Dream Team

A DreamTeam is a team made up of superstars. The term was originally referred to the 1992 US Olympic basketball team. [I believe, although I am not certain, that the term actually originated with the creation of the NY Yankees, who poached all the best players at the time]

This team consisted of Hall-of-Fame professional NBA players (and one college player), many of whom were in their prime years:

• Michael Jordan (guard)
• Magic Johnson (guard)
• Larry Bird (forward)
• Charles Barkley (forward)
• David Robinson (center)
• Patrick Ewing (center)
• Karl Malone (power forward)
• Scottie Pippen (forward)
• Chris Mullin (forward)
• Clyde Drexler (guard)
• John Stockton (point guard)
• Christian Laettner (forward--college)

(Shaquille O'Neal--who was just coming out of college that year--was left off the team at the last minute. Many thought Laettner the better player at the time.)

The term has recently been used to describe mere all-star teams.

• An alleged DreamTeam only managed a bronze metal at the '04 summer games in Athens--a result widely considered a failure. Though given that the team was assembled only weeks before the Olympics, consisted largely of second-rate and up-and-coming players (several of which are known PrimaDonnas), and contained a roster deficient in several key basketball skills (most notably shooting the ball and playing team hoops), some of us consider the bronze an over-achievement.

In the context of programming a DreamTeam is one where all team members are highly-regarded as GrandMasterProgrammers (and in many such teams, they in fact are). A DreamTeam is often assembled for an important software development project, or is brought in to rescue a troubled DeathMarch project.

Some managers would like to have a DreamTeam assigned to their project, but the inescapable fact is that most people and teams are somewhere around average. It is not reasonable to expect superstar performance from all teams all the time.

Many managers pay average salaries, but convince themselves they have top-drawer talent. The software industry is like Lake Wobegon; where all coders are AboveAverage?

A set of exceptional individuals does not necessarily make for an exceptional team; "chemistry" and other factors determine how well they will work together.

The problem with a DreamTeam is that software development is not like basketball. Having a bunch of your best developers dedicated to a single project can cause turmoil as the best fight amoung themselves to become "the best of the best". Comparing again to sports, many of the dynasty teams are not made up of all superstars, but had a few great leaders and/or superstars.

• Actually it is like basketball; a good basketball team needs everyone to be fundamentally sound. But they must work well together; have complementary skills (some good shooters, some good ball-handlers, some good rebounders, some good shot-blockers, some good man-on-man defenders, some good athletes), and everyone must know and accept their role.

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A bad environment can kill a DreamTeam or even a DreamTeamMember?. It does not matter how great someone is if their head is being held under-virtual-water.

What really is bad is when managers want to hire someone in cheap, so they hire a newbie to mid-level person, expect senior performance, give no support, then some members become anti-supportive towards the newbie, and try to push him or her out of the team. (Anguished yell for justice).