Introduction
The title of this blog refers to what a newly formed team goes through. Each word represents a stage that the members go through, as they get to know and work with each other. Below I’ll describe what happens at each stage, and how each one is important for a successful team. It’s important to note that each team member has a different way of understanding things, we all create mental models that help us break down a complex system into understandable terms.
As a Software Engineer, this post will be around software projects.
Forming
Forming refers to when a team first starts working together, every team member (hopefully) is excited, ready to work on the project and is coming in with the best intentions in mind. As the team works on the design for the product different ideas are thrown out, some work some don’t, but the team is working together.
Storming
As the team keeps working together friction between members starts to rise. This could happen when different personalities clash, when each member has a different priority, misunderstandings that lead to frustration or unclear roles that might cause a person to feel directionless.
No one enjoys struggles, but with good intentions, they help team members better understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Norming
After storming, issues or friction get less tense and eventually resolved. Having gone through this everyone has a better understanding of everyone’s personalities, priorities, forms of communicating or define the roles that each member will take on. This phase is where the team starts to really grasp how everyone is, and start planning in a way that everyone’s skills are best utilized.
In this phase, a person might become aware that they are good at something that they don’t have a lot of experience with, or that they might need improvement in other areas.
Performing
Now this is the best stage! This is where the team feels like a well oiled machine, everyone knows what they can take on and how long it might take. When the team is in this phase, trust among teammates is high which allows for anyone to ask for help and can even venture out into working areas outside of their skill set.
Conclusion
As time passes, the team will go through different phases and that’s a good thing. The Forming phase doesn’t have to be stressful. When team members have good intentions, issues are resolved quickly, and everyone adapts faster.
My personal Experience
I’ve been part of a Performing teams and it’s wonderful, I’m excited to get to work and plan out my day. Morale and motivation are high, work gets done, and any issues that come up are handled efficiently.
Having been part of teams that are stuck in the Forming phase is demoralizing. This is the other side of the coin, I didn’t want to go to work, everything felt like a drag and I was stressed all the time.
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