Agile Working Agreement

One of the most frequent workshops I’ve facilitated in the last few years is the one where I help a team create a Working Agreement. This is a document that describes how we expect each other to behave and communicate when we work together. Some teams call it something else, like a “Code of Conduct” or “Ways of Working”, but I like Working Agreement. You can choose whatever name suits you.

It’s very important to have a Working Agreement workshop as soon as possible when a new team forms. Ideally, it should be part of the team’s kick-off meeting that lasts for two days, or at least scheduled as a structured workshop in the first few weeks. This will set the team up for success.

Have you ever felt uncomfortable writing down how you expect your teammates to behave and communicate?

You might think it’s obvious or unnecessary, but trust me, it’s not.

Without clear and explicit expectations, you’re setting yourself up for misunderstandings and frustrations.

Let me tell you a story that illustrates this point. It’s called “The Cookie Thief” by Valerie Cox. It’s about a woman who buys a bag of cookies at the airport and sits down to read a book. She notices a man sitting next to her who reaches into the bag and takes a cookie. She is shocked and angry, but doesn’t say anything. She just takes a cookie herself. They keep doing this until there is only one cookie left. The man breaks it in half and offers her a piece. She snatches it and thinks, “What a rude and selfish person!” She gets up to board her plane and finds her bag of cookies in her purse. She realizes she was eating his cookies all along.”

Sounds embarrassing, right? But we do this all the time with our teammates. We judge them based on our own perspective, but we don’t have the full picture. And they don’t understand us either. This leads to resentment and mistrust. The team loses its harmony and collaboration. The product suffers. The team falls apart.

That’s why team agreements are so helpful. They help us share our perspectives and listen to each other better. They help us avoid judgments and seek feedback. They help us work together as a team, not as a group of adversaries."

The Working Agreement Workshop

Everyone including yourself if you are a trainer/coach/leader.

Schedule an appropriate timeboxed meeting & try to facilitate in the following way:

Let’s create our first Working Agreement together. It will show how we want to behave, what we expect from each other and what we can hold each other accountable for. This will help us work well as a team.
You have 10 minutes to write down your ideas for the Working Agreement on Post-its. Make them positive behaviors or principles that are clear and brief. You will share and vote on them later.
Think of how you communicate, interact and collaborate, both in person and online. Write things that work well now or things that need improvement.
Good idea example: We’re on time to meetings. If late, we alert the team in our chat.
Bad idea example: We shouldn’t come late to meetings
Write as many ideas as you want, but remember that we may only have time to discuss two or three from each person today. We will save the rest for another session.
Follow these instructions carefully. They are important for creating a good Working Agreement and having productive discussions.
Ask the team to agree on the items in the working agreement. Use silence, voting or a round of voices to check for consensus. Make sure everyone is on board before moving on.
Ask the team to enrich the working agreement with more aspects. Use questions like:
How and when do you want to be available?
What is your expected response time?
How do you prefer to communicate?
How do you want to handle conflict?
Who is in the team and who is not?
How long is your sprint? (If It's Scrum)
When do you do your daily scrums?(If It's Scrum)
Ask the team to commit to the working agreement. Have them sign it or add emojis or photos to it.
Close the workshop with a check-out question or an appreciation round.

Keep your Working Agreement alive and updated. Display it where the team can see it.

Share it with new team members. Review it in the Retrospective and add new items.

You can also use a Retrospective to revisit the existing items and see how well you follow them.

You may want to change or remove some items if they are no longer relevant.

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