11 ms·

Great article IMHO especially suitable for new teams, new managers, and top down understanding. Kudos! For people who are stepping into existing teams, I sugge

by jph 8y ago

Great article IMHO especially suitable for new teams, new managers, and top down understanding. Kudos! For people who are stepping into existing teams, I suggest writing ground rules. Ground rules are clear explanations of team expectations. Ground rules can be simple, bottom up, and help improve teamwork: https://github.com/joelparkerhenderson/ground_rules https://github.com/joelparkerhenderson/ground_rules I agree fully with the author about writing objectives. Objectives can be sophisticated, top down, and help improve planning. I suggest knowing "Objectives and Key Results" (OKRs) as at Google and Intel: https://github.com/joelparkerhenderson/objectives_and_key_results https://github.com/joelparkerhenderson/objectives_and_key_re...

jonny_eh 8y ago
Those ground rules are great. How do you "enforce" them, or at least keep them at front of mind on the team?
- jph 8y ago
  Thank you! If you have ideas, I'd like to hear. To keep ground rules at front of mind, each teammate is responsible and self-directed. * I have a teammate who likes to write the core rules on the whiteboard before each meeting, and point to them when he starts the meeting, and each time a participant needs reminding. This is amazingly effective with a good sense of humor. * I have a teammate who uses chat private messages to coach people. This is especially effective for things like video calls when we want to try the team sign language ground rules. * I have a teammate who does weekly one-on-one meetings with every direct report, and monthly one-on-one meetings with skip level reports, and discusses the ground rules along with OKRs (objectives and key results) and KPIs (key performance indicators). I'm always open to learning new aspects, and also to trying new ways of working. Feedback is very welcome.
  - anothergoogler 8y ago
    I'd have some sign language for anybody who tried enforcing "sign language ground rules." > * I have a teammate who likes to write the core rules on the whiteboard before each meeting, and point to them when he starts the meeting, and each time a participant needs reminding. Are you working with school children or professionals?
    - seanmcdirmid 8y ago
      The whole point of K-12 education is to produce obidient factory workers. It isn’t a coincidence that some office cultures might evolve in similar ways.
    - jph 8y ago
      > I'd have some sign language for anybody who tried enforcing "sign language ground rules." Are you working with school children or professionals? For example the Executive Director was deaf, a significant number of client staff were hard of hearing, and there were 100K school students, including special needs students, and many recent immigrants who were starting to learn English. All online materials were provided in accessible formats, and all public presentations had a sign language interpreter. A typical classroom meeting, district meeting, or videoconference, could have 20-80 participants. I can point you to the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) which is an excellent advocacy group. NAD works to improve accessibility, equal access, and equal opportunities. Sign language in the workplace can be a big help to some people. https://www.nad.org/resources/civil-rights-laws/ https://www.nad.org/resources/civil-rights-laws/
      - anothergoogler 8y ago
        You didn't make it at all clear that your sign language rules were to serve the deaf and hard of hearing. This is not a common workplace situation so perhaps you understand my confusion.
      - a_e_k 8y ago
        I once served on a jury with a fellow who was deaf. It's been a while now, but I recall that we'd do things like minimize side conversations, take very well-defined turns when speaking, and pause in between speakers to allow the interpreters to catch up. It was an interesting process and I think that being respectful of him and the interpreters actually made us more efficient in our deliberation as a group.
        jph 8y ago
        Your experience is fascinating! Can you write a bit more about this? I think you're on to something important.
- LargeWu 8y ago
  Make it explicit for some period of time as you introduce them. If they need review they can be part of the weekly/biweekly retro. If it needs more personal reinforcement then 1-on-1's. It's the manager's job to communicate these and KEEP communicating them.
LgWoodenBadger 8y ago
Core-hours are 9am-5pm? Aren't those just the normal busines hours for white-collar work?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- jph 8y ago
  Yes and I'll detail that in the repo now, and emphasize that these are examples gathered from many teams. Can you try reloading the repo page and see if it makes better sense now? Thanks for the feedback!
  - viridian 8y ago
    As Kolpa said, your core hours mean a lot of mandatory overtime. Why would anyone want to work under these conditions?
    - newfoundglory 8y ago
      Did you read the updated response? They are examples from different teams.
- kolpa 8y ago
  Wow. "core hours" is full time, but there's also mandatory overtime. Anyone not in the boss's timezone has to to work weird hours to satisfy the micromanager's desire for fiefdom face-time. Work starts before 9am every day, to prep for a 9am dressing-down. This is not a place where anyone with a choice would want to work. > * Each workday has a team standup meeting. We choose 9 a.m., because it sets the tone for the day. > * The workday has core hours when we expect people to be together. We choose core hours 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in our team's main time zone, because these are typical business hours for typical offices. > * Beyond the workday core hours, we expect people to do their own schedule
  - jph 8y ago
gregskloot 8y ago
The ground rules idea is awesome. In the article I refer to something similar as "team customs"... I like your name better!
- sesteel 8y ago
  I've been multiple places where these are called "Team Agreements" and they are reviewed regularly as part of the retrospective process.
  - jbarmash 8y ago
    Also, I've called it Working Agreements. Here is a great post about them - https://giffconstable.com/2016/03/getting-tactical-product-team-working-agreements/ https://giffconstable.com/2016/03/getting-tactical-product-t...

by jph 8y ago

jonny_eh 8y ago

Those ground rules are great. How do you "enforce" them, or at least keep them at front of mind on the team?

jph 8y ago
Thank you! If you have ideas, I'd like to hear. To keep ground rules at front of mind, each teammate is responsible and self-directed. * I have a teammate who likes to write the core rules on the whiteboard before each meeting, and point to them when he starts the meeting, and each time a participant needs reminding. This is amazingly effective with a good sense of humor. * I have a teammate who uses chat private messages to coach people. This is especially effective for things like video calls when we want to try the team sign language ground rules. * I have a teammate who does weekly one-on-one meetings with every direct report, and monthly one-on-one meetings with skip level reports, and discusses the ground rules along with OKRs (objectives and key results) and KPIs (key performance indicators). I'm always open to learning new aspects, and also to trying new ways of working. Feedback is very welcome.
- anothergoogler 8y ago
  I'd have some sign language for anybody who tried enforcing "sign language ground rules." > * I have a teammate who likes to write the core rules on the whiteboard before each meeting, and point to them when he starts the meeting, and each time a participant needs reminding. Are you working with school children or professionals?
  - seanmcdirmid 8y ago
    The whole point of K-12 education is to produce obidient factory workers. It isn’t a coincidence that some office cultures might evolve in similar ways.
  - jph 8y ago
    > I'd have some sign language for anybody who tried enforcing "sign language ground rules." Are you working with school children or professionals? For example the Executive Director was deaf, a significant number of client staff were hard of hearing, and there were 100K school students, including special needs students, and many recent immigrants who were starting to learn English. All online materials were provided in accessible formats, and all public presentations had a sign language interpreter. A typical classroom meeting, district meeting, or videoconference, could have 20-80 participants. I can point you to the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) which is an excellent advocacy group. NAD works to improve accessibility, equal access, and equal opportunities. Sign language in the workplace can be a big help to some people. https://www.nad.org/resources/civil-rights-laws/ https://www.nad.org/resources/civil-rights-laws/
    - anothergoogler 8y ago
      You didn't make it at all clear that your sign language rules were to serve the deaf and hard of hearing. This is not a common workplace situation so perhaps you understand my confusion.
    - a_e_k 8y ago
      I once served on a jury with a fellow who was deaf. It's been a while now, but I recall that we'd do things like minimize side conversations, take very well-defined turns when speaking, and pause in between speakers to allow the interpreters to catch up. It was an interesting process and I think that being respectful of him and the interpreters actually made us more efficient in our deliberation as a group.
      - jph 8y ago
        Your experience is fascinating! Can you write a bit more about this? I think you're on to something important.
LargeWu 8y ago
Make it explicit for some period of time as you introduce them. If they need review they can be part of the weekly/biweekly retro. If it needs more personal reinforcement then 1-on-1's. It's the manager's job to communicate these and KEEP communicating them.

LgWoodenBadger 8y ago

Core-hours are 9am-5pm? Aren't those just the normal busines hours for white-collar work?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
jph 8y ago
Yes and I'll detail that in the repo now, and emphasize that these are examples gathered from many teams. Can you try reloading the repo page and see if it makes better sense now? Thanks for the feedback!
- viridian 8y ago
  As Kolpa said, your core hours mean a lot of mandatory overtime. Why would anyone want to work under these conditions?
  - newfoundglory 8y ago
    Did you read the updated response? They are examples from different teams.
kolpa 8y ago
Wow. "core hours" is full time, but there's also mandatory overtime. Anyone not in the boss's timezone has to to work weird hours to satisfy the micromanager's desire for fiefdom face-time. Work starts before 9am every day, to prep for a 9am dressing-down. This is not a place where anyone with a choice would want to work. > * Each workday has a team standup meeting. We choose 9 a.m., because it sets the tone for the day. > * The workday has core hours when we expect people to be together. We choose core hours 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in our team's main time zone, because these are typical business hours for typical offices. > * Beyond the workday core hours, we expect people to do their own schedule
- jph 8y ago

gregskloot 8y ago

The ground rules idea is awesome. In the article I refer to something similar as "team customs"... I like your name better!

sesteel 8y ago
I've been multiple places where these are called "Team Agreements" and they are reviewed regularly as part of the retrospective process.
- jbarmash 8y ago
  Also, I've called it Working Agreements. Here is a great post about them - https://giffconstable.com/2016/03/getting-tactical-product-team-working-agreements/ https://giffconstable.com/2016/03/getting-tactical-product-t...