“Resistance creates inefficiency."

The professor of my first circuit design class said.

His next comment stayed with me for years:

“This is true both for electronics and teams."

Our goal is to eliminate resistance, because all it does is slow things down and generates heat. Every component in a design should take information, add value, and pass it on. Do this and you have an effective, productive system.

This is also the same with human teams. Everyone should add value and pass it on. Holding information because one thinks this is powerful, not fully contributing (for any reason: politics, environment, etc) creates resistance.

Eliminating resistance, means creating an environment that fosters contribution, accountability, co-creation, with proper incentives.

It doesn’t necessarily mean eliminating people, but sometimes it does.

It doesn’t necessarily favor a particular working style (i.e. waterfall, vs agile), but sometimes it does.

Like every circuit is designed for its particular application; designing an efficient team also must be done for its particular application.

Original Linkedin Post: http://bit.ly/2mCh40M