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Product Manager's Guidebook
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  • Guidebook
    • Welcome
    • Contribute
    • Donate
  • Prelude
    • A Note From The Author
    • How To Use This Guide
  • Introduction
    • Overview
    • What is a Product Manager?
      • Roles and Responsibilities of a Product Manager
      • The Product Mindset
      • Understanding the Product Management Lifecycle
      • Different Types of Product Managers
    • Product Team Structures
      • Stakeholders, Leadership, and the Company
      • Cross-Functional Product Team
      • Differences between Project, Program, and Product Management
  • People Skills
    • Overview
    • Communication
      • Knowing Your Audience
      • Elements of Persuasion and Motivation
      • The Art of Storytelling
      • Effective Meeting Management
      • Delivering Presentations and Demos
    • Building Relationships
      • Collaboration Cadence and Tools
      • Team Agreements and Purpose
      • Understanding Business Problems
      • Managing Expectations
      • Communicating Progress
    • Leadership
      • Cross-Functional Leadership
      • Applied Motivation and Getting Buy-In
      • Giving and Receiving Feedback
      • Aligning Product Mission, Vision, and Strategy
      • Sharing Impact and Outcomes
  • Process Skills
    • Overview
    • Strategy
      • Objective Setting
      • Prioritization
      • Roadmapping
    • Discovery
      • Problem Research and Definition
      • Customer Discovery and Research
      • Solution Design and Validation
    • Development
      • Writing and Using Product Requirements
      • Concepts through Designing
      • Working with Designers
      • Development Execution and Methodologies
      • Working with Engineers
      • Scoping and Writing User Stories
      • Technical Debt Management
    • Delivery
      • Roll-out and Release Management
      • Assessing Assumptions, Risk, and Issues
      • Measuring Product Launch Success
      • Marketing and Communications
      • User Activation
    • Optimization
      • Iterative Development and Learning
      • Streamlining Processes and Experiences
  • Knowledge Skills
    • Overview
    • Understanding the Customer
      • Customer Segmentation and Targeting
      • User Research Methods
      • Understanding Customer Pain Points
      • User Personas Development
      • User Behavior and Psychology
      • Acquiring and Retaining Customers
    • Data-Driven Decisions
      • The Role of Data in Product
      • Data Analysis and Interpretation
      • Identifying and Understanding Assumptions
      • Formulating Your Hypotheses
      • Selecting a Hypothesis for Testing
      • Navigating Signal Metrics to Define KPIs for Hypothesis Testing
      • Testing Your Hypothesis
      • Upholding Data Privacy and Ethics
    • Domain Knowledge
      • Competitive Analysis and Industry
      • Achieving Product-Market Fit
      • Technology and Innovation
      • Aligning with the Company
    • Business Understanding
      • Organizational Values, Objectives, and Priorities
      • Long-Term Planning
      • Business Model Fit
      • Monetization Strategy
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On this page
  • Example
  • Pain Points
  • Practical Exercise
  • Related Research Topics
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  1. People Skills
  2. Building Relationships

Team Agreements and Purpose

Establishing a shared understanding of the team's agreements, identity, and purpose is crucial for fostering a cohesive and effective team. This involves defining the team's core values, clarifying the purpose behind their product, and establishing guidelines for collaboration.

Example

At a SaaS company like GitLab, the Product Manager might lead a team workshop focused on collectively defining the team's shared values, aligning on the team's purpose, and establishing working agreements. During a dedicated session in the team's weekly meeting, the Product Manager guides the discussion on decision-making processes and communication norms. To ensure efficiency, the Product Manager, along with the engineering manager, outlines high-level items in advance. The team covers topics such as what their team goals are, the product areas of focus, and current objectives for the quarter or month.

These objectives are directly tied to the projects, features, and improvements the team is working on, as well as the company's overarching objectives. The outline may also include details on team-wide meetings, Definition of Done agreements, agreeing to have every piece of work tracked with a ticket, and criteria for complete and detailed product and engineering tickets.

Pain Points

Ensuring that all team members feel heard and represented during the process of defining the team's identity, purpose, and agreements can be challenging. Regularly revisiting and updating these aspects is crucial to accommodate changes and support team growth.

Practical Exercise

Initiate a discussion with your team to define or reassess your team's identity, purpose, and agreements. Evaluate how well these align with your product goals and make any necessary adjustments.

Related Research Topics

  • Team charter [ Google | Perplexity ]

  • Value alignment [ Google | Perplexity ]

  • Team-building exercises [ Google | Perplexity ]

  • Team agreement [ Google | Perplexity ]

  • Acceptance criteria [ Google | Perplexity ]

  • Definition of done [ Google | Perplexity ]

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Last updated 2 months ago