Leveling Up Teams with Mark Shead

The Mob Mentality Show

In this episode of the Mob Mentality Show, we dive into software development and team dynamics with Mark Shead. Discover how to revolutionize your team's productivity and create a more enjoyable work environment.

### **Leveling Up the Entire Team**
- **Maximizing Software Investment & Fun:** Learn how mob programming boosts software investment value and enjoyment.
- **Team Size Strategies:** Debate whether to tackle problems with large teams or start with just 5 people.
- **Real-Life Transformation:** Hear the story of five individuals transitioning from solo work to pair/mob programming and the positive outcomes including reduced cycle times, enhanced delivery rates, knowledge sharing, and collective code ownership.
- **Overcoming Silos:** Address the challenge of tying self-worth to personal knowledge silos and the sunk cost fallacy.
- **Bottleneck Resolution:** Compare R&D bottleneck resolution in solo, isolated pair/mob, and dynamic pair/mob setups.
- **Team Health:** Learn why the speed of asking questions and seeking help is crucial for team health.
- **Risk and Virtue:** Discuss taking risks from a firm foundation and acting virtuously in a team, regardless of consequences.
- **Sponsoring Risk Takers:** Discover the importance of sponsoring and encouraging team members who take risks and ask questions.
- **Learning Vulnerability:** Hear Austin's baseball coach story on vulnerability and its relevance to software teams.

### **Effective Remote Teams**
- **Solo Work vs. Collaboration:** Examine the norm of solo work and scheduled meetings leading to eight-hour days filled with meetings.
- **Booking Meetings:** Understand the inefficiency of booking meetings weeks in advance just to get necessary information.
- **Remote Team Room:** Learn about the remote team room approach that reduces cycle time for information sharing and fosters real-time collaboration.
- **Video Call Dynamics:** Address the fear of being on video and the impact of informal versus formal video styles on zoom fatigue.

### **BDD & TDD: The State of Software Development**
- **Roman Bridges Legend:** Reflect on the "hopefulness" in the software industry and the parallels with the legend of Roman bridges.
- **Known vs. Unknown:** Delve into what is known versus unknown in software development.
- **BDD/TDD Practices:** Discuss how much BDD/TDD should be integrated with the UI and the fear of creating test code that might need changes later.
- **Evolving Product Code:** Become comfortable with evolving both product and test code.
- **Coupling Tests to Design:** Debate whether to couple tests to design or not, comparing London versus Detroit approaches.
- **Unmatched Confidence:** Discover the confidence boost that comes with well-executed BDD/TDD.
- **Safe R&D Spaces:** Balance the need for a safe time-boxed R&D experimental code with the certainty of test-driven development.
- **Humoring the Coach:** Hear anecdotes about teams humoring their coaches with TDD, only to embrace it enthusiastically the next day.

Don't miss this insightful episode filled with practical tips, real-life stories, and advice on enhancing your team's performance and software development practices. Tune in now to level up your team with Mark Shead!

Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/8yJmuXWgVbU