? What about an airplane? You going to design, manufacture, and sell a multi-passenger airplane all by yourself? What about a microprocessor, without which none of us would be writing these? They are far too complex to be designed by a single person.

I do agree that when teamwork goes wrong, it is painful and ugly and kills time and motivation. Same with meetings. But companies and organizations who understand that, but who also rely on teamwork to get anything done, must find a way to make sure teams are functional, not dysfunctional, and that meetings are effective, rather than wasteful and mind-killing.

That’s why there are very useful models and tools out there, such as the Tuckman model (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forming-storming-norming-performing) for understanding the team-building process, and good methods for running meetings.

These things aren’t rocket science. Maybe instead of throwing rocks at teams and meetings per se, you could learn how to make them effective.

Brian Armstrong

May 27th, 2009 at 5:03 am

Valid point…although I’m not saying you have to work alone. The opposite actually, getting guidance from other people and assigning/delegating tasks to others are great, and can help you accomplish huge projects. It’s just working in a team – a bunch of equals with no one in charge – that I mainly have a problem with. Even the most perfectly functioning team comes with a huge inefficiencies in that case.

Admittedly the title of the post is a bit broad though.

And you’re right though that for something like building an airplane, it’s unlikely you can have each person working on an individual task in isolation. It’s inevitable in some cases.

College Town Menus (CTM)

May 27th, 2009 at 3:03 pm

Haha I love your comment “Pick one person to be in charge or you’ll get drama, not results.” ain’t that the truth!

I agree it’s always nice being the sole decision maker, especially for your own venture, you think, decide, and act, much faster than having to explain and justify to others. However, having a partner or team does have its advantages, especially when the other person/people have significant skills that you dont have. I’d love to have a programmer that could consult with me, do all the work for me, and be happy with just getting it done and letting me do the business side of things. Then again, like you said, having a mentoring group is great for bouncing off ideas, finding out what your doing wrong, etc. Your blog serves as a great outlet for reachback to avid followers and supporters.

Bret

May 27th, 2009 at 3:43 pm

If you are a salary seeker, teamwork is one of the skills that will be highly valued. So, if you live in the corporate world, it’s something you should learn to do well.

Sucessful projects take one champion and a number of role players. If you are neither of these, then you are just causing friction. If you cause too much friction at work right now, you may get burned.

Whether you like a team environment or would rather fly solo, it’s always about getting it done. Teams can be annoying or highly effective. It depends on who is on the team.

matt

May 27th, 2009 at 4:35 pm

I agree with a lot of the comments here: teamwork can be very valuable if and only if it is well organized.

At the same time, the rewards may be sweeter knowing that a project was completed by you and you alone:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2047

Brian Armstrong

May 27th, 2009 at 8:02 pm

Lol, nice example!

the102

May 28th, 2009 at 8:58 am

Hey Brian … great topic!!

And I couldnt agree more. I’m pretty much siding with you on this argument and, like you, I do find it invaluable to get feedback and criticisms from friends, mentors, basically anyone smarter than you!!
I do find teams valuable in such circumstances as brainstorming and group fitness (I know I’m getting off track a little) where the energy/ideas/inspiration/motivation from a number of people is much greater than any single person could ever achieve … but imo, there always needs to be a moderator/leader/someone setting the pace!!

Keep it up buddy … hope life is great and keep killin it!

Aaron

June 3rd, 2009 at 3:19 am

Brian,

I think I agree with what you’re trying to say, but overall the post doesn’t clearly explain that.

Clearly defined accountability is crucial, and a project will result in serious problems if it is not the case. In addition, there has to be single point accountability for the entire project, which I believe is your argument.

A large team with individuals clearly accountable for (and incented based upon the success of) various parts of a project can scale faster and be more successful than one individual. Of course there has to be an ultimate leader, but for the leader to be successful on a large scale, a team is essential. I know from experience that it’s often harder to get a team moving and up to speed than to just do it yourself, but as I mentioned, scaling the business becomes difficult without learning that skill. Not to mention it is very rewarding if you can actually do it!

I realize, for small projects such as universitytutor, a scaleable team may not be necessary, so it obviously depends on the situation.

I believe this is similar to what you’re trying to say, but overall it’s not clear, (partially because of your discussion invoking title :)) although your comments help bring it around.

Good post for discussion, I enjoyed it. As always it depends on each person’s perspective and experience with teams which side of this one they land on!

Brian Armstrong

June 5th, 2009 at 12:44 am

Good point…I think sometimes in my effort to make post titles which get clicked I exaggerate a bit :)

Case in point: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/how-to-instantly-feel-better-when-you-are-depressed.html

I pissed off a lot of people with my use of the word “depressed” in that title. See comments.

Thanks for stopping by!
Brian

simon

July 7th, 2009 at 11:17 am

I am actually dont agree that work sucks…..

In today’s world, there is nothing can be done without a team (at least 2 person) due to the limitation of knowledge from a single person.

Sub-con a job to other is not a bad idea, as long as you know what exactly you want, and what exactly the provide to you at the end of the day.

Renee

July 31st, 2009 at 1:27 am

I was going to look for a job as a project manager (similar to the positions I had before I left to have my family 6 years ago) but the thought of being on the matrix team project just depressed me. Then, I thought about going back to school, but the thought of working on team projects made we want to avoid it. Then, I decided to start my own business where I am the boss and I will hire one or two contractors to help me. I feel so free…..like I am finally escaping the worst of the work world and am taking the best parts only.

Elly Wireles Phones

August 1st, 2009 at 5:42 pm

this question may seem geeky because i play halo 3, but i am a rank 30 in lone wolves on halo 3, i don’t know how i got it but i did, i say that because i suck at non teamwork games, but i’m a 18 in team slayer play list but i’m good at it, it may be because i dont play it as much, that may be the reason but i always rank down when i lose but never rank up when i win, any explanation for this?

Mr Dechelle

October 21st, 2009 at 8:21 pm

I agree, teamwork sucks so much arse. I can carry out a task and work more effectively, faster and accurately when I am not held back by, or have to rely upon unreliable team mates.

Breaking Free

Teamwork Sucks

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