Chapter 4
Teamwork

Some programmers are successful as a one-person company. The vast majority of us, however, need to play nice with others.

Much of what you’ll do in the professional world requires interacting regularly with others. The introverted programmer might rather hole up in their cube and write code instead. However, your ability to interact effectively can accelerate—or limit—the coolness of the code you get to hole up with.

These “soft skills” aren’t what programmers are known for, and this chapter won’t make you a Dale Carnegie.^[35] Instead, it’s focused on hitting the high points of appreciating people’s personality traits and how they interact in professional contexts.

The golden rule “Do to others what you would have them do to you” applies to teamwork, too. I’ll add to that:

• In Tip 21, ​Grok Personality Types ​, we look at some objective measures of personality. When you understand your own biases, and how others are different from you, it’s easier to work with them.

• Tip 22, ​Connect the Dots ​ then investigates the connections between people, because the company org chart only gives you a coarse picture of authority, and what’s more interesting is a chart of influence.

• Tip 23, ​Work Together​ gets much more specific about programming, and collaborating, within your team.

• Finally, Tip 24, ​Meet Effectively ​ gives you action items for collaboration-gone-wrong, the much-dreaded corporate meeting.