Agile Team Working Agreements Examples

The agreement established by a team is unique. At least that is what we hope for. A Scrum Master, with whom I worked, said: „Here, other teams agree. Is that what you think, if we use this? I was a little scratched to say the least. Agile planning is an ongoing activity that requires several meetings ±. These meetings provide an overview of the progress of a project and take into account the different levels of complexity necessary for the success of the iteration. Working agreements, also known as team standards, are guidelines developed by teams on how they should work together to create a positive productive process. At the beginning, you encourage discussion within the team and allow everyone to propose, agree and reject any agreement. Note that you can`t get people to change their emotions, but you can focus on (opposable) behaviors. After the brainstorming session, ScrumMaster informs the team that they should choose the top five ideas as voting-based work agreements.

It is a good idea to give three or five votes to each member of the team and ask them to vote for the agreements they consider essential. This social contract, established by team members, generates a level of commitment, discipline and responsibility that has a positive impact on team dynamics and allows teams to successfully achieve their goals. It helps teams create a positive and productive process that meets the team`s needs and preferences. All sprints should update the labour agreement, often through a retrospective review and a question such as: „Are these still our work agreements? What do we want to update? What are the areas that require new agreements? Labour agreements are a great opportunity to address sensitive issues such as conflict and disagreement management, meeting plans, provision and low engagement. These problems cannot be swept under the carpet in the hope that they will disappear. Finally, you should retrospectively attribute the effectiveness of your work agreements to improve your team`s knowledge. The team members determine the working arrangements themselves. The ScrumMaster may have to play the role of facilitating the meeting that is held to conclude labour agreements, but it is the team that decides the agreements.