I keep coming back to this thought about teams. Not just product teams, but football teams too. There's this moment - you've probably seen it - when everything just flows. One second, one pass, one decision smoothly connecting to the next. Everyone moving like they're sharing the same brain.
It's something I've been thinking about since watching football this weekend. The way the best managers, like Mourinho at Chelsea, built teams that were more than just a collection of talented individuals. They created something that moved and thought as one.
It mirrors what I've been seeing in product work lately. At its heart, this job we do is a team sport wearing the mask of individual moments. Sure, you see the highlight reel - shipping features, landing big decisions, celebrating customer wins. But underneath? That's where the real work lives. The daily stand-ups that build trust. The quick Slack messages that prevent fires. The shared context that grows through a thousand tiny moments.
Here's what gets me excited: both worlds thrive on bringing different skills together. Like how a football team needs its mix of players - strikers, midfielders, defenders - our product engineers each bring their own strengths. Some naturally gravitate toward user experience, others to system architecture, others to data. Watch a senior product engineer guiding a junior through their first complex bug - it's not so different from a veteran player showing a rookie the ropes, passing down those instincts you can't get from any playbook.
The All Blacks nailed it with their philosophy: "No one is bigger than the team and individual brilliance doesn't automatically lead to outstanding results." One ego can poison the well. And just like in football, our bench strength matters. Those team members who might not be driving every project but jump in with fresh eyes when we need them most. The platform engineers working behind the scenes on infrastructure and tooling - they're like the physios and analysts, keeping everything running smooth.
The real magic? It's not in isolated brilliance (though that helps). It's in flow. In how a team adapts under pressure. Covers for each other. Shows up in the tough moments, and celebrates the wins together.
Maybe that's the difference between a good team and a great one - in football or in product. It's not how they perform when the conditions are perfect. It's how they move as one when they're not. Because when the structure holds, the team flows. And when it doesn't?
That's when informal leaders step in - quietly, instinctively - doing what needs to be done to keep things moving. You hold it together. Even if you didn't get to shape the thing you're holding.
