Team Charter Template

Team working agreement: purpose, goals, boundaries, roles and back-ups, decision rules, working agreements, conflict and feedback, team health check

プロジェクト管理標準Common practice; Tuckman (1965), Edmondson (1999)team charter更新 2026/10/29

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使い方: Use it when a team forms or its membership changes, written together in one workshop. Fill the decision rules and working agreements first, in observable terms. The main pitfall is a charter written by the manager, or one never reviewed after the kick-off.

プレビュー

Team Charter: [Team name]

A team charter is the team's own agreement on why it exists, what it is responsible for, how its members work together, how decisions are made and how disagreement is handled. It is written by the team, for the team, usually in a facilitated session at the start of a project or when membership changes, and it is revisited regularly. It complements the project charter, which authorises the project from above. Based on common team practice and on published research on team development and psychological safety. Replace every [bracketed] value and every row marked Example.

Document control

Field	Value
Document ID	[TC-TEAM-NN]
Team	[Team name]
Project or product	[Project or product name]
Version	[1.0]
Status	[Draft / Agreed / Under review]
Facilitator	[@facilitator]
Agreed on	YYYY-MM-DD
Next review	YYYY-MM-DD
Classification	[Internal]

Approvals

Every member records agreement. Sponsor or manager acknowledgement is optional and confirms support for the team's working agreements.

Name	Role	Agreed	Date
[@member]	[Role]	[Yes]	YYYY-MM-DD
[@manager]	[Sponsor or line manager, acknowledgement]	[Yes]	YYYY-MM-DD

Revision history

Version	Date	Author	Change
1.0	YYYY-MM-DD	[Team]	First agreed version
1.1 (Example)	YYYY-MM-DD	[Team]	Core hours changed after a new member joined from another time zone

The worked example is the Portal team on the fictional Brackwell Vale Housing Trust Tenant Services Portal project: seven people across the trust and two suppliers, working hybrid across two time zones.

1. Purpose

[Purpose statement]

Example: We give Brackwell Vale tenants a portal they can use to report repairs and pay rent without calling us, and we hand the contact centre a service it trusts.

2. Goals and measures of success

ID	Goal	Measure	Target
TG-1	[Goal]	[Measure]	[Target]
TG-1 (Example)	Ship portal releases tenants can use	Releases passing accessibility review first time	9 of 10
TG-2 (Example)	Keep a sustainable pace	Overtime hours per person per month	Under 8
TG-3 (Example)	Learn as a team	Retrospective actions completed by next retrospective	80% or more

3. Scope and boundaries

The team owns	The team does not own	Escalate to
[Area]	[Area]	[@name]
Example: Portal configuration and front-end changes	Legacy housing system	[@project-manager]
Example: Release scheduling within the stage plan	Budget and contract changes	[@project-manager]

4. Roles and responsibilities

Name	Role	Main responsibilities	Back-up
[@name]	[Role]	[Responsibilities]	[@name]
[@lead] (Example)	Team lead	Plans work with the team, removes blockers, reports to the project manager	[@dev-1]
[@po] (Example)	Product owner	Orders the backlog, accepts stories	[@senior-user-delegate]
[@ux] (Example)	Designer	Design and accessibility	[@dev-2]

Rotating duties: [meeting facilitator, release captain, note taker, rotation period].

5. Decision rules

Decision type	Rule	Who decides if stuck	Time limit
[Type]	[Rule]	[@name]	[Time]
Example: Technical design inside the portal	Responsible developer decides after consulting at least one peer	Team lead	2 working days
Example: Changes to these working agreements	Consent: adopted unless someone states a reasoned objection	Facilitator runs a second round	Next retrospective
Example: Backlog order	Product owner decides	Senior user	Sprint planning

Record significant decisions in the Decision log.

6. Working agreements

Area	Agreement
Core hours	[Hours and time zones]
Communication channels	[Which channel for what, expected response times]
Meetings	[Cadence, agenda, cameras, notes]
Quality	[Definition of done, review rules]
Availability and leave	[How to signal absence]
Focus time	[Protected time]
Example: Core hours	10:00 to 15:00 UK time, Monday to Thursday
Example: Channels	Chat for quick questions (reply within 4 working hours), tickets for work, email for external parties
Example: Meetings	Daily stand-up 15 minutes, no meetings on Friday mornings
Example: Quality	A story is done only when it meets the team's definition of done

7. Conflict and feedback

Raise disagreement with the person first, in private, within [N] working days.
If unresolved, bring it to [the team lead / a retrospective / a neutral facilitator].
Feedback is specific, about behaviour and its effect, and given in time to act on.
Example: "Disagree and commit": once a decision is made under the agreed rule, everyone supports it and the dissent is recorded.

8. Team health check

Area	Score (1 to 5)	Trend	Action
[Area]	[Score]	[Up / Same / Down]	[Action]
Example: We can raise problems without fear	4	Same	None
Example: We protect focus time	2	Down	Move status updates to written check-ins

9. Related templates

Project charter, which authorises the project
RACI matrix
Sprint retrospective, where the charter is reviewed
Communication plan
Definition of done

Glossary

Working agreement: a norm the team chose for how it works together.
Consent decision: a proposal is adopted unless a member gives a reasoned objection.
Psychological safety: a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking, such as asking questions or admitting mistakes.
Retrospective: a regular team meeting to inspect and improve how the team works.

Standard and licence note

Based on common team practice. The forming, storming, norming and performing sequence comes from B. W. Tuckman, "Developmental sequence in small groups", Psychological Bulletin 63(6), 384 to 399 (1965), https://doi.org/10.1037/h0022100. Psychological safety is described in A. Edmondson, "Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams", Administrative Science Quarterly 44(2), 350 to 383 (1999), https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999. The sources are cited only; the sections, wording and fictional example are original. Template licence: MIT.