Email the Author
You can use this page to email Vincent VAUBAN about TeamBOK: Team Body Of Knowledge.
About the Book
TeamBOK: Team Body Of Knowledge is a practical field guide for anyone who wants to be a better teammate, not just a better “individual contributor”.
Instead of abstract theory or generic advice, this book distills 100 concrete lessons about how real teams actually work: how they’re formed, how they get stuck, and what you can do tomorrow to make yours a bit more effective, safer, and more enjoyable to be in.
You’ll find ideas on:
- Team basics & foundations – what really makes a team (vs a group), faultlines, interdependence, feedback, basic rules of the game.
- Diversity & composition – personality, culture, faultlines, language, and why “diversity” can both help and hurt.
- Structure, roles & norms – charters, team roles, norms, meetings, and how to avoid over-managing.
- Goals, motivation & performance – goal-setting, accountability, evaluation, and staying focused on results.
- Conflict & difficult behaviors – social loafing, differing expectations, graded assertiveness, and how to argue without breaking the team.
- Communication & listening – listening skills, questions, common information effect, and how to keep quieter voices included.
- Leadership & networks – leading in organizations and networks, information asymmetry, and when to use substance vs process.
The book is designed for busy people: each lesson fits on a few pages, with a clear idea, short explanation, and often a reference to the underlying research. You don’t need to read it cover to cover.
You can:
- Dip into the chapter that matches your current pain point (conflict, meetings, roles, etc.).
- Skim lesson titles, pick one that resonates, and apply it to your team right away.
The difficulty level is “medium”: accessible for non-managers and non-specialists, but grounded enough for leads, managers, and coaches who want more than slogans. You’ll see both research-based insights and field-tested heuristics coming from years of working in software teams and cross-functional environments.
This is not a book about becoming a “hero leader”. It’s a book about becoming a more reliable teammate: someone who understands how teams really function, who can navigate conflict, contribute to psychological safety, and help the group deliver better results together.
About the Author
Vincent Vauban is a senior software engineer and consultant with over 15 years of experience working in and with cross-functional teams in the tech industry. As a Java/Spring specialist, he has spent most of his career building backend systems, mentoring developers, and helping teams deliver complex projects under real-world constraints.
Beyond coding, Vincent is a teacher at heart. He is the creator of several popular online courses on Java and Spring certification, where thousands of students have learned not only the technology, but also how to think and work like professionals in a team environment.
Over the years, Vincent became increasingly convinced that technical skill is not enough: the real differentiator is how people collaborate—how they handle conflict, give feedback, share information, and align around a common goal. TeamBOK: Team Body Of Knowledge is his attempt to capture the lessons, models, and little “aha” moments that helped him become a better teammate, tech lead, and collaborator, distilled into 100 practical, research-informed notes for everyday teamwork.