Team Synergy

Synergy enables the emergence of something new. It makes the aggregated value to be more than the sum of its parts. Team synergy makes a team accomplish something much more than what the individuals could have accomplished if they only added up their works. The important reality about synergy is that it is not simply adding the parts and saving time when it comes to teamwork, something new needs to happen in the team and in a new level, something emerging.

I've wondered about this in teams quite a lot and where and when exactly it could happen in teams, as an example in a game development team. One interesting and important answer seems to be related to personality types. People have various personality types and during a long project, various personality types each can have their benefits and advantages, they can complement one another in order to have a creative, effective and efficient team.

Various personality types can be categorized in the broader topic of cognitive diversity in a team which while looks like a big challenge, it contains huge opportunities for a good functioning team. Other matters related to this type of diversity include different work cultural backgrounds or experiences.

I will try to write more about various personality types in game development teams and how they can be challenging or create opportunities if managed well.