Have you ever been part of a new Agile team and wondered how you will all work together effectively? You are certainly not alone.
New teams are apt to go through the Tuckman ladder stages of forming, storming, morning, and performing.
While some initial uncertainty and even friction are expected, a great way to align expectations and goals from the onset is by using an Agile team charter.
The charter acts as a guide for the team, capturing key information like values, objectives, roles, processes, and how the team will operate helping to reduce the possible friction.
In this post, we’ll cover what an Agile team charter is all about, what should be included in it, its importance, and how to create one.
We’ll also include an example of an Agile team charter to provide as much clarity as possible.
What is an Agile Team Charter?
An Agile team charter is a document that captures the mission, objectives, roles, processes, values, and rules of interaction for the team to guide how they will work together to achieve shared goals.
It is created collaboratively by all members of the Agile team during initial team formation and aims to build shared understanding and alignment on the behaviors and interactions that the team commits to uphold.
This visibility enables smoother collaboration right from the start and facilitates the onboarding of new members by providing a snapshot of how the team operates.
Since Agile teams value flexibility and adaptability, the charter should be treated as a living document and should be revisited and updated regularly as priorities or processes evolve.
What Does the Agile Team Charter Include?
An Agile team charter should contain the essential information needed to align the team and guide collaboration.
The specific contents can vary based on the team’s needs, but some common elements to include are:
Vision and Mission
A short vision statement explains why the team exists. The mission statement describes the team’s overall objective and what problem they aim to solve. Jointly they ground the team in a shared purpose.
Goals and Key Results
The team’s quantitative goals or OKRs that map to business objectives should be captured clearly to provide visibility into the outcomes the team is driving towards.
Roles and Responsibilities
Defining each team member’s roles and spheres of responsibility sets clear expectations and enables accountability around who owns what work or decisions.
Values and Working Agreements
The principles, values, and cultural attributes the team commits to uphold while working together. As well as basic working agreements on things like meeting etiquette, communication norms, etc.
Processes
A short description of the workflows, cadences, ceremonies, or processes the team follows to get work done. This provides a consistent way of working.
Tools and Technologies
A list of the key tools, systems, and technologies used by the team for collaboration, work tracking, communication, etc to ensure alignment on platforms.
Decision-Making Protocol
Guidelines on how decisions will be made within the team or escalated when required to enable smooth decision-making.
Conflict Resolution
Highlight processes to resolve conflicts or differences when they arise in a healthy way to foster trust and psychological safety.
Metrics and Success Criteria
How success will be measured and results evaluated based on progress against OKRs, KPIs, or other targets. This enables data-driven monitoring of outcomes.
How to Create an Agile Team Charter
Creating an impactful team charter requires care and teamwide collaboration. Follow these steps to craft a charter that sets your Agile team up for success:
- Have Everyone Participate: Schedule a working session for all team members to provide input on the charter. Collaborative creation builds buy-in and shared ownership.
- Align on Team Purpose and Objectives: Explore the problem you are solving, vision for success, and quantitative goals to anchor on the team’s objectives.
- Define Roles and Responsibilities: Discuss each person’s focus area, specialty, and responsibilities. Document clear roles to avoid ambiguity.
- Establish Shared Values and Culture: Determine the principles, mindsets, and behaviors that your team values. Define the culture that will guide collaboration.
- Agree on Work Processes and Rituals: Detail the workflows, processes, cadences, and rituals your team will adhere to consistently. Outline meetings and ceremonies.
- Select Tools and Technologies: Evaluate needs and choose platforms for work tracking, communication, documentation, etc. that the team will utilize.
- Decide on Decision-Making Process: How will decisions be made? Who has authority for what types of choices? When should consensus be sought vs escalation?
- Outline Conflict Resolution Approach: Agree on a process for constructively raising and resolving conflicts, disagreements, or differences that emerge within the team.
- Define Metrics and Success Indicators: Determine how team and individual results will be measured. Track progress against goals and key performance indicators.
- Document in a Sharable Format: Capture the charter details in a format that is easy for the team to access like a wiki, shared doc, or display in team space.
- Review and Iterate Regularly: Treat it as a living document. Revisit the charter regularly and evolve it as the team matures or priorities change.
Importance of an Agile Team Charter
An Agile team charter provides immense value by setting up the team for success. Here are some key benefits:
- Creates Alignment: The charter gets everyone on the same page about the team vision, objectives, processes, and norms upfront. This alignment enables greater focus and momentum.
- Clarifies Roles: Defining responsibilities clearly ensures members understand expectations to avoid confusion about who owns what.
- Accelerates Onboarding: New members can get up to speed faster by reading the charter as a snapshot of how the team works.
- Reinforces Commitments: The charter reminds members of the values, agreements, and behaviors they have committed to uphold.
- Facilitates Collaboration: With roles, processes, and values defined in the charter, collaboration happens more smoothly.
- Reduces Ambiguity: Clarity around guidelines in the charter avoids misunderstandings and ambiguity about the right way of working.
- Improves Accountability: When responsibilities are clear, team members can hold each other accountable more effectively.
- Enables Growth: As a living document, the charter can evolve as the team matures and learns.
- Boosts Performance: Well-defined team charters foster engagement that translates directly into better outcomes.
Best Practices and Tips When Creating a Team Charter in Agile
Here are some top practices and tips to create an impactful Agile team charter:
- Make it a Team Effort: Collaborative charter creation builds engagement and shared ownership. Involve all team members.
- Focus on Outcomes: Anchor the charter on solving problems and achieving objectives rather than specific solutions. This creates durable relevance.
- Keep it Concise: Be succinct. Capture only the most important agreements needed to begin working effectively together. Avoid an overly detailed treatise.
- Use Simple Language: Articulate charter points using simple, actionable language to make them accessible and practical.
- Print and Display Visibly: Print out or display the charter prominently in teamwork areas for easy visibility and reference rather than burying it in a doc.
- Align with Agile Values: Ensure the charter embraces Agile values like collaboration, flexibility, and transparency rather than top-down rules.
- Define ritual interactions: Provide just enough structure by outlining cadences for standups, retrospectives, reviews, etc. to create rhythm.
- Set expectations on feedback: Clarify expectations around open and frequent feedback. Psychological safety enables continuous improvement.
- Leave room for learning: View the initial charter as a starting point. Expect to evolve it as the team gains experience.
- Revisit it regularly: Schedule periodic reviews of the charter. Update it to reflect learnings and changing circumstances over time.
Agile Team Charter Example
Below is an example of a team charter created collaboratively by a new Agile marketing team:
Vision
Deliver excellent Agile marketing programs that drive growth
Mission
Rapidly test and iterate campaigns to acquire net new customers
Objectives
- Acquire 5000 new customers in 12 months
- Achieve $500k in upsell revenue
- Reduce customer acquisition cost by 25%
Roles
- Anna – VP Marketing
- Jon – Growth Lead
- Clara – Content and Social Media
- Jared – Paid Acquisition
- Nora – Website and Analytics
- Tyson – Sales Liaison
Values
- User-focused – priorities based on customer value
- Data-driven – use metrics to guide decisions
- Transparent – open communication and visibility
- Adaptable – embrace change and feedback
- Accountable – take ownership individually and as a team
Cadences
- Standup at 9:15am Daily
- Retrospective on Fridays
- Quarterly Planning and Review
Tools
Conflict Resolution
- Assume positive intent
- Discuss 1:1 first
- Bring hard discussions to retro
Metrics
- New customers
- Cost per acquisition
- Customer lifetime value
- Sales pipeline influenced
Conclusion
Agile team charters are a great way of setting up teams for success by collaboratively defining the mission, objectives, roles, values, processes, and guidelines upfront.
When created thoughtfully, it fosters engagement, accountability, and better performance, and becomes the foundation enabling your team to deliver value quickly and effectively.
So take the time to craft a team charter that captures your team’s purpose and energizes your members to own the mission together.
