diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/teams/management/commands/reindex_course_team.py b/lms/djangoapps/teams/management/commands/reindex_course_team.py
index 706ff3096a..92c764f16c 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/teams/management/commands/reindex_course_team.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/teams/management/commands/reindex_course_team.py
@@ -52,10 +52,10 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
         from ...search_indexes import CourseTeamIndexer
 
         if options['all']:
-            if len(options['course_team_ids']) > 0:
+            if options['course_team_ids']:
                 raise CommandError('Course teams cannot be specified when --all is also specified')
         else:
-            if len(options['course_team_ids']) == 0:
+            if not options['course_team_ids']:
                 raise CommandError('At least one course_team_id or --all needs to be specified')
 
         if not settings.FEATURES.get('ENABLE_TEAMS', False):
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/teams/models.py b/lms/djangoapps/teams/models.py
index 67cfc6219f..fc4cf8525d 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/teams/models.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/teams/models.py
@@ -101,6 +101,8 @@ class CourseTeam(models.Model):
 
     .. no_pii:
     """
+    def __unicode__(self):
+        return '[CourseTeam id={}]'.format(self.team_id)
 
     class Meta(object):
         app_label = "teams"
@@ -188,6 +190,9 @@ class CourseTeamMembership(models.Model):
     .. no_pii:
     """
 
+    def __unicode__(self):
+        return "[CourseTeamMembership user={}, team={}]".format(self.user, self.team)
+
     class Meta(object):
         app_label = "teams"
         unique_together = (('user', 'team'),)
@@ -223,7 +228,7 @@ class CourseTeamMembership(models.Model):
                     )
         super(CourseTeamMembership, self).__setattr__(name, value)
 
-    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
+    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):  # pylint: disable=arguments-differ
         """Customize save method to set the last_activity_at if it does not
         currently exist. Also resets the team's size if this model is
         being created.
@@ -237,7 +242,7 @@ class CourseTeamMembership(models.Model):
         if should_reset_team_size:
             self.team.reset_team_size()
 
-    def delete(self, *args, **kwargs):
+    def delete(self, *args, **kwargs):  # pylint: disable=arguments-differ
         """Recompute the related team's team_size after deleting a membership"""
         super(CourseTeamMembership, self).delete(*args, **kwargs)
         self.team.reset_team_size()
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/teams/serializers.py b/lms/djangoapps/teams/serializers.py
index 150f58e5ef..3b6d8949e1 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/teams/serializers.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/teams/serializers.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ class CountryField(serializers.Field):
 
     COUNTRY_CODES = list(dict(countries).keys())
 
-    def to_representation(self, obj):
+    def to_representation(self, obj):  # pylint: disable=arguments-differ
         """
         Represent the country as a 2-character unicode identifier.
         """
@@ -165,14 +165,14 @@ class MembershipSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
         read_only_fields = ("date_joined", "last_activity_at")
 
 
-class BaseTopicSerializer(serializers.Serializer):
+class BaseTopicSerializer(serializers.Serializer):  # pylint: disable=abstract-method
     """Serializes a topic without team_count."""
     description = serializers.CharField()
     name = serializers.CharField()
     id = serializers.CharField()  # pylint: disable=invalid-name
 
 
-class TopicSerializer(BaseTopicSerializer):
+class TopicSerializer(BaseTopicSerializer):  # pylint: disable=abstract-method
     """
     Adds team_count to the basic topic serializer, checking if team_count
     is already present in the topic data, and if not, querying the CourseTeam
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ class BulkTeamCountTopicListSerializer(serializers.ListSerializer):  # pylint: d
     List serializer for efficiently serializing a set of topics.
     """
 
-    def to_representation(self, obj):
+    def to_representation(self, obj):  # pylint: disable=arguments-differ
         """Adds team_count to each topic. """
         data = super(BulkTeamCountTopicListSerializer, self).to_representation(obj)
         add_team_count(data, self.context["course_id"])
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/teams/tests/test_models.py b/lms/djangoapps/teams/tests/test_models.py
index a78a2eb3fd..3a41ae370e 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/teams/tests/test_models.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/teams/tests/test_models.py
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ class TeamSignalsTest(EventTestMixin, SharedModuleStoreTestCase):
 
     DISCUSSION_TOPIC_ID = 'test_topic'
 
-    def setUp(self):
+    def setUp(self):  # pylint: disable=arguments-differ
         """Create a user with a team to test signals."""
         super(TeamSignalsTest, self).setUp('lms.djangoapps.teams.utils.tracker')
         self.user = UserFactory.create(username="user")
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/teams/views.py b/lms/djangoapps/teams/views.py
index bf95e1a532..9cda3afd40 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/teams/views.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/teams/views.py
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ class TeamsDashboardView(GenericAPIView):
             "team_memberships_url": reverse('team_membership_list', request=request),
             "my_teams_url": reverse('teams_list', request=request),
             "team_membership_detail_url": reverse('team_membership_detail', args=['team_id', user.username]),
-            "languages": [[lang[0], _(lang[1])] for lang in settings.ALL_LANGUAGES],
+            "languages": [[lang[0], _(lang[1])] for lang in settings.ALL_LANGUAGES],  # pylint: disable=translation-of-non-string
             "countries": list(countries),
             "disable_courseware_js": True,
             "teams_base_url": reverse('teams_dashboard', request=request, kwargs={'course_id': course_id}),
@@ -885,7 +885,7 @@ class TopicDetailView(APIView):
 
         topics = [t for t in course_module.teams_topics if t['id'] == topic_id]
 
-        if len(topics) == 0:
+        if not topics:
             return Response(status=status.HTTP_404_NOT_FOUND)
 
         serializer = TopicSerializer(topics[0], context={'course_id': course_id})