This weekend the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015 started in Alicante Spain. Seven teams will compete for a year in the Mount Everest of sailing competitions. This year the setup has significantly changed. All teams use the same boat and sails. All boats are maintained by the same company.  In earlier editions the team with the biggest budget would be the winner. In this edition the best team with the best navigation skills will be the winner. One more interesting fact of this edition is Team SCA. This all women team has been training for months and has one Dutch sailor; Carolein Brouwer. Next Bouwe Bekking is leading Team Brunel. This Dutch team already showed its power by leaving Alicate first in the first leg from Alicante to Cape Town.
In June 2014 I attended the Hockey World Cup in The Hague. The Dutch men and women team were top favorite. In the preparation the Dutch Men team coach Paul van Ass shares his theory on team setup and team strategy. It was fun, he used the Eneagram theory to select the team. Next he used the Chaos Theory for team strategy. Paul explained this background in a TV documentary. I enjoyed his explanation and the reaction of the players. Not all players understood Paul..
I have been inspired by the Volvo Ocean race since 2009 and other team sports and used it as a metaphor in IT-projects. Teams are key to success in IT projects. What makes teams successful and not? Is it the team members, the coach, the budget, the Google day or hackathon? This is the mean idea behind TeamUp.Support. Teams can participate in this idea and use the same tools to assess their team. Compare their assessment with the total results of the other teams. All type of teams can participate in this idea. Whether you are sport team, scrum team, support team or sales team. Please register below. Before the start of leg 2 from Cape Town you will be invited to participate in the first assessment.
