There are moments in the lifecycle of a project – quiet, almost undetectable ones – that act as inflection points. Not the big set-piece go-live days, with all the nervous Splunk-watching that entails. Not the kick-offs, not the design sign-offs. Just those little glimmers of “Oh, this is actually working.”
One of those glimmers happened today.
We’re a relatively new team, starting to build a new product, led by me – still only eight weeks into the role.
Four of us had been mobbing remotely on a Teams call for a couple of hours. It had been going reasonably well. Still not slick – there isn’t yet the easy familiarity that comes with an established team working on a more mature solution. Everything is new, and so even the smallest tasks seem to mothball into architectural decisions.
It was getting close to lunchtime when Alex piped up: “We’ve got a check-in call with the wider team at one o’clock, haven’t we? Shall we demo something? I can show this function running on my machine.”
Warren followed up immediately: “Sure, I can demonstrate how we’re using Docker to stand up a local development and testing environment” – a crucial unblocker to productivity.
I was so pleased. We had things to show. And more importantly: the team wanted to show them.
No nudging, no awkward silences. The team didn’t just understand what we were building – they were proud of it. It was one of those rare moments where team ownership flickered into full flame. And for the first time on this particular phase of work, it felt like we were truly collaborating. Not just assembling code under duress, but actively teasing out a solution together. Exploring patterns. Testing boundaries. Seeking quality. Wanting to show it off.
It’s easy to overlook these moments. Especially when you’re in a leadership role, wrestling with impostor syndrome and second-guessing your every suggestion. Am I overthinking this solution design? Should we be pairing more? Am I supposed to be directing, actively coding, or just unblocking? Why can’t I find the perfect agile structure to fit this particular team, this particular week?
But then someone volunteers to demo. And another follows. And you realise that the structure matters far less than the culture.
When the team is engaged, curious, psychologically safe, and invested in the outcome, the ceremonies can be perfunctory and the methods loose. What matters is the shared ownership – the willingness to show your work not because it’s finished, but because it’s meaningful.
So no, today wasn’t a launch day. It wasn’t even a big milestone.
But it was a moment I’ll remember – a quiet reminder that progress isn’t just measured in story points or deployables. Sometimes it’s in the confidence of a teammate saying: “Shall I go first?”