The above visual is one that I've used before in different contexts. This is a bit of a random thought, but I've been observing some of our Flash/Ajax developers working feverishly over the past few days. There's been a lot of activity here lately and the developers have been working on each others projects. It's not an assembly line. Each touches a part of the project—a piece of the code while another works on other parts. Sometimes it's at the same time. Other times it's not. No one has clear ownership, bugs come up and are taken down one by one. People leave their cubes to go help someone else who's hit a wall. IM's, e-mails, and impromptu "meetings" happen in rapid fashion, unplanned and spontaneously. Territories don't exist—the goal of making the launch date is everything. It's a shared goal—a purpose. QA includes not only links that work correctly but animations and design assets looking just right. Execution and fine-tuning happen simultaneously. It's organic. It's collaborative. It works.
Tip for all the executives out there. Get out of your offices every once in a while and go to where the action is. If you find yourself working in silos—ask yourself why this is. If our people in the trenches can work this way—so can we.
