This document contains advice and observations from Derek Neighbors on building high-performing teams and organizations. Some of the key points include: executing ideas is more important than the ideas themselves; teams are more effective than individuals; building trust and empowerment are important for teams; establishing a clear vision and values helps with alignment; and optimizing teams requires establishing the right culture through behaviors and principles. The document advocates for collaboration, learning, and continual improvement.

1. @dneighbors
Teams Eat Ideas For Breakfast

2. The Truth Shall You Free

3. But, First It Will Piss You Off

4. Your Idea Doesn’t Matter Much.
Executing It Does.

5. Executing alone is a
real bitch.

6. If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together.

7. My Journey

8. Software - > Teams -> Team of Teams ->
Managers -> Executives ->
Organizations

9. Gangplank

10. Where are you at?

11. Seeking Co-Founder?

12. Find Your Compliment

13. Be Clear on Value

14. Don’t Be Stupid

15. Building Team

16. Versatile / Polyglots

17. Humble. Willing to do Anything

18. High Learning Velocity

19. Embody Your Culture

20. Optimizing Teams

21. So Much. Start Crying Now.

22. Observations of High
Performing Teams

23. Empowerment

24. Trust

25. Safety

26. Unanimity

27. Power of Inspection

28. Ability to Adapt

29. Only Adults Come to Work

30. Things that stuck.

31. 1. Team = Product

32. 2. Vision and values are building
blocks for success.

33. 3. Achievement requires alignment.

34. 3a. Alignment requires trust.

35. 3b. Trust comes from integrity, intent,
capability and results.

36. 4. Humans want to be happy.

37. 4a. Happiness is rooted in serving
others.

39. “Helping Frankie provides more satisfaction and
makes me feel more connected and alive and myself
than anything else that happens in 1996. I tell myself,
remember this, hold on to this. This is the only
perfection there is, the perfection of helping others.
This is the only thing that we can do that has any
lasting value or meaning. This is why we are here, to
make each other feel safe.”

40. What does it look like?

41. 1. Self-Awareness
Personal, Team, Group, Organization

44. 2. Start with why?
Personal, Team, Group, Organization

46. Shared vision is not a statement
or a goal, but rather an existential
phenomenon — a state of being a
mature team that is intentionally
attained.

47. 3. Presence. Excellence.
Personal, Team, Group, Organization

48. Your degree of presence over a
time and a particular place with
a particular group determines
the extent of your results.

49. Connection = Mutual Presence

50. 4. Personal Alignment.
Commitment
Personal, Team, Group, Organization

51. In that moment, when trust
unceremoniously displaces
suspicious defensive effort, you
feel truly weightless and
extraordinarily lucid.

52. The Greatness Cycle

53. Smartness leads to greatness, via
presence, integrity, conflict and
passion.

54. Regardless of Stage : Leadership

55. Why are these so elusive?

56. Egos

57. Leaders

58. Managers

59. Builder’s Manifesto

60. Principle #1
The boss drives group members.
The leader coaches them.
The builder learns from them.

61. Principle #2
The boss depends upon authority.
The leader on goodwill.
The builder depends on good.

62. Principle #3
The boss inspires fear.
The leader inspires enthusiasm.
The builder is inspired - by changing the
world.

63. Principle #4
The boss inspires “I”.
The leader says “we”.
The builder says “all” - people, communities
and society.

64. Principle #5
The boss assigns the task.
The leader sets the pace.
The builder makes sure sees the outcome.

65. Principle #6
The boss says, “Get there on time”
The leader says “get there ahead of time”.
The builder makes sure “getting there”
matters.

66. Principle #7
The boss fix the blame for the breakdown.
The leader fixes the breakdown.
The builder prevents the breakdown.

67. Principle #8
The boss knows how;
The leader shows how.
The builder shows why.

68. Principle #9
The boss makes work a drudgery;
The leader makes work a game.
The builder organizes love, not work.

69. Principle #10
The boss says “Go”.
The leader says “Let’s go”.
The builder says “Come”.

70. Behaviors Manifest
Culture

71. Culture is a
Framework for Scaling

72. For Me Today

73. Self-Awareness
Personal, Team, Group, Organization

75. Why?
Personal, Team, Group, Organization

76. Tanga believes that shopping is
FUN when you find something
new and exciting at a no-brainer
price and.. you weren’t even
looking for it!

77. Tanga
• I am empowered to make meaningful impact on my
customers and to my company.
• I am part of a team, my second family, who can
accomplish difficult things.
• I contribute positively to the culture, and innovation
business of Tanga.
• I make every single customer feel special and
needed. I surprise them and delight them.

78. Tanga
• I exceed what is expected of me time and time
again.
• My customers always understand that I care about
them.
• My customers receive the best products at the best
prices every single day.
• I will not pee on the toilet seat.

79. Client Team
Courage: We push ourselves past barriers and empower others to
take bold actions; together achieving uncommon results.
Love: We speak the truth even when it hurts. Freeing others to be
their best.
Excellence: We hold ourselves and others to the highest standard.
Integrity: We do what we say we are going to do. We do the right
thing, even when it isn't easy.
Vulnerability: We are real with ourselves and others. We are fully
engaged when present and support others to do the same.

80. Gangplank
• Collaboration over Competition
• Community over Agendas
• Participation over Observation
• Doing over Saying

81. Gangplank
• Boldness over Assurance
• Learning over Expertise
• People over Personalities
• Friendship over Formality

82. Presence
Personal, Team, Group, Organization

83. I’m sad tasking doesn’t feel
efficient. I’m glad I am learning
and adding value
simultaneously. I am glad I got
in early today.

84. I am mad I hit the snooze button 3
times today. I am sad that my
brother is visiting Arizona next
week and I probably won’t get to
see him.

85. I am glad <person> still seems
excited about mobile. I am
scared we will make a decision
to use something like
<technology>.

86. Alignment
Personal, Team, Group, Organization

87. It is all about people.

88. Questions

89. http://derekneighbors.com
http://tanga.com
http://gangplankhq.com

90. 30 Lessons

91. 1. People aren’t honest. People
value honesty.

92. 2. Organizations can’t handle the
truth.

93. 3. People keep trying to scale agile
instead of decoupling the organization.

94. 4. People don’t apply agile principles
to scaling.

95. 5. Mindset is everything.

96. 6. Culture determines long term
outcomes.

97. 7. The basics matter more than you
think.

98. 8. It’s the same questions/problems
everywhere you go.

99. 9. Vision goes a long way to
achieving results.

100. 10. Without alignment you have
nothing. Stop ignoring mis-alignment.

101. 11. Fun. Real fun. Have it
regularly.

102. 12. Going deep is the only way to
build teams. [Trust]

103. 13. Fail fast. [Go fast break sh!t]

104. 14. Super hero coders are killing
your organization.

105. 15. Challenging the status quo daily
is mandatory for survival.

106. 16. Empathy.

107. 17. If you think you are good or great,
you have already started losing.

108. 18. Chaos is a primer for
magnificence.

109. 19. Good Workspace design is
lubricant for collaboration.

110. 20. Values. Define them.

111. 21. Every time you double, it is a
different organism.

112. 22. Fear is a powerful motivator.
Don’t underestimate it.

113. 23. Simple is hard.

114. 24. Knowing the right thing to do is
half the battle.

115. 25. People are really happy being
mediocre. Excellence is painful.

116. 26. No one knows what an iteration is.

117. 27. Good ideas are often killed by
bad implementations.

118. 28. Agile is just a tool mentality.

119. 29. Resisting old habits and building
new ones is harder than you think.

120. 30. It is easy to get stuck /
obsessed on process.