Purpose
The method helps clarify backlog, sprint work, and team flow concretely. It sorts work by value, risk, and delivery fit. The result is captured as working agreements, team norms, and a review cadence.
Agile
Working Agreements
Turns team flow, expectations, and delivery rhythm into a tangible result by clarifying work context, collecting expectations, and setting a review cadence.
Which concrete behavior expectations make collaboration easier, and which of them does the team want to commit to?
LowWorkshop45-90 min
How it works
The team follows the steps: clarify the work context, collect expectations, formulate rules, get commitment, and set a review cadence. Each step is captured visibly. At the end, working agreements, team norms, and a review cadence are available so decisions, tests, or actions can follow directly.
Visual orientation
Method sketch for a quick mental model.
Flow
- 1Clarify the work context
- 2Collect expectations
- 3Formulate rules
- 4Get commitment
- 5Set a review cadence
The runsheet guides execution with 4 phases, timeboxes, 5 pitfalls, and clear stop criteria.
Open runsheetIdeal for
- Team Kickoffs
- Retrospectives
- Distributed Teams
Not good for
- Formal policy replacement
- Conflicts without a willingness to align
Deep dive
In detail
Working Agreements follows a clear working logic: clarify the work context, collect expectations, formulate rules, get commitment, and set a review cadence. This turns the method into a visible thinking process rather than only a conversation. Participants move step by step from raw material, observations, or options toward a shared structure. The result is working agreements, team norms, and a review cadence that make decisions, learning, or further planning actionable.
Facilitation
Prepare a clear guiding question, the right information, and a visible workspace. Plan about 45-90 min with 3-12 people and use the format in a facilitated workshop. The method stays lightweight; short timeboxes, visible intermediate results, and a parking lot for open questions help.
Output artifacts
Working AgreementsTeam NormsReview Cadence
Artifact templates
Working Agreements ChecklistChecklist for concrete, testable team working agreements.checklist
Working Agreements ChecklistChecklist for concrete, testable team working agreements.
checklistworking-agreements-checklist.md
Checklist for concrete, testable team working agreements.
- Agreement is phrased in an observable way
- Applies to everyone on the team
- Contains no pure statements of intent
- Conflict case is described
- Review date is set
- Owner for maintenance is named
When to choose differently
Short decision aid for existing alternatives.
Team Charter
Statt Working Agreements, wenn ihr Zusammenarbeit, Zielbild und Spielregeln bewusst vereinbaren wollt.
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