agdolla / ways-of-working

Ways of Working (WoW) a.k.a. ground rules, aspirations, team norms, team values, working agreements, shared expectations, and group understandings

Ways of working

Ways of Working (WoW) is a phrase that summarizes how people collaborate, typically focusing on teamwork success. Ways of Working may be also known as working agreements, team arrangements, shared expectations, group understandings, and ground rules.

Overviews:

Supporting files:

What are Ways of Working?

Ways of Working are guidelines that improve teamwork and communication. Ways of Working can define a team's set of expectations for participating, collaborating, and interrelating.

Ways of Working can include ground rules, aspirations, team values, team norms, working agreements, and more. For a deep dive on these see Esther Derby.

Ground rules are statements of how people need to behave, for specific times, places, and situations. Example: At our meetings, everyone has the opportunity to speak.
Aspirations are statements intended to guide interactions and decision making within the group, and also across other groups within the organization. Example: Every challenge is an opportunity to learn.
Team values are statements of what people hold as important. Often, teams make a list of their values by using behavior-related nouns. Example: We value courage, collaboration, respect.
Team norms are informal implicit standards of behavior that emerge over time from the interactions of the group. Example: By observing the team, we see that teammates are punctual.
Working agreements are protocols that the group develops together, commits to follow together, and agreed to uphold together. Example: Code is complete when all tests pass.

Ideas

For goodness and wellness

Be creative. Be constructive. Be collaborative.

Be prepared. Be present. Be productive.

For focus and attention

Focus is limited so budget it wisely.

Focus yourself and your team with practices such as TEAM FOCUS, OKR, SBS, VSM, GIST, SMART, etc.

For collaborators and partners

View the issue as “we” not “me”.

Consider what's happening from each person's perspective.

For respect and honor

Presume good-faith intentions.

Debate the issue, not the person.

For discussions and forums

Encourage everyone to participate fully.

Listen actively and attentively.

For mutual interactions

Emphasize mutual respect.

Emphasize mutual purpose.

For successful teams

Psychological safety: Can we take risks on this team without feeling insecure or embarrassed?

Dependability: Can we count on each other to do high quality work on time?

For communications

Communications are radiated when events happen, so teammates can be in the loop.

Communications provide equitable participation for everyone involved.

For chat and messaging

Minimize first messages that are vague, such as "Hi" or "Have a minute?". Instead, state your idea, question, etc.

Favor shortcuts such as symbols, hashtags, emojis, etc. Example: "+1" means "I agree", "#todo" means "For our TODO list", and a green-checkmark emoji means "Done".

For feedback and advice

Ask for feedback often.

Ensure you’re giving lots of positive feedback.

For meetings and briefings

Prepare the participants. For example "The purpose of this meeting is X because Y".

Plan the outcome. For example "At the end of this meeting we want X because Y".

For schedules and calendars

Use the strengths of "maker's schedule, manager's schedule".

Ensure all stakeholders know the expectations for availability, attendance, and RSVPs.

For hand signs and visual communication

Voting: thumb up means yes, down means no, sideways means maybe. Everyone votes and the leader tallies.

Clarification: make the letter "C" hand sign. Everyone pauses and the leader figures out what's needed.

For bonding and team events

Team bonding is good and valuable because it improves communication.

Try multiple kinds of bonding events, such as all-hands, kick-offs, offsites, outings, fun events, etc.

For orientation and onboarding

We use a "people" document. It lists our names, contact information, roles, responsibilities, etc.

We use a "pitch" document. It summarizes the project and its progress, much like a startup pitch deck.

For credentials and accounts

Each teammate gets their own credentials, such as a username, a password, a security badge, etc.

Each teammate knows how to get new credentials, manage them securely, and revoke them if necessary.

For shared spaces and group areas

Post relevant information prominently, such as phone numbers, wifi codes, room reservations, etc.

Whiteboards are eraseable any time; please erase any whiteboard writing that says "Do not erase".

For email messages and forum posts

If you need the reader to do something, then write "ACTION NEEDED", "REPLY PLEASE", etc.

If you need the reader to schedule, then write "DUE BY X", "DEADLINE IS X", etc.

For safety and reliability

Each teammate knows what to do if another teamate is absent, including who handles what, how, when, and why.

When there's an issue, then we have a way to triage it, handle it, learn from it, and improve because of it.

About

Ways of Working (WoW) a.k.a. ground rules, aspirations, team norms, team values, working agreements, shared expectations, and group understandings