Book Review: How NASA Builds Teams

The Hubble Space Telescope, like so many of NASA's achievements, has paid dividends far beyond what the general public typically sees in our sound-bite driven culture. Beyond the vast expansion of human knowledge directly attributable to Hubble and the other Great Observatories, you might be surprised to learn how many practical advances can be attributed, at least in part, to NASA. We owe a tremendous debt to the hard work of those at NASA.  Add to that list of high impact spin-offs How NASA Builds Teams: Mission Critical Soft Skills for Scientists, Engineers, and Project Teams by Charles J. Pellerin which provides a clear and robust approach to team dynamics and the factors that contribute most to success.

The overall focus of the book is the 4-D System, a tool for evaluating and improving the crucial social context that a project team is operating within. While some may dismiss the importance of this social context, Pellerin makes a convincing case for a team's social context being central to the success or failure of projects. From Hubble's flawed optics to the tragic loss of life in the Challenger disaster, it is difficult to refute Pellerin's case for a flawed social context being the root cause of failure.  

While reading the book I often experienced what I call "ah-ha!" moments where I could directly relate my own experience in software development teams to the explanations in the book. I found Pellerin's writing style to be clear and effective, almost conversational in tone without ever losing focus on the material. Although there are a number of references to the 4-D Systems web site and professional services, the book stands on its own and never feels like a sales pitch. In fact, there are many free and valuable resources provided on the web site, including a great paper which summarizes the book and approach far better than I could hope to. I encourage you to review these materials, and of course to purchase the book!

Pellerin's work will provide tremendous value to anyone looking for insight into team dynamics of communication and the internal motivations behind our behavior in a project team.