The Defining the Team Principles activity helps the team collectively define and write down the team principles they want to follow. It fosters an upfront and democratic conversation about team principles.
Running the activity:
- Introduce the activity, adding more discussion areas as necessary:
“Let’s have a conversation on how we will deal with one another on an ongoing basis. Collectively, we will write down the team principles for each of these areas.”
* Meetings structure and schedule.
* Preferred method of communication.
* Roles and availability.
* Process. - Split the canvas into the number of identified areas (in this example: Meetings – Communication – Roles – Process).
- Ask for individual notes.
“Please write down your notes on team principles for each of the identified areas. You should use the sticky note color accordingly.”
* Constraints (on a sticky note of one color).
* Strong recommendation (on a sticky note of a different color). - Discuss among the group and take notes (consider writing action items on sticky notes with another color).
Define the team principles while the team is still being formed. It will help the team be more efficient, by having agreed upon principles to refer to.
Remote-team advice: This activity works well for remote teams. Use a remote board of your choice.