I love working with  a good design team - when they’re on a roll, the buzz spreads out to infect everyone around them.  Their chosen field doesn’t seem to matter; information systems, electronics, automotive, office furniture, graphics - good designers all seem to have this ability to excite.  But how do you assemble a great design team? US designer Michael Roller describes the essential personality traits needed.

• The Evangelist - “… The Evangelist focuses on design at the highest level, developing strategies and processes that push the limits of design and business as a whole. Contextual thinking helps him understand how design fits into a larger business plan… he loves to push the boundaries and question assumptions of the products and categories he leads. The Evangelist … may even lead activities that feel counterproductive to more analytical thinkers…“
• The Conductor - “… The Conductor’s analytical mind helps her to ensure that no detail goes unconsidered. Like directing an orchestra, she brings together all the little details into harmony, making sure everything has been figured out and nothing taken for granted. She probably has the highest standards of any designer in the office and ensures that every project is top quality. Often the team doing the first 95% of the work is exhausted or checked out by the end, and the Conductor plays a key role in making the final push to finish the project right. In more corporate roles, she shepherds projects through to production and defends key design details that might otherwise be lost…”
• The Dreamer - “When analytical minds struggle with paradoxical design constraints, the Dreamer cuts through it all to offer a surprisingly fresh attitude. He avoids the technical boundaries of a project in favor of contextual experimentation. A great design team deploys Dreamers to brainstorms where blue sky thinking is necessary, and keeps them involved when the end product must push category boundaries or create brand new ones. The Dreamer becomes easily frustrated when not allowed to exercise fantasies, so don’t expect him to handle detail-oriented work or anything that is heavily constrained by technical requirements. The wild ideas he contributes won’t always become part of the final product, but the Dreamer is essential in setting the stage for innovation as well as offering an entertainment value to novelty-seeking design managers”.
• The Surgeon - “Whether it comes down to aesthetic or ergonomic excellence, so many great pieces of design rely on details… the Surgeon – an analytical thinker who cuts up and dissects design problems to find the best solutions. By definition, she breaks down a product into its components, considering the pieces of design and then reuniting them into a cohesive whole. The Surgeon isn’t always the best decision maker, because she can end up thinking in circles or frustrated by a project’s lack of clarity. When it comes to making sense of complex design problems, a Surgeon is your best bet to make sure nothing falls through the cracks“.
• The Jack of All Trades (Master of None?) - “… the Jack of All Trades might be the most talented person in your office because he can truly do everything. He leads a range of projects, solves tricky problems, and dreams up big ideas. Recent graduates make great ‘Junior Jacks’, because they can contribute on a variety of levels while they gain experience and become more aware of their greatest strengths. Don’t confuse a real Jack with someone whose strengths are not prevalent or ambiguous. In reality, the rare Jack of All Trades might not be essential to have, but will feel essential to any team that has one“.

Roller’s team profiles might easily apply to any team doing new things.  They remind me of the Myers-Briggs profiling I’ve frequently applied in recruitment and executive team assessments. I use profiling to help me and the other person(s) gain insights into their personality.  Profiling should never give you a reason to hire someone, but, along with tests of numeracy, literacy and reasoning, it may give you a reason to not hire them. (I am an ENTJ, which is just as well, given my chosen career path - or is that the other way round).
PS: Michael Roller’s website is well worth a visit, especially if you’re interested in design.