One of the most stressful projects I ever worked on had a really great way of dealing with the stress (a policy that I created).
Every meeting, at the beginning of the meeting, everybody was required to complain for 5 minutes. Just talk about all the stupid decisions that got us to this point, how unreasonable the timeline was, any staffing issues you were having, any parts you needed, etc. 5 minutes. You are required to complain.
It helped a LOT, and almost a decade later when I interact with that team, we still all look back glowingly on that practice as something good.
It was a tense project, and that "you have to complain for 5 minutes" completely broke all of the tension, and let us all work together effectively. If we hadn't implemented that policy, we might not have finished the project on time.
There's a subtle distinction that I don't think the article addressed very well.
One thing is doing something like: I know I am angry at you, my reasons are very clear to me, and now, without adding to my understanding of them, I am going to yell at you for 15 minutes, loudly.
Another is doing this: not really being sure what you're anxious or angry about, so talking about it to explore your muddled thoughts and figure it out, in a regular to soft voice.
I can see how they flow into each other and too much of the second inevitably becomes the first. But when capped (like at 5 minutes) - appropriately modulated (not yelling anger) - in a group context (further modulating the emotions) - you could arguably get the benefits of the 2nd without the downsides of the 1st.
It also depends on what kind of challenges the team faces in the first place. If there are a lot of issues stemming from faceless corporate policies or bugs in external tools or something then venting about these things for a few minutes every meeting could be good team building. If the challenges involve each other or an adjacent manager or something though even 5 minutes could get mean spirited quickly.
How did you make sure that no one would complain that "Bob was an idiot who kept breaking the build", or "Alice never does her code reviews and blocks everyone"?
If you identify a problem, the person responsible will (usually) know you're talking about them, and may even appreciate that you're not calling them out in front of the team.
If necessary, you can always reach out to them one-on-one afterwards.
Every meeting, at the beginning of the meeting, everybody was required to complain for 5 minutes. Just talk about all the stupid decisions that got us to this point, how unreasonable the timeline was, any staffing issues you were having, any parts you needed, etc. 5 minutes. You are required to complain.
It helped a LOT, and almost a decade later when I interact with that team, we still all look back glowingly on that practice as something good.
It was a tense project, and that "you have to complain for 5 minutes" completely broke all of the tension, and let us all work together effectively. If we hadn't implemented that policy, we might not have finished the project on time.