Teamily

Teamily is more than a company. It’s an expression of what we believe to be important. Thank you for coming here and taking the time to read up on what is behind the organization.

The intent

We started with intent. We wanted to create something that solves a problem today and will be useful for when our children grow up. We didn't want to write a book and talk about a vision or an idea. We wanted to create something that actually takes people by the hand and gets them better results. Create something with lasting and tangible value.

Around us, we saw (and still see) many teams struggling. Trying to work hard to get results but not succeeding. They are lost with too many individuals in the team. Each with diverging drives and no map to direct them where to go and what to do. We saw teams being forced by their impeded reality to accept mediocre results. We called this project waste. And what a waste of human potential that is. What if we could fix that?

 

For months we studied and talked to people about change management, innovation, organizational theory, lean, agile, scrum, Theory U, psychology, biology, even eastern philosophy. We reflected on our own experience of working in the midst of innovation. We reflected on how we worked with teams. How we worked ourselves.

Eventually, we saw a pattern emerge that explains what change is and how people work in change. A pattern for how people organize themselves in teams and collaborate to make change through projects.

The vision

We found that we were able to slice up change or to put it more clearly: divide projects into distinct challenges and we found that for each of them we had a matching psychological profile. We found that every type of person has a role to play in a change process, in a project. And even better, because these are roles it would mean that everyone could “play” a role. Some roles may be harder to play than others depending on how they fit you yet anyone can play any role. You just need to know when to play it.

What we found was an inclusive model. Not one that only works with the “best” and makes them better. No, it would work for everyone and would foster resourcefulness. Independent of schooling, skill level, or experience. We found a way to help people do more than they ever thought possible.

The way to create the right context and guide people through the challenges using roles would be by using technology. Technology is there to serve us, augment us to become better. Let’s use it to create a tool, a scalable guide that helps many people tap into their resourcefulness and together be able to do more than they ever thought possible. Our vision for the solution was born. Audacious, scary yet somehow also very important to do.

We quickly realized that this vision would not come close to being realized by us alone. Help was needed to fill the blanks. We asked Gawin Dapper and Matthijs Draijer to join. They said yes and the founding team was born.

The learning

Using the code name CLOCK we started testing and refining the idea with people, teams, and startups around us. The first prototypes were built and released. We received encouraging feedback and discovered we were able to help teams. People wanted more. The most pull we experienced with large organizations. They are looking for lightweight and smart ways to help people and teams achieve more.

The manifestation

The experience and lessons in the field enabled us to start working on what is Teamily today. We chose the name to reflect the essence of what we do: we work for teams. In June 2016 we launched the product as you know it today: A tool for teams that guides them through the project challenges and driver changes. Teamily is built to work with what is available, it facilitates collaboration and fosters resourcefulness.

The mission

In the next five years we will see a massive change from work organized through traditional jobs (static systems) to work organized through roles (in dynamic projects).  We see a new class of “teams” emerge where people connect on shared dependencies (problems/passions) and have no idea yet on how to solve it or what to create. They operate autonomously.

Newly assembled teams lack an operating structure to immediately function as a self steering team. They fail with their efforts because of unclarity in roles and responsibilities, indecisiveness and unclarity on priorities.

Organizations lack a Teamarchy; A scalable structure in which autonomous teams can be formed and can work effectively. Teamily fixes this by offering an alternative structure in which teams can instantly operate together; an operating system for autonomous teams.