5 Foolproof Ways to Wreck Your Software Team

The counter-point to my 3 Characteristics of a High-Performing Software Team. I have never worked in a company that operates this way, but I know plenty of people do.

What happens when a team is bogged down by hierarchy, bureaucracy, and poor decision-making?

Strict Hierarchy & Upward Decision-Making

What Happens?

  • Decisions are centralised at the top - leaders with little exposure to the actual work dictate technical and process decisions.

  • Engineers are excluded from decision-making and expected to follow orders rather than contribute ideas.

  • Bureaucratic approval processes mean even small changes require sign-off from multiple layers of management.

Why it's a problem

  • Decisions are made without context, often leading to poorly informed choices.

  • By the time leadership approves something, the problem has already changed - but the team is still stuck implementing an outdated decision.

  • Engineers feel disempowered and disengaged, reducing motivation and slowing innovation.


Lack of Ownership & Accountability

What Happens?

  • Developers execute tasks without real ownership, resulting in work that meets minimum requirements but lacks long-term thinking.

  • No one owns bugs, security issues, and performance problems - responsibility is passed around rather than addressed.

  • Instead of "you build it, you own it", the mentality becomes "not my problem".

Why it's a problem

  • Code quality deteriorates, leading to growing technical debt that slows future development.

  • Problems are ignored or covered up rather than proactively solved.

  • Without ownership, developers lose pride in their work, leading to a demotivated and passive team.


Slow, Inefficient Decision-Making

What Happens?

  • Multiple layers of management must sign off on every small decision before the team can act.

  • Engineers spend more time writing justification documents than actually building and improving software.

  • A culture of process over progress means even obvious improvements take weeks or months to implement.

Why it's a problem

  • The team loses agility, missing out on opportunities to innovate and react to changing business needs.

  • Engineers stop taking initiative because they know everything will be blocked by red tape.

  • By the time an idea is approved, the industry and customer needs have moved on - but the team is stuck implementing something outdated.


Siloed Teams & Poor Communication

What Happens?

  • Communication flows one way - top-down. Engineers are expected to execute without questioning.

  • Different teams (e.g. frontend, backend, IT Ops) barely talk to each other, leading to misalignment.

  • Information is hoarded rather than shared, resulting in duplication of work and inefficiency.

Why it's a problem

  • Teams work in isolation, leading to integration issues, wasted effort, and inconsistent user experiences.

  • Reinventing the wheel - teams build similar solutions separately instead of collaborating.

  • A lack of transparency means small misunderstandings escalate into major blockers.


No Psychological Safety = Fear-Based Culture

What Happens?

  • Engineers are afraid to speak up, question decisions, or challenge bad practices for fear of blame.

  • Mistakes are punished, not treated as learning opportunities.

  • People default to playing it safe, following rigid processes instead of thinking critically about the best approach.

Why it's a problem

  • Talented engineers leave - the best people want to be in an environment where they can grow and contribute.

  • Teams avoid innovation - if failure isn’t tolerated, no one takes risks.

  • The business misses out on potential breakthroughs because engineers are too afraid to push boundaries.


The End Result? A Dysfunctional Team That Ships Poor Software

Instead of empowered engineers solving real problems, you get a bureaucratic machine stuck in slow motion. The best developers quit, product quality declines, and users suffer.


How to Fix It?

Empower teams – push decision-making closer to the work.

Encourage ownership – foster a "you build it, you own it" mindset.

Eliminate unnecessary approvals – reduce friction in decision-making.

Break silos – foster cross-functional collaboration.

Build trust – create a culture where engineers feel safe to experiment and improve.

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