Created by: Christopher T. Miller / c@ctmiller.net
Last Updated: Sunday, 21. July 2019
Licensed under: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ -- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
Github: https://github.com/grueproof/teamcharter
By the end of this 6-7 hour workshop, your should have a team charter with the following components:
- A purpose statement
- A set of meeting norms
- A list of team responsibilities, as statements
- A set of team goals and measurements for which the agrees they will be held accountable
- A set of ground rules for day-to-day actions and decision making.
- One pad of Post-It easel paper (for sticking post-its to and sticking on wall around room
- Several yellow post-it pads
- Several black sharpies
- "Avery" colored dots (for focusing)
- A laptop for drafting final results
- coffee, snacks, lunch
- A large whiteboard with dry-erase makers (for notes, distilling)
Break the group into groups of two, or if the team is too small, do this individually:
On a scale of 1-5, (1 = weak, 3=satisfactory, 5=Strong) rate where you feel the team is on these factors:
- Results "Are we delivering the most valuable thing consistently?"
- Commitment "Are we bonded as a team? Do we work together well? Are we committed to doing our best work together?"
- Process "Are our meetings providing value? Are we hitting our deadlines? Do we understand how work is to be completed? Are we efficient and focused?"
- Communication "Are there conflicts in the team? Is everyone participating in discussions? Are we open to everyones' opinions and ideas?"
- Trust "Is the team working from a place of mutual respect? Do people feel they can ask for help? Can we trust one another to bring our best work to the table?"
Give everyone about ten minutes to rate these, and jot down their thoughts. At the end of ten minutes, ask each group to write their ratings on the board, and discuss why they rated each item as they did. Display all the ratings, focusing on how alike or different people feel about where the team is. Record this matrix for later.
The above section is your before metric. After a few months, you'll want to do this exercise again with the team after the team charter in in place.
Each of these topics relates to a different part of the charter. The rest of the day will break down each of these topics into a set of brainstorms and focusing sessions. The charter you craft will fine tune each of these subjects.
- Purpose Statement - Results, Commitment
- Meeting Norms - Communication, Commitment, Results, Trust, Process
- Responsibilities - Commitment, Results
- Team Goals and Measures - Results, Process, Commitment
- Ground Rules - Trust, Communication, Process
For ten minutes, do a post-it note brainstorming session focusing on the following questions:
"Who are our stakeholders? What are our deliverables? What do those deliverables enable?"
Using colored dot stickers, ask the team to dot the following.
- Red: Most important things (2-3 stickers)
- Green: Most exciting things (2 stickers)
- Blue: Most difficult things (2 stickers)
Have the team group the items by subject, and record on new post-its the subjects. You will use these later.
For ten minutes, do a post-it note brainstorming session focusing on the following questions:
"What is is that we do that no one else can? What would new people need to know when joining us?"
Using colored dot stickers, ask the team to dot the following.
- Red: Most important things (2-3 stickers)
- Green: Most empowering things (2 stickers)
- Blue: Most difficult things (2 stickers)
Have the team group the items by subject, and record on new post-its the subjects. You will use these later.
Set these aside for later.
For ten minutes, do a post-it note brainstorming session focusing on the follow question:
"What are our rules for working together? In a perfect world, what is our perfect working state. What would encourage us to stay engaged?"
Using colored dot stickers, ask the team to dot the following.
- Red: Most important things we do (2-3 stickers)
- Green: Most exciting things we do (2 stickers)
- Blue: Most difficult things we do (2 stickers)
Have the team group the items by subject, and record on new post-its the subjects. You will use these later.
Set these aside for later.
For ten minutes, do a post-it note brainstorming session focusing on the follow question:
"In a perfect world, how does work happen? What are our steps to completion? What is 'done?'"
Using colored dot stickers, ask the team to dot the following.
- Red: Most important things (2-3 stickers)
- Green: Most empowering things (2 stickers)
- Blue: Most difficult things we do (2 stickers)
Have the team group the items by subject, and record on new post-its the subjects. You will use these later.
Set these aside for later.
For ten minutes, do a post-it note brainstorming session focusing on the following questions:
"What venues and mediums will we use to communicate with people inside the team? What venues and mediums will we use to communication with people outside the team?"
Using colored dot stickers, ask the team to dot the following.
- Red: Most important things (2-3 stickers)
- Green: Most educational/informational things (2 stickers)
- Blue: Most difficult things (2 stickers)
Have the team group the items by subject, and record on new post-its the subjects. You will use these later.
Set these aside for later.
For ten minutes, do a post-it note brainstorming session focusing on the following questions:
"How can we best share both information and emotions amongst the team? How will we manage times of high stress? What are our signals? How can we be inclusive and supportive of one another?"
Using colored dot stickers, ask the team to dot the following.
- Red: Most important things (2-3 stickers)
- Green: Most impactful things (2 stickers)
- Blue: Most difficult things (2 stickers)
Have the team group the items by subject, and record on new post-its the subjects. You will use these later.
Set these aside for later.
Remember all those subject headings you set aside for later? Here is where we use them.
Take all of those subjects and post them where they can be seen. Put up another set of blank sheets for brainstorm. Ask the team to look as all the subjects they have put up and work to distill what their core values are as a team. The goal is to group as many subjects under named values as makes sense. If some things don't fit, don’t force them. Just set them aside. Later, discuss how those things work in, or should they be left behind?
Put the core values on a single sheet and put them up where they can be referenced during the charter drafting phase.
When creating the purpose statement, start it with "The purpose of the $TeamName is..." and complete the sentence with specific and accountable language. Using adjectives is encouraged.
Bad: The purpose of the team is to write the software the business asked for. Good: The purpose of the team is to craft quality, scalable software solutions using cutting edge technology that will support the goals of our clients and customers.
It's possible to embed a strategy here, as well. Example:
The purpose of the team is to craft quality, scalable software solutions using cutting edge technology that will support the goals of our clients and customers. We will do this by adhering to the processes and norms outlined in this charter, with an understand that we will revisit the document quarterly to revise as needed.
The goal for meeting norms is to outline which meetings and communications are mandatory for the team. These can be individual bullet points, like so:
- A daily standup to be held Monday-Thursday
- An estimation scheduled every day but only used when team members have new work to discuss and review
- A retrospective to review team process (as opposed to project retros) to be held one a month.
- Outings at Sully's Irish Pub as needed.
These should be relatively specific and zero in on what makes this team unique. If you work in a large enterprise with a huge development department, you should focus on the pieces that this team can do which no one else is equipped for.
Examples:
- We will work with our business partners to craft solutions that surprise and delight our customers.
- We accept ownership of the SDLC, and will adhere and modify it as needed to provide the best value.
- We will take security seriously and will hold ourselves to a high standard.
The goals and measures should shift from year to year, depending on how your company sets goals for the department. You should create goals that support not only the company values but also (and especially) the team values. By doing this, you bind together the two sets of goals and the team will better understand how what they value and do every day will contribute to the company's success.
Ground Rules should be written in whatever voice the team relates to best. Try not to violate any HR rules, but keep it informal. Buisness-speak here will actually erode trust if done poorly.
Examples:
- Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
- Deal in facts, not stress
- Bring your whole self to the office
- No heroes
- Raise the red, yellow, or white flag early.
These should convey meaning for the team...it's not important that those outside the team may not understand these. The team can explain when asked, and that conversation is healthy. These should trigger those conversations.
Once you've drafted the document, the exercise is complete. However, encourage the team in the coming days to create a fun and aesthetically pleasing version of the document to be hung in cube or in a common area. They should feel liek they own it.
Review this with the team regularly. Make revisions. Get feedback. Share with new hires, and ask for their input. Keep it alive, or else it will become just another piece of background noise that your team will filter out.
If you find this useful, drop me a line and let me know how it is working for you. If you have suggestions, email me or leave feedback on the github repo.
Thanks!