Interesting. I was trying to think of any controversies due to "heretical" thoughts. We really haven't had any. (So maybe you are right!) We have our nerd-fights about say, rspec vs minitest, or estimating techniques, but not much beyond that. All of us lead pretty well, when we need to, and follow well when someone else is leading.

Regarding diversity, I actually think we're pretty diverse. Our 8 developers include:

1 Indian, 1 Palestinian

1 woman

2 overweight but not obese

2 introverts, 1 strong extrovert, 3 mild extroverts

1 M.A., 1 M.S. working on his PhD. 2 high school drop outs.

2 Textmate, 6 vim

1 under age 30, 3 over age 40

1 ex-con, 1 former jazz musician

4 married with children

3 prefer dogs, 4 cats

Apparently, though, we all like to mountain climb.