Team-oriented software development has become somewhat infantilized, and it's a worrying trend that keeps showing up in our society, in general. We need to sto

Team-oriented software development has become somewhat infantilized, and it's a worrying trend that keeps showing up in our society, in general. We need to stop approaching team development with the expectation that one or more team members will need checking up on because they're goofing off too much or not working on what they're supposed to be working on. Professional software development is a career, and we should be able to start all employer <-> employee relationships with the expectation that a) we're all adults, and will treat each other accordingly, and b) we're all, ultimately, responsible for our own work and the work of the team. If someone repeatedly demonstrates that they can't execute in this fashion, then they're gone. There's simply too much to do, and dragging the entire team down to the level of the least-responsible member is ridiculous. You're better off just distributing the extra work among existing team members. For example: want the team to bond and communicate ? Ditch the daily meetings, and every Friday take the team out for a meandering late work lunch where everyone talks about the week, what they're working on, the overall project, etc. Any other time, everyone knows where the other team members are working - if there's something that you need, you ask in the least-intrusive way possible, depending upon how busy the other team member is and the importance of your task.