What do a software delivery team and a sailing crew have in common? The answer is the fundamental need for fully integrated efforts, whose purpose is to navigate using a collective “North Star” in the most efficient manner. This talk delivers an overview of how to achieve this, as well as establishing a “One Team, One Heart” mindset, by balancing leadership among Product Management, Design, and Engineering, and expanding on Jez Humble’s DORA metrics.

1. 1
Building and Managing
High-Performance Teams

2. 2
I'm an experienced executive and thought
leader when it comes to high-performance,
distributed teams. I recently shared my
thoughts in my published book:
Building and Managing High-Performance
Distributed Teams.
Currently, I work as Chief Technology Officer
at LawnStarter. Before, during and after that,
I'm a lover of sailing and a truly engaged dad.
crossingtheequator.com @asilveira81 asilveira
CTO, Executive Leader,
and Author
Alberto Silveira

3. 3
Before we start our journey…

4. 4
4
Our planned route for this session
Our collective goal
Where is our
North Star
One Team One Heart
What are the
connecting dots
The Rule of 3
How to
reach it
3
2
1

5. 5
Learn one thing that you
will bring back with you.
Our mission

6. 6
6
The Rule of Three
[Silveira, 2021]
The principle of working with items in threes has enormous value in
numerous areas of life because 'three' provides perfect balance.
It is neither too much nor too little.

7. 7
7
One Team, One Heart
[Silveira, 2021]
Team, One Heart is the synergy that comes from people feeling
good about their place in a highly productive team.
It becomes a focal point, the heart of the team.

8. 8
The voyage
Shall we get started?

9. 9
Off to sea
Business is much like a regatta

10. 10
Captains do NOT sail blind
Point A to B to Z
Coordinates
They make sure they know the coordinates,
milestones, wind, weather, depth, and current
Crew
They know their crew
North Star
They need to get everyone aligned on how
to get to the North Star

11. 11
The 3 pillars
of a North Star
[Silveira, 2021]
It's not a star's brightness that makes it a
success, but its consistency.
Vision
Established vision
Strategy & Execution
Collaborative team engagement
Autonomy
Empowerment is the ultimate
demonstration of trust

12. 12
Setting sail
Building a strong team

13. 13
The right people
aboard
[Silveira, 2021]
Healthy teams aren't built in a day.
But they are built each day.
Hiring
Hire people based on who they are
Organizing
Each team member has a specific
role to play in support of the
mission
Retention
Mood is more powerful than
intellect

14. 14
Hiring
Open the net
diversify hiring beyond the
2-hour commuting radius
Avoid
decision by committee
Establish
crystal clear scorecards
Hire
people based on who
they are rather than just
what they can do
Prepare
the interviewers
Fair play
any successful relationship
starts and relies on
transparency from day one
Accelerate
Find the right partner

15. 15
Building a cohesive Org Structure
Bird's Eye View
to observe the entire fleet working as a single
ship
Brook's Law
adding more people to a late project make it
later
Formation
delivery team, squads, and the iron triangle

16. 16
The three pillars of the Iron Triangle
Different Perspectives
bring the right balance while building
the product
Dynamic Tension
of the three created a balanced central
point where better decisions can be made
Fosters Innovation
creativity, and therefore better outcomes
Product Manager
Designer Engineer
HOW

17. 17
Retention
Career Ladder
Set clear expectations,
measure and promote
continuous growth
Mood
Read, learn, and adapt
to the team mood
Gestalt
"The whole is greater than
the sum of its parts"
Connections
Build a great environment
by valuing and developing
human connections
Continuous Learning
Train people enough so they
can leave. Treat them well
enough so they don't want to

18. 18
Streamlined Collaboration

19. 19
The three pillars of Streamlined
Collaboration
Documentation
It must be written down, have one single
source of truth and be accessible to everyone
Communication
It must have an agreement on definitions,
terminologies, and communication channels
Meetings
It must happen, but it must be effective

20. 20
Streamlined documentation
Policies
Guides decision-making with limited room
for individual choice
Standards
It is a repeatable, reliable, agreed-upon, and
documented way of achieving something
Guidelines
Gives the direction but allows for the widest
range of interpretation in support of an
objective
Policies
Standards Guidelines

21. 21
Streamlined communication
Catch Up
Vital work of the day
Collaboration
Agreed blocks of time for group interactions
Focus
Work without a sense of guilt with a fully-fueled,
focused, creative mind
Catch up
Collaboration Focus

22. 22
Translating in real life

23. 23
23
Streamlined Collaboration
Do Less
Calendar
fragmentation
Context switch
Get More
Focus
and
Productivity

24. 24
Effective Meetings
Cost
Focus on the ROI for the meeting
Agenda
Establish clear goals, follow up with actions,
and collect feedback
Engagement
Promote collaborative conversations
Cost
Agenda Engagement

25. 25
Staying Shipshape
Measuring progress

26. 26
4 Metric Principles
Automatically Generated
Metrics should be automated
No exceptions
Multi-Perspective
Consider user-centric metrics,
blended with individual and
team metrics
Continuously-Improved
Collect, visualize, take actions
as needed and improve
Easily Referenced
Using observability standards and
observability tools metrics should
be exposed in a timely manner

27. 27
Three Key Industry Metrics
Deployment Frequency
How often code gets released to end users?
MTTR
How long does it take to restore from a major
incident that impacts users?
Availability
How available is the product to users?
Deployment Frequency
MTTR Uptime
(Availability)

28. 28
Counterbalance Metrics
Metric Category
Burnout, Mood, Developer Efficacy Satisfaction and Well-Being
Availability (upTime), absence of bugs, service health, cost
reduction, customer performance Performance
Weekly Coding Days, Commit Volume, PR Throughput,
Review Speed, etc Activity
Documentation Created/Improved, Slack, Calendar, etc Communication and Collaboration
Cycle Time, Focus Time, Number of Interrupts, MTTR,
Number of Handoffs, Deployment Frequency, etc Efficiency and Flow
* [SPACE Framework, 20211]

29. 29
"Never underestimate what
a team with a purpose can
achieve" - someone once overheard

30. 30
Adjusting your instruments

31. 31
Continuous Improvement Mindset
Mistakes usually have deeper
roots and open OPPORTUNITIES
MISTAKES are part of
continuous progress
Avoid the term POST MORTEM.
Instead, use incident analysis
It is vital that everyone
in the team LEARN
from mistakes
Prefer CONTRIBUTING
FACTORS over root cause

32. 32
Mission Accomplished?

33. 33
Keep Learning!
Available on:
● Amazon.com
● Apress.com
● Barnesandnoble.com

34. 34
… and remember:
a smooth sea never
made a skilled sailor!
crossingtheequator.com @asilveira81 asilveira
Thank you!