Team Branding

Since the dawn of Humanity tribes used the contemporary concept of “branding”. The tribe had its own dress-code, totems, songs, dances, icons and signs. Branding allowed them to claim their territory and enjoy a secure sense of belonging. It led to stronger tribal bonding that increased their chance of survival in the wild.

Nothing much changed in modern corporates. Same concept. The modern businesses use branding to secure their competitive position.

But why stop there?

Agile teams around the globe perhaps instinctively employ similar tools in order to strengthen member bonding and team presence. The coffee meeting surely is a tribal meeting, so as having a geeky team name and logo.

One aspect of team branding however may not be so obvious and that is its effect on Engagement. I strongly feel the security provided by tribal bonding has a big effect on Engagement.

Letting the team continuously maintain and strengthen their branding can be a smart win for the organisation. Let them have a newsletter, let them have a billboard, let them have t-shirts with team logos, let them organise meet-ups, hackathons and watch how heavily they will be engaged.

A4

I have a little trade secret to share with you. Whenever I need to communicate my ideas on a printed medium, I use a single sheet of A4 page, and only on one side.

The most frequently used paper size is A4 measuring 210 by 297 millimetres.

The significant advantage of A system is its scaling: Folded brochures of any size can be made by using sheets of the next larger size, e.g. A4 sheets are folded to make A5 brochures.

But there is something else in A4.

A4 is a meme, it simply evolved with modern human.

In addition to scaling advantages I think A4 evolved to be the most frequently used paper size, because a single sheet of it is the most efficient medium to convey ideas.

Not too big, not too small, elegantly scaled.

Next time you have an idea, try fitting it into an A4 sheet, and I guarantee you it will be read by majority of people.

Exceed an A4 page by one line, or use a different paper size, you will have less people reading it.

I call it Natural Selection.