The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
A Leadership Fable
by Patrick Lencioni · first published 2002
81% recommend17% neutral2% critical
Why HN recommends it
Quick, novel-style leadership fable that frames team problems around trust and constructive conflict. Suits new managers and teams wanting a shared vocabulary for diagnosing dysfunction and organizational health.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…changed me in some ways, I never thought how much fun it is to listen to biographies and how many lessons there are. 0. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition 1. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable 2. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future 3. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance 4. Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography 5. What Got You Here Won't…
on “Ask HN: Which non-programming books are a beneficial read for programmers?” ↗Some good books I've found over the years: Lencioni's "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" is an often cited reference for team psychology. If you read through it (it's not long) it should give you more resources to analyze the current social context. The second great resource - on personal…
on “Ask HN: How to disagree with the rest of management?” ↗…collectively arrive at a vision. That way, there is no cognitive dissonance between the vision and the team members. The problem is, this is hard and requires a lot of trust. I'd recommend reading The Five Dysfunctions of a Team [0] if you really want to dig into this philosophy. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Dysfunctions_of_a_Tea...
on “Employees: looking for “the great boss who cares about their development”” ↗…problems then your language changes as well. I'd highly recommend reading some books. The two I've read in the past month and really liked where "Extreme Ownership" by Jocko Willink & Leif Babin and "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" and Patrick Lencioni Both books give examples of how they handled situations, and you begin seeing patterns in the speech they use.
on “Ask HN: How to speak like a leader, not like an engineer?” ↗…conversation figuring out where you are technically. "I'm a SWE" doesn't begin to cover it.) Without any thought at all: - One Minute Manager - Debugging the development process - The Culture Code - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - Difficult Conversations Take some negotiation and interviewing hands-on courses.
on “Ask HN: Books to read when you transform from SWE into SWE Management?” ↗…terms "consensus" and "buy-in" as synonymous. They're not, and this distinction can make a huge difference in terms of healthy teams can operate. Patrick Lencioni covers this well in his classic book, "Five Dysfunctions of a Team".
on “Technical Excellence Is Not Enough” ↗'Business' is a large topic - anything in particular? Marketing? Finance? Customer Development? Management? etc? Books that I'd recommend: Anything by Peter Drucker, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, Made to Stick by the Heath Brothers, Blue Ocean Strategy by Kim and Mauborgne, among others. I'm sure plenty others here will also give you other recommendations that seem more 'start-up'…
on “The Best Business Book I’ve Ever Read (2014)” ↗> how to build an organization where... Patrick Lencioni has a few great of books on this. If you like narratives or "buisiness parables" then read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. If you prefer a more direct/didactic style, then read The Advantage. Difficult Conversations from the Harvard Negotiation Project is also a useful read.
on “How to Pick Your Battles on a Software Team” ↗The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - Patrick Lencioni. It's a pretty fast read, I think the thing that stuck with me the most from it was the reassurance that (constructive) conflict on a team is not something to be avoided at all costs.
on “Ask HN: Non-tech books that have helped you grow professionally?” ↗…Unless everyone has a chance to defend their view, commitment to disagreeable strategies is lower. If this disassembly of group psychology is unfamiliar I can whole heartedly recommend Patrick Lencioni's "Five dysfunctions of a team". That said, I have no idea of the quality and nature of late Mr. Jobs version of argumentation.
on “Toxic management cost an award-winning game studio its best developers” ↗fsloth recommended Lencioni's "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" I'd second that, and suggest reading his other books, too. Particular 'The Advantage', which provides practical steps to solve the problems highlighted in his other fable/story books. It's unlikely…
on “Ask HN: How to disagree with the rest of management?” ↗Here's the list of books I've been recommending new managers and leaders read: Small Unit Leadership: A Commonsense Approach https://www.amazon.com/Small-Unit-Leadership-Commonsense-App... The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable https://www.amazon.com/dp/0787960756/?coliid=I12MQNI6MIK6JR&... High Output Management https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679762884/?coliid=I2G1Y1JLPP55SY&... Measure What Matters https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525536221/?coliid=I1G6EQRC0QYPE1&...…
on “Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?” ↗…https://coachingforleaders.com/podcast/maximize-team-perform...) Manager Tools (They even have a section for new managers: https://www.manager-tools.com/podcasts/important-topic-feeds...) Books: The Effective Manager The Speed of Trust Five Dysfunctions of a Team Turn The Ship Around If you want to look further than traditional command and control structures, I recommend looking into Deming, Sociocracy, teal organizations or the aforementioned book "Turn The…
on “Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?” ↗…recommendation: 1. Learn Scrum/kanban (not a book) 2. Developer Hegemony: The Future of Labor 3. The First-Time Manager by Loren B. Belker 4. Conscious Business: How to Build Value through Values 5. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
on “Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?” ↗…disagreements very differently (i.e. tease out differences in scope, rather than prove someone "wrong". Which they're not. Because "Everyone is always right"). Or as Patrick Lencioni says in his excellent book "Five Dysfunctions of a Team": don't aim for consensus, aim for buy-in.
on “Thoughts on why sometimes programming/software engineering discussions suck” ↗