Tom Mercaldo, the president of Aquinas Consulting, was recently quoted by Functionize! The article is titled “4 lessons software teams can learn from rock and roll bands” written by Jacqueline Emigh. Emigh writes about the different ways software engineers can look to musicians when it comes to teamwork. It reads,
“‘I call this the ‘Garcia effect,’ maintains Tom Mercaldo, president of Aquinas Consulting. ‘The Grateful Dead had a unique style of developing music. One band member would say, ‘I am going to do this on the drums,’ and the next would say, ‘I am going to do this on the guitar,’ and then the next would say, ‘Why don’t you try this on the bass?’ And the music they were playing would evolve until it sounded nothing like where they started,’ says Mercaldo.”
Mercaldo started out his career in IT and software, so he understands the give and take that is necessary when working on a software team with the goal of highlighting the strengths of each member. By allowing each person to create parts of the software in their own way while also being open to the suggestions of their teammates, the software team will end up with a finished product that is better than any of them could have made on their own. These concepts can be carried over to any team. At Aquinas Consulting, we encourage these collaborative ideas between recruiters and account managers. Employees are encouraged to figure out what unique strengths they bring to the table when working together as well as being open to the ideas of their colleagues.
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