What's your Team Playbook go to?

[Kate C_]

Hey, all! Have you seen the Atlassian Team Playbook? It's awesome IMHO - we have a library of resources designed to improve your communication, alignment and team empathy.

One my team does about once a year which I find huge value in, is the Rituals Reset play. As a global and remote team, we rely heavily on our rituals to keep us in contact with each other, keep track of things like handovers, important news and updates, and with managing our workload. It makes sense for us to do a reset and check in with what’s working, what’s no longer serving its purpose, and what could be improved. It’s so great to feel organized and have an open discussion with my teammates on our communication processes.

I think it’s a perfect play to do to start the new year on the right foot, so I thought it might be helpful to share it here.

For those familiar with the Team Playbook, I'd love for you to share a play you’ve found helpful and why.

Those just hearing about it for the first time, I encourage you to take a look at the categories and share what you think would be a good one to try in 2024 with your team. 💙

Kate

[Rodrigo Borgia]

Hi @Kate C_ , this is indeed a great topic to read, contribute, share and follow.

I'm a Product Owner in a small team, that's where i follow all #Atlassian guidelines and products.

Also, I am a Lego Serious Play facilitator that support other teams in rituals, strategies and team building activities.

Without know about the name of this activity, i've been asked to create a space / environment for a team to similar purpose.

Is the background you can see 4 posters to write on: 

1) ¡Así no! (Not this way!)

2) Hoy (Today)

3) Estamos trabajando en ..... (We are working on.....)

4) Futuro (Future)

And - for a final social sharing and innovation - i asked everyone to complete what's missing and haven't been said on the same papers.

I'm sharing this activity since i receive a lot from this community, this is a time to give back.

I hope you & everyone that has the chance to read this, enjoys the content and - how knows - maybe conduct a similar idea on it's own!

Have fun,

Rodrigo

[Kate C_]

@Rodrigo Borgia a Lego Serious Play facilitator?! That is so cool! And what you're describing here is very similar. Thank you for sharing with the community and validating this type of breakout session is important for the health and success of teams.

[Gabriela Koleva]

Hi @Kate C_,

Thank you so much for sharing the links and starting this topic! I was visiting the Unleash in Amsterdam Event and there was a session talk about Rituals and Ritual Reset play. Had it in my notes to look for that once I am back today so seeing your topic in my email was a surprising delight! 

I have scrolled through the different categories and it looks like that our team had already adopted a few rituals (even though we didn't know those before yesterday). We have Feature Kick-off, Retrospective and a version of Team Poster which we use to evaluate Prototypes and Demos during Pre-Production. I am considering adding a DevEx Survey and a form of the Rituals Reset for end of every quarter in combination with the Survey to ensure things are progressing in the right direction.

[Kate C_]

Hi @Gabriela Koleva thank you for attending Unleash! It looked like an amazing event. I was sad to have missed it but have been enjoying the shares/posts by excited attendees this week. That is so funny that my favourite play was discussed there!

I love to hear that you already do a bunch with your team (without calling it a "play"), I've found Kick-off & Retrospective to be useful as well. Being in a non-technical team I've not tried the Developer Experience Survey, but the developer-specific vital signs look like a great addition. While we're sort of on the topic of developer satisfaction, if you haven't tried any of the Building strong relationships plays I would totally recommend them - we know that high trust with psychological safety accelerates team cohesion.  

[Gabriela Koleva]

Thank you for the recommendations @Kate C_! The team already knows each other for some time and we have gotten used to working together (plus most hang out after work) but those definitely look like a good read. I will give them a try and maybe try something from there if I find it applicable for us.

[Andy Gladstone]

@Kate C_ great topic, and a timely one too. I have been going through my notebooks and thoughts about what has worked this past year, what has failed, what can be deemed a success and what is still a WIP. I keep coming back to a play I have run before with some teams in our organization as a key to setting up 2024 - the Health Monitor.

I have found that with the right preparation - which includes making sure everyone is coming to the table with honesty and vulnerability - this play can really help surface the issues that are preventing teams from achieving their potential. 

I hope to put in the work and prepare for a few sessions in early 2024 that will help our internal teams maximize their opportunities in the coming year.

[Kate C_]

The Health Monitor is such a good one, @Andy Gladstone, my team does it regularly. I think having an impartial facilitator (and one that's not... intimidating(?) to the team) is a key factor in the success of the play, going along with the right prep, as you mentioned.

I'm sure next year your team will be thankful you're so supportive!

[Carlos]

I loved the ritual reset we had in October. It was a great way to get everything out in the open and look at what was and wasn't working for us. 

I definitely recommend the Atlassian Team Playbook for any team that is looking to grow and become better.