Agile Team Charter

Team Charter

"The team charter is a powerful tool that helps the team stay focused, aligned, and accountable. It is a written agreement that outlines the purpose, goals, roles, and responsibilities of the team, as well as the operating principles that will guide the team's work."

(Source: "The Team Charter: A Practical Guide to Building High-Performing Teams," Project Management Institute)

The purpose of a team charter is to provide a clear and concise description of the team's purpose, goals, and operating guidelines, and to ensure that all team members understand and agree to follow these guidelines. A team charter should include:

• ?A clear statement of the team's purpose and goals
• A list of the roles and responsibilities of each team member
• A description of how the team will work together and communicate
• ?A plan for how the team will measure progress and success
• A list of any resources or support that the team will need to achieve its goals

Creating a team charter is an important step in building a strong and effective team, as it helps to establish common goals, expectations, and guidelines for working together. It can also help to reduce conflict and improve team cohesion by ensuring that all team members understand their roles and responsibilities and how they fit into the overall team dynamic.

There is no set number of sections that a team charter document must have. The specific sections and content of a team charter will depend on the needs and goals of the team, as well as the nature of the work that the team will be doing.?

Agile team charter template?

The following team charter template could be helpful for Agile teams in creating their charter.

Team Charter Remote Session

Here are a few short remote activities that you can use to facilitate a team charter session:

1. Ice breaker:

?Start the session with a fun icebreaker activity to help team members get to know each other better and build team cohesion. This could be a virtual scavenger hunt, a "two truths and a lie" game, or a "get to know your teammate" activity where each person shares a little bit about themselves.

2. ?Purpose :

During the team purpose and goal session, Team identifies the reason for existence and outlines the specific goals and objectives that the team will be working to achieve.

The Golden Circle is a framework developed by Simon Sinek that suggests that the most successful leaders and organizations start by communicating their purpose or belief (the "why"), then move on to the specific actions they take to achieve that purpose (the "how"), and finally, the products or services they offer (the "what"). According to Sinek, this way of thinking and communicating inspires others to believe in and support the organization's mission.

The Golden Circle consists of three parts:

1.?Why: This is the organization's purpose or belief, the reason why it exists, and what drives it to do what it does.

2. How: This refers to the specific actions the organization takes to achieve its purpose and fulfill its belief.

3.?What: This is the product or service that the organization offers.

Sinek argues that most organizations start with the "what" and then try to explain the "how" and "why." However, he suggests that starting with the "why" is more effective in inspiring others to believe in and support the organization's mission. By focusing on the "why," leaders can create a sense of purpose that resonates with their audience and inspires them to take action.

3. Roles & People

This section of the team charter clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of each team member to ensure that everyone knows what is expected of them and how they fit into the team.

Consider following guiding questions for defining team members' roles and responsibilities during the session. ?

1. ?What are the specific tasks and responsibilities that each team member is responsible for?
2. What are the broader areas of responsibility for each team member, clearly define primary and secondary responsibilities.
3. ?How will we ensure that tasks are properly delegated and that everyone has the support and resources they need to be successful?

3. Values & Agreements

The team working agreement of the team charter outlines the expectations and guidelines for how a team will work together. The purpose of a team working agreement is to establish a clear set of rules and norms for how team members should interact and collaborate so that the team can work effectively and efficiently.

Sample questions that could be helpful in defining a working agreement for a team:

1. How will we communicate with each other, and what tools or platforms will we use?
2. How will we seek input and feedback from team members?
3. How will we make decisions as a team, and what is the process for doing so?
4. How will we handle conflicts or disagreements that may arise? It's important to establish a process for addressing and resolving conflicts in a constructive and respectful manner.
5. How will we manage our workload and prioritize tasks? It may be helpful to establish a system for tracking progress and ensuring that all team members have a clear understanding of what needs to be done and when.
6. How will we handle absences or unexpected disruptions? It's important to have a plan in place for handling absences or disruptions, such as setting up coverage for tasks or rescheduling meetings.
7. How will we ensure that all team members have the support and resources they need to be successful? This could include providing access to training or resources or establishing a mentorship or coaching program.

5. Stakeholders

Identify stakeholders with their influence and interest during the session.

6. Key Interactions/ dependencies

This section of the Agile team charter contains key individuals/teams within/outside of the organization, on which the Agile team relies to achieve their goals.

It is important to identify and understand dependencies in order to create a realistic and achievable plan. The Agile Alliance recommends that teams minimize dependencies as much as possible in order to increase flexibility and adaptability. However, it is not always possible to eliminate dependencies completely, so it is important for teams to identify and manage them effectively in order to avoid delays and other problems.

There are various types of dependencies like?Resource dependencies, Team dependencies, System dependencies, External dependencies, or Time-based dependencies.

The following questions could help in mapping dependencies.

1. How will the dependency map be used? Will it be shared with stakeholders or used internally within the team?
2. What kinds of dependencies are we looking to map? Do we want to map dependencies between tasks, between team members, between systems or technologies, or a combination of these?
3. How will we gather information about the dependencies we want to map? Will we rely on input from team members, use data from project management tools, or use some other source of information?
4. How will we represent the dependencies on the map? Will we use arrows to show dependencies between tasks, or will we use some other visual representation?
5. How will we use the dependency map to identify potential risks or bottlenecks in the project, and how will we address these issues?
6. How will we measure the effectiveness of the dependency map in helping us manage the project/work and achieve our goals?

7. Success Measures

In this section, the team defines the objectives and determines how to successfully meet them. Define success criteria/metrics.

Here is a table that outlines some potential measures of success for an agile team:

These measures may vary depending on the specific goals and needs of the team and organization. It is important to select measures that are relevant and meaningful to the team's work and to track them regularly in order to continuously improve the team's performance.

8.??Definition of done

"Definition of done" refers to a set of criteria that must be met in order for a piece of work to be considered complete. Having a clear "definition of done" is important because it helps ensure that all necessary work is completed and that the final product meets the required standards and expectations.

The following questions are helpful to consider defining the Definition of done.

1. What are the acceptance criteria that must be met for a task to be considered "done"?
2. Who is responsible for determining when a task is "done"?
3. What happens if a task is not completed to the defined standards of "done"?
4. How will the team ensure that the definition of "done" is consistently applied to all tasks?
5. How will the definition of "done" evolve and adapt over time as the project progresses and the team's understanding of the requirements changes?

9.?Agile Framework/Events

This section defines which Agile framework team is following, which Agile events team is Practicing and its duration/occurrence etc.

10. Finalize the Team Charter

At the end of the session, show the big picture to the team in the form of the complete charter and get feedback. Make sure to regularly review and revise the team charter to ensure that it accurately reflects the team's current goals and processes. To facilitate this process in a remote setting, you may need to use a video conferencing tool or other collaboration platforms. It may also be helpful to use a shared document or whiteboard to collaborate on the charter in real time. It's important to make sure that all team members are able to participate fully in the process and to be flexible in order to accommodate any challenges that may arise due to the remote nature of the session.