Margaret, thank you for taking the time to comment with your excellent observation.

It's hard to separate out cause and effect. I believe the reason my team has been together this long is because we are allowed to self-organize, manage our workload, and implement GOOD solutions to business problems - rather than being forced to deliver quick and dirty hacks. We get so much satisfaction from our work, and from being respected by the business. So I feel it's not the fact that we've been together this long that made us successful - though being together this long allows us to do more and go faster - it's the fact that we were allowed to be successful that kept us together.

Too many companies are continually re-organizing teams and never allow teams time to jell, that's for sure.