This is a summary of the book titled “Smart Teams: How to move from friction to flow and work better together” written by Dermot Crowley and Wiley in 2023. The author recognizes the premise as one of reduced productivity in modern workplaces with growing numbers of emails, meetings, attention-demanding messages, and ad hoc work for which he offers help to eliminate the “noise” and friction by getting more done on time. His help includes valuable tips on how great leaders promote a culture of “superproductivity” which requires collaboration and coordination, removal of organizational friction, fostering culture to boost productive flow, and essentially creating “smart teams” who know who to find and focus on the specific actions that matter towards this goal.

To achieve maximum productivity, a team needs proper systems and processes, enabling members to communicate, congregate, and collaborate effectively. A productivity culture is essential, and leaders should promote it within their organization. This is particularly challenging in hybrid or remote work environments, where employees often rely on email for communication. To improve productivity, leaders should address practices that impede it, such as the "death-by-meeting" orientation and eliminate unnecessary meetings.

To increase productivity, managers should address information overload, unfocused meetings, distractions, and unnecessary urgency. By ensuring smooth internal communications, reducing unfocused meetings, addressing distractions and interruptions, and fostering a "slow work" culture, employees can focus on performing better instead of merely focusing on speed.

The corporate world needs a "slow work" movement that shifts away from non-productive, speedy reactivity and towards increased focused, thoughtful responsiveness. This would slightly slow the pace of work, allowing team members to focus on performing better instead of merely faster.

Team productivity is maximized when members maximize both individual and group productivity. A selfless mindset, similar to a service mindset, aims to eliminate unproductive friction and promote cooperation. Leaders can boost productivity by avoiding disruptive behavior and becoming "superproductive." Building smart teams involves working well together and agreeing on productive behaviors. To increase productivity, team members should practice four individual behaviors: being purposeful, mindful, punctual, and reliable.

Purposeful teams focus on understanding the team's goals and priorities, while mindful teams focus on minimizing friction and promoting workflow. Punctuality is crucial in the US Navy, as it ensures timely completion of tasks. Reliability is essential for team members to trust each other and prioritize their obligations. These behaviors can significantly impact team productivity and contribute to the overall success of the organization.

A positive change in a team's culture depends on specific actions, not amorphous principles. Purposeful, mindful, punctual, and reliable team members can eliminate friction and lag time that can drain productivity. To adjust the team's culture, members must embrace the inherent value of productivity and delineate their specific productivity principles. Cooperation is essential for high-performing teams, and team members must cultivate an active mindset to weigh work requirements and respond to urgent requests.

Urgency rules, everywhere, are crucial for effective communication. Limiting emails to essential information and using direct conversations can help reduce noise and improve productivity. A team must develop its productivity culture by following guidelines such as "primum non nocere," "lead from the front," "remember that you are always on show," and "create projects for the team to rally around."

To cut costs and boost productivity, take a long and careful look around your organization and identify productivity impediments. By implementing these strategies, you can create a more productive and efficient team.