[teampractices] Team Canvas: a process for forming (or re-forming) teams

Thu Oct 26 19:56:43 UTC 2017

On Thu, Oct 26, 2017 at 12:53 PM, Max Binder <mbinder at wikimedia.org> 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 <ksmith at wikimedia.org> 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
>>
>>
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>
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