Sustainable Technical Team Culture: From Passive to Active Drive

For a while the author has been pondering what team culture really means, especially within engineering teams, and concludes that culture is more closely linked to personality than to role.

People can be divided into two types: actively driven (self‑motivated) and passively driven (requiring external prompts). While newcomers often exhibit high initiative, over time many become passive, which the author observes as a common trait among programmers.

Technical teams often consist largely of passive‑driven members, leading to dull meetings and limited participation, yet managers still view such teams as unhealthy and try to enforce active drive through questionable metrics like KPI‑based code volume or presentation skills.

The author likens this to education, noting that no teacher can turn an entire class into self‑learners without selecting only top students, and argues that forcing active drive is an unsustainable, anti‑human approach.

Drawing on the concept of sustainable development, the piece argues that private‑capital‑dominated tech teams behave like unsustainable systems: they prioritize short‑term output at the expense of long‑term vitality, resulting in high turnover and a cycle of replacing talent rather than nurturing it.

To achieve a sustainable team culture, the author suggests embracing diversity, allowing members of any age or background to contribute, encouraging leaders to pose problems rather than dictating solutions, and valuing thoughtful collaboration over rapid, output‑focused work.

Ultimately, the article calls on readers, especially team leaders, to reflect on whether they should continue eliminating underperforming members or instead foster an environment where gradual, collective growth is prioritized.