[MagicAndi]

This article is actually argung that instead of a team leader, we need both a mediator, and a healthy and productive software team. The later aren't that common in my experience, and I've found that those that do exist are typically formed around a strong senior developer, i.e. the team leader that this article argues against. Productive teams may not need a team leader forever, but I suspect they do need one in order to come about.