Team Charter & Working Agreements Check

Rate how well your team lives its charter and working agreements.

Try this health check live

What goes in a team charter?

A team charter says why a team exists and how it works together: its purpose, goals and customers, who owns what, how decisions get made, how people communicate, what done means, and how the team keeps its agreements. Working agreements are the day-to-day part of the charter, the habits everyone signs up to. This check isn't a fill-in document. Use the sections below as your team charter template, then rate how well your team lives each one. Everyone rates privately, and the lowest scores show which part of the charter to write, rewrite or start following again. In TeamRetro, the team agreements you accept stay visible in every retrospective and health check.

Dimensions

Why we exist

The purpose, goals and customers that the rest of the charter serves.

  • Shared purpose

    Everyone on this team can explain why the team exists.

  • Clear goals

    We share clear goals and know how we'll tell when we've met them.

  • Who we serve

    We know who we serve and what they need from us.

How we work together

The roles, decisions, communication, quality bar and meetings that shape daily work.

  • Clear roles

    Everyone knows what they own and what others count on them for.

  • Decision making

    We know how decisions get made and who makes them.

  • Communication norms

    We agree on which channels to use and how quickly to respond.

  • Definition of done

    We share the same definition of done for our work.

  • Useful meetings

    Our regular meetings have a clear purpose and are worth the time.

Keeping agreements alive

Whether the agreements hold up in practice and change when the team does.

  • Following through

    We follow our working agreements in our daily work.

  • Raising breaches

    Anyone can point out a broken agreement without it turning into blame.

  • Handling conflict

    When we disagree, we have an agreed way to work it through.

  • Reviewing agreements

    We review our agreements when the team, goals or way of working change.

When to use this health check

  • When a new team forms or a team changes shape, to find out which parts of its charter are missing.
  • When the same friction keeps coming up in retrospectives and nobody can point to the agreement behind it.
  • A few months after writing a charter, to see whether the team still works the way it agreed to.

Tips & tricks

  • No charter yet? Use the three groups as your outline. Write a line or two for each section together as a team, then run this check a month later.
  • Keep it anonymous. People are more honest about broken agreements when nobody can see who gave which score.
  • A wide spread on one statement often means the agreement exists for some people and not others. Ask each person what they think it says.
  • Take the lowest score into a retrospective and leave with one new or rewritten agreement. The Working, Not Working retrospective suits this well.
  • Save what you agree as team agreements in TeamRetro so they show in the sidebar of every future retrospective and health check.

Frequently asked questions

What goes in a team charter?
Most team charters cover three things. Why the team exists: purpose, goals and who you serve. How the team works together: roles, decision making, communication, definition of done and meetings. How agreements stay alive: following them, raising breaches, handling conflict and reviewing them when things change.
What is the difference between a team charter and a working agreement?
A team charter is the bigger picture: why the team exists, what it's aiming for and who does what. Working agreements are the day-to-day rules for how people work together, such as response times, meeting habits or code review turnaround. Many teams keep their working agreements as one section of the charter.
What are some examples of working agreements?
Good working agreements are short, specific and easy to check. For example: "We reply to direct messages within one working day." "We start and end meetings on time." "Nothing counts as done until it's reviewed and tested." "We raise concerns with each other before going to a manager."
How do you write a team charter?
Get the whole team in one session, not just the lead. Work through each section in turn, write short plain statements everyone can live with, and park anything you can't settle yet. Put the result where people will see it, then run this check after a few weeks to see what's sticking.
How often should we review our working agreements?
Look at them in a retrospective every month or two, and again whenever someone joins or leaves, goals change or the way you work changes. Running this check each quarter shows which agreements are slipping before they turn into friction. Drop agreements nobody follows or needs, because a short list gets followed.
How is this different from a team health check?
A team health check covers broad areas like delivery, learning and fun. This check looks only at the agreements that hold the team together. If people don't feel safe pointing out a broken agreement, run a psychological safety assessment first.

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