<div dir="ltr">On Thu, Oct 26, 2017 at 12:53 PM, Max Binder <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mbinder@wikimedia.org" target="_blank">mbinder@wikimedia.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Thanks, Kevin. To clarify, is the use of "Working Agreements" in the "ongoing team norms" sense, or in the, say, offsite facilitation sense? My gut says the former.<br></div></blockquote><div><br><div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;display:inline" class="gmail_default">Yes, I meant ongoing team working agreements, not just for a short event like an offsite. <br><br></div><div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;display:inline" class="gmail_default">However, the basic version is aimed at short projects, and only takes half an hour, so it could be used for an offsite. <br><br></div><div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;display:inline" class="gmail_default">Kevin<br></div><div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;display:inline" class="gmail_default"></div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="h5">On Thu, Oct 26, 2017 at 2:01 PM, Kevin Smith <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ksmith@wikimedia.org" target="_blank">ksmith@wikimedia.org</a>></span> wrote:<br></div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div class="h5"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Last night, I attended a meetup[1] where we learned about the Team Canvas[2] approach to establishing how a team will operate. It roughly replaces the "Team Norms" or "Working Agreements" development, and is structured as a 2-hour session (or 30 minutes for the abridged "basic" version). <br><br></div><div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Rather than jumping straight to working agreements, the canvas has time-boxed segments to have team members share both things about themselves individually (e.g. strengths) as well as things about the group (e.g. common goals). Within each segment, prompting questions give a structure that makes it easy for individuals to participate. <br><br>By the time the group gets to the point of listing rules, they have a much better shared understanding, so that part goes quickly and smoothly (at least in theory). <br><br></div><div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">The work can be done with sticky notes, or electronically. Some tools (like Trello) actually include pre-built templates for the Canvas system. <br><br></div><div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Some tips from the presenter last night:<br><ul><li>It's important for each person to use a different color sticky note, so their voice is visually represented in the shared space.</li><li>Even if the paper output doesn't seem impressive, the shared work done by the team is where the real value lies..</li><li>At least for the "complete" version, an external facilitator is important, so all the team members can participate fully. <br></li><li>The team should understand the types of conversations that will be involved, so they don't freak out when they arrive. <br></li><li>However, it's probably better not to share the detailed materials with the team in advance--you want their thoughts in the moment, not some over-processed watered-down version. <br></li><li>It's not just for forming: A team should probably go through the exercise again every few months, or when members are added or removed. <br></li></ul><p>I haven't done enough team-forming/charters/norms/wo<wbr>rking agreements work to know how this compares to other systems. But it sounded like something I would be interested in trying at some point. <br></p></div><div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br>[1] <a href="https://www.meetup.com/BeyondAgile/events/243808919/" target="_blank">https://www.meetup.com/BeyondA<wbr>gile/events/243808919/</a><br>[2] <a href="http://theteamcanvas.com/" target="_blank">http://theteamcanvas.com/</a><span class="m_-5041044904045803688HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br><br clear="all"></font></span></div><span class="m_-5041044904045803688HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div><div class="m_-5041044904045803688m_7502956114671753377gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><span><font color="#888888"><br>Kevin Smith<br>Engineering Program Manager, Wikimedia Foundation<br></font></span><font><font><i><font color="#888888"><br></font></i></font></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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