The incredible power of teamwork

Every time that someone mentions the importance of the context in the interpretation of the thoughts, words and actions of a person there is an undeniable risk of being accused of moral relativism, but the fact is that we all engage in that kind of trade-offs that turn certain actions that would otherwise be openly repugnant into something acceptable or even commendable under the appropriate circumstances. In the end, there is a very limited number of situations where an absolute judgement can be passed without hesitation.

However, the context is not only relevant for the moral evaluation, but also for the interpretation of the action itself, why is it done, what are the goals and the hopes of the actor, what are their fears and wishes. As I mentioned before, every action (or lack thereof) is, in some way, an act of communication, because it signals the people around us the things we are ready to do and under which circumstances, which incentives and threats work on us and which ones do not.

Photo: Joan Grífols

From this point of view, teamwork is an enormous web of messages and responses, not only in the form of calls, conversations and emails, but also in the way cooperation is offered, requested, denied, expected and appreciated. Just last week I was discussing how important it is for me the interaction with my colleagues and how this extended period of working from home (or even from the office but on my own) was taking a toll on my spirits because of the absence of feedback which denied me both of the sense of urgency to complete the work and of the recognition once it is accomplished.

One of the great advantages of being a programmer in a job where I work with data all the time is that programs are extremely cheap to make, both in terms of physical means (I need a computer, but I already have one) and time (even if it takes a few hours, I can do it from home in the evening or over the weekend). Back in the days when I was fresh out of college, my then-boss, which was already a long-time friend advised me to get ready to prepare programs for every kind of task: the first time a certain job is done once, you can do it by hand; the second time it has to be carried out, you might do it by hand as well but start to spot the places where it could be automated with a bit of programming; if the task shows up a third time, chances are that this is going to become a recurrent one so you better set some time aside to automate it to the greatest possible extent to minimize the time and effort required on every repeat. I have kept this piece of advice right and center throughout my professional career so far and it has served me really well: from smart spreadsheets to quite intricate processing routines, having them available means that the cost of changing my mind or simply exploring new possibilities is extremely low, and the rewards are there for grabs.

However, there are situations where the time is too short to automate anything so, even if the task at hand promises to be mind-numbing, the only options are to do it by hand or not to do it at all. It is in situations like this where the presence of the team (sometimes even its existence is enough) catalyzes my will to help in such a way that I just suit up and get ready to undertake the excruciating task that nobody else will be as ready or willing to do for the sake of the team. It is certainly not going to be fun and it might not even be helpful in the end, but even a slim chance that it might make the difference between success and defeat in our exploration endeavors can turn the job into a sort of crusade that I am taking up.

One instance of this kind of circumstance happened a few years ago. We were testing the instrument with some of our partners on the phone, but the system was not complete, so there was no easy way to keep track of how long each of the activities took. So while our colleagues on the other end of the line announced the beginning and the end of each activity as they happened, I spent almost one full hour jotting down the timestamps so that the duration of each one could be computed afterwards. In the end I filled a page, front and back, with handwritten numbers, which a kind of precarious solution but did the job perfectly well. In fact after 10 minutes I was so absorbed in the task that I did not even feel the time passing: I kept listening, checking the time, writing it down, then waiting some more.

In recent times the experience has been similar with respect to the test reports: it is true that the tests on the instrument take longer (sometimes a bit longer, sometimes a lot longer) if you intend to document all the relevant events that happen during the test, but on the other hand they are a good tool to limit the actual number of different tests to be performed. When the number of combinations to try exceeds three or four it becomes essential to create a list and cross out the different cases as they get tested to avoid repetitions. And of course it is perfectly possible to do this on your scrap pad, but doing this on the team wiki is not much longer and, on the other hand, it becomes way easier to share and to search.

I have focused today on the work environment, but the same applies with friends or in the family: being the one that carefully sets up the game board, or laying the table day in and day out can both be boring tasks, but they can also be loaded with meaning if "the team" is ready to acknowledge you contribution. Have a nice weekend.