A “Working Agreement” isn’t an official artifact in Scrum or agile, but in my experience as a consultant, it’s a best practice to have one. By creating a set of ground rules together, you’ll get buy-in from the team and become more self-managed. Groups that lack a shared understanding of how they work together are more chaotic and less psychologically safe.
What is a Work Agreement, exactly?
A Working Agreement is a set of things a team agrees they will do while working together. Rather than having an unwritten tacit agreement, you need to be intentional about your Working Agreement. Once you have defined your list, put it into a document and ensure it’s in a centrally accessible place where everyone can see it.
Is this different from a Team Charter or Ground Rules?
No – these are synonyms of a Working Agreement. You can call it anything you want, but its purpose is to provide your team with guidance and a shared set of rules for team engagement. The crucial aspect of this document is that it’s created collectively (and no one dictates what is in it).
Who owns the Working Agreement?
No one person “owns” the Working Agreement – this is the team’s agreement. That said, no one should be able to change the Working Agreement without having the team’s acceptance of any changes.
How does a team create a Working Agreement?
If your team doesn’t already have a Working Agreement, stop what you’re doing and gather your group together. Creating your agreement is an excellent first step in team formation if your team is new. A Scrum Master or team leader can facilitate, but it’s up to the team to develop their own rules. It’s sometimes hard to get the creative juices flowing, so it may help to start with some examples for the team, such as “We will be on time to meetings” or “We will not talk over each other.” Brainstorming is a standard Business Analysis technique, and it ought to be collaborative. And, if you’re facilitating, try to involve everyone on the team.
Where should the Working Agreement be kept?
Co-located teams tend to have their Working Agreement written on a whiteboard in a shared team space. For distributed teams, store the document in a central document repository, such as Microsoft’s Teams or SharePoint, that everyone can access. The key is that the agreement is visible and top-of-mind so everyone follows the rules.
Can we change our Working Agreement?
You can change your Working Agreement – it’s yours! I suggest regularly reviewing your Working Agreement and your Definitions of Ready and Done. If some of your rules aren’t working, you can adjust them. A great time to do this is during Sprint Retrospectives.
What happens when you add people to the team?
If (or when) you add people to your team, you should revisit your Working Agreement. When people change on a team, the group reverts to previous stages in the team formation process. Reviewing the Working Agreement and making sure any new team members are aware of the rules (and agree to them) will help speed up the team’s maturation.
How do we hold each other accountable?
As a self-managed team, it’s up to everyone in the group to hold each other accountable. How you do this may be part of the Working Agreement. Some teams use playful penalties like a “smackdown” card or a money jar. Making dunning a little more active and friendly keeps everyone honest while also allowing bad behaviors to be corrected.
Final Thoughts
Having a Working Agreement is a best practice that every team should employ; it ensures the team agrees on their ground rules and that they will hold each other accountable. Your team agreement isn’t a “one and done” activity – be sure to revisit your agreement regularly and modify it when needed, especially when the team composition changes.
Now, for your turn – do you have a Working Agreement (or a similar document that outlines how you work together)? Do you find it helpful? If not, is this something you want to try out? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please comment below!