[teampractices] Team Canvas: a process for forming (or re-forming) teams
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). 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. 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). The work can be done with sticky notes, or electronically. Some tools (like Trello) actually include pre-built templates for the Canvas system. Some tips from the presenter last night: - It's important for each person to use a different color sticky note, so their voice is visually represented in the shared space. - Even if the paper output doesn't seem impressive, the shared work done by the team is where the real value lies.. - At least for the "complete" version, an external facilitator is important, so all the team members can participate fully. - The team should understand the types of conversations that will be involved, so they don't freak out when they arrive. - 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. - 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. I haven't done enough team-forming/charters/norms/working agreements work to know how this compares to other systems. But it sounded like something I would be interested in trying at some point. [1] https://www.meetup.com/BeyondAgile/events/243808919/ [2] http://theteamcanvas.com/ Kevin Smith Engineering Program Manager, Wikimedia Foundation ___ teampractices mailing list teampractices@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/teampractices
Re: [teampractices] Team Canvas: a process for forming (or re-forming) teams
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. On Thu, Oct 26, 2017 at 2:01 PM, Kevin Smith wrote: > 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). > > 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. > > 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). > > The work can be done with sticky notes, or electronically. Some tools > (like Trello) actually include pre-built templates for the Canvas system. > > Some tips from the presenter last night: > >- It's important for each person to use a different color sticky note, >so their voice is visually represented in the shared space. >- Even if the paper output doesn't seem impressive, the shared work >done by the team is where the real value lies.. >- At least for the "complete" version, an external facilitator is >important, so all the team members can participate fully. >- The team should understand the types of conversations that will be >involved, so they don't freak out when they arrive. >- 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. >- 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. > > I haven't done enough team-forming/charters/norms/working agreements work > to know how this compares to other systems. But it sounded like something I > would be interested in trying at some point. > > [1] https://www.meetup.com/BeyondAgile/events/243808919/ > [2] http://theteamcanvas.com/ > > > Kevin Smith > Engineering Program Manager, Wikimedia Foundation > > > ___ > teampractices mailing list > teampractices@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/teampractices > > ___ teampractices mailing list teampractices@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/teampractices
Re: [teampractices] Team Canvas: a process for forming (or re-forming) teams
On Thu, Oct 26, 2017 at 12:53 PM, Max Binder wrote: > 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. > Yes, I meant ongoing team working agreements, not just for a short event like an offsite. However, the basic version is aimed at short projects, and only takes half an hour, so it could be used for an offsite. Kevin > > On Thu, Oct 26, 2017 at 2:01 PM, Kevin Smith wrote: > >> 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). >> >> 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. >> >> 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). >> >> The work can be done with sticky notes, or electronically. Some tools >> (like Trello) actually include pre-built templates for the Canvas system. >> >> Some tips from the presenter last night: >> >>- It's important for each person to use a different color sticky >>note, so their voice is visually represented in the shared space. >>- Even if the paper output doesn't seem impressive, the shared work >>done by the team is where the real value lies.. >>- At least for the "complete" version, an external facilitator is >>important, so all the team members can participate fully. >>- The team should understand the types of conversations that will be >>involved, so they don't freak out when they arrive. >>- 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. >>- 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. >> >> I haven't done enough team-forming/charters/norms/working agreements >> work to know how this compares to other systems. But it sounded like >> something I would be interested in trying at some point. >> >> [1] https://www.meetup.com/BeyondAgile/events/243808919/ >> [2] http://theteamcanvas.com/ >> >> >> Kevin Smith >> Engineering Program Manager, Wikimedia Foundation >> >> >> ___ >> teampractices mailing list >> teampractices@lists.wikimedia.org >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/teampractices >> >> > > ___ > teampractices mailing list > teampractices@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/teampractices > > ___ teampractices mailing list teampractices@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/teampractices