Ideal team in 3 words

In 3 words: responsible, motivated, creative. I have worked on teams in both work and school situations and, honestly, I almost always dread it. Inevitably, the team suffers (and therefore the project suffers) because one or more team members do not want to work, habitually submit work late, fail to communicate with others, or expect others to fix problems with their code/report/spreadsheet/etc... Sometimes these issues are explainable because of interference from other commitments, work schedule, etc. However, in general, I see a trend where a few group members do most of the work. To me, those 3 words mean:

1. Responsible: showing up on time, making sure their code is tested and well-documented, and willing to own up to their mistakes and learn from them.
2. Motivated: taking the initiative, going above and beyond the minimum requirements.
3. Creative: contributing ideas and suggestions that will help the project improve and finding solutions to problems.

I think a team composed of members that can at least generally adhere to the above three descriptions will be able to accomplish their project goals and be able to improve on the original project concept.

Three other words that I would have included if I could: hardworking, detail-oriented, and honest. Having a team that is hardworking is important for getting all the tasks completed on time. This could also be interpreted as a willingness to work since, without that, very little would get done. I know "detail-oriented" is probably a completely over-used term, but I feel it is an important characteristic of any good programmer since you not only have to look at the "big picture" but you also have to pay attention to small things (tweaking code to make it better, performing thorough testings, etc.) that are also important to the overall success of the project. Finally, having a team that is honest is also a key attribute in my mind. By honesty, I mean being straightforward in communicating with others and being willing to report any problems. Any team that lacks honesty is going to suffer from issues that arise when members refuse to voice their thoughts or refuse to report a problem when they first see it. Any of these things could cause a setback in the project with regard to both time and money.