The shape of software teams

The work has a shape Software teams leave patterns behind in the way work moves, waits, concentrates, and returns.
Expertise as a private island A domain expert can become the team's hidden constraint.
Trust for the product path A trusted engineer as one person's judgment direction
If work stays private Large late pull requests reveal more than an individual habit.
High churn The signal that work is moving through uncertainty.
Rubber-stamp reviews Fast approvals hiding judgment.
Self-merging Self contained evaluation.
When helping takes over Help can remove the struggle through which capability grows.
The quiet high performer Steady contribution can disappear beneath the signals a team usually rewards.
The hero at the deadline Repeated rescues reveal what a team postpones until urgency takes control.
Leave the code better Small improvements made beside ordinary work keep a codebase easier to change.
The code goes in circles Repeated small changes in one narrow area.
Everywhere, but never deep Breadth becomes a problem when every task ends before ownership begins.