Teamwork!

Jul 02, 2012 by Joyce Norris-Montanari in Data Management, Data Quality

It’s chipmunk season at our house in the foothills. Bella and Teddy (my dogs) are in full hunting mode, and WHAT A TEAM THEY ARE!  Teamwork is defined as “work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole.”   I wish my clients could work this efficiently as a team.  Teddy runs around the trailer pouncing on the ground to scare the chipmunk, while Bella waits quietly and patiently for the critter to run.  Then she takes off after it at the speed of light.  Bella is a whippet mix.  Whippets were bred to hunt by sight, coursing game in open areas at high speeds.  Teddy is a golden retriever – and a very funny fellow.  So, as you see each of the dogs has its strengths (and weaknesses), but they work great as a team.

I have worked with a consultant, and we seemed to complement each other’s skills.  We could, in fact, finish each other’s sentences.  So, a team is best made of different people with different skills, however, the most important is to find team members who are all working toward the same goal, and not trying to upstage each other.

I was working on a data quality initiative where two developers were always trying to out perform one another.  I kept trying to show them how they complemented each other, but they could not see it.  It eventually caused negative disruption for the team and degraded the project consistency and final product.  Not such good teamwork!

Tags: Data Management, Data Quality, teamwork