How to motivate (and avoid demotivating) teams

I agree that measurement is an outstanding way to build a team. But, it is not a goal onto itself. Overarching the measurement needs to be a clear purpose.

This may seem insanely obvious, but sharing a single set of common goals can be really powerful and it is often surprising, but common, when you dig into a team to find no single vision or goal. The devs are concentrating on feature X, the sales people are selling future Y, the product people are planning feature Z. A single goal for the day/week/month can be revolutionary to a team used to working their own skills in isolation.

Hey guys - by no means does this post profess to be comprehensive, so I'm hoping to stimulate a larger discussion around this issue. Anybody who works in software should be able to relate on some level...

Thanks in advance!