At the moment I’m part of a really great team. We don’t even have a proper backlog, but it still works, because we have common long-term and short-term goals and a very clear shared vision.
However, in 2010, we already had teams, too. Well, “teams”. Teams in the name only. See, back in 2010 we were still siloed. The “teams” were actually just a bunch of people sitting in the same room, doing similar things. We would say “backend team” although everyone in the group build and maintained their own system. To say it with Shakespeare:
Sharing a room doth not a team make.
A team has a common goal. Team members help each other reach this goal. None of the members has an individual goal more important than reaching the team’s goal. If there’s no common goal, don’t call them “team”. Call them “group”. Thank you!