I have always seen the craft of building software as a team sport. It might be attractive to think of software development as a superstar hobby with a rocksatrv programmer driving the innovation but as I have grown older you start to see it more as a team sport.
Why? Because you fail and succeed as a team when building software, not as individuals
The team fails when the overall software product fails. If your rockstar designer ships a polished UI but your API calls keep failing, your product and team has failed. If you managed to reduce latency on all your backend calls but the user is confused while navigating the UI your product and team has failed.
Now of course developing a culture of radical candor and pushing each other to deliver better outcomes plays a big part. But just like sport teams, great management also comes down to identifying the best fit and placing team members in the best context to succeed in. Studying historically great sport teams can never be harmful for any software team trying to be great too
Experiencing being part of an excellent software or sport team is truly a magical experience. You are so excited to walk into work each day. So excited to grow and share together. Often times you don't even realise how good you have it.
There is also similarities to the other side of the coin here. Dysfunctional teams (I over we becomes predominant) often have similar characteristics seen in mediocre sport teams. Delivering the bare minimum, resentment, jealousy and low trust eats one soul and diminishes outlook towards life outside of work too. If you find yourself in such a situation, you are better off leaving and struggling on your own.
There is one feeling in sport which has always translated well in software teams. When playing a sport you always come across a player from the opposing team who is making life hell for you. There is an appreciation of sportmanship, you are thinking - Man, I wish that guy was on my team. We would be winning championships.
This guy isn't necessarily always the best player on the team, it could be a glue guy who keeps everyone motivated and focused. It could be the guy who helps in preparation and scouting. Low ego, high focus on the goal often willing to act out of his comfort zone. A good practice to ask yourself is that - do I fit this?