How to transform your working agreement into a conflict operating protocol? Complete Workshop.
How Mature Agile Teams Handle Pressure? (Part-2)
Last week in Part-1 of the series, we discussed the reasons why most Working Agreements become invisible the moment they matter the most.
Under Pressure.
We discussed why, during high-pressure situations, nobody pulls up the agreement. Why teams usually revert to the original manifesto?
Things like:
urgency over outcomes
hierarchy over collaboration
“whoever shouts loudest” over decision making
heroics over sustainable delivery
Slack priorities over prioritization
And because nothing officially breaks, i.e. no one is specifically “against” the agreement, the routine repeats.
Read Part-1 here if you haven’t already.
In this post, which is Part-2 of the series, we discuss the solution. A recipe that you can apply to your dysfunctional Working Agreement.
Let’s get started.
BTW, speaking of “recipes,” I have an important announcement to make.
📣 Announcement
Starting next week, I am bringing a new format to these newsletters to make them more practical and usable in the trenches.
Introducing Weekly Recipes (launching Thu 26 Feb + Sun 1 Mar).
Every week on Sunday, you’ll get a tested, ready-to-use RECIPE that you can apply immediately to your team environment as an Agile Delivery Lead, Scrum Master, or Product Owner.
What’s a recipe?
A recipe is a short, repeatable “how-to” you can run in your work situation, with a clear structure, suggested wording, and key inputs, so you can adapt it to your context without starting from scratch.
It will be a combination of: template + facilitation guidelines + what didn’t work (for us) + metrics, with recommendations on:
When to use it (and when not to)
What you need before you start
A clear, straightforward (but strategic) approach
These recipes are the wonderful result of collaboration between the Product Experts I've had the pleasure of working with in the past and the talented individuals I am currently lucky enough to work with.
How will it work (every week)
Thursday: Post with insight + actionable takeaway
Sunday: the Weekly Recipe
What paid members get:
Monthly + Yearly subscribers: The complete recipe (including the full template/script)
Yearly subscribers: Access to the growing Recipe Library with the Archive of all the past templates that have already been published on Winning Strategy
I’m excited to ship these because they’re the exact tools I wish I had while working with teams under pressure. More on this next Thursday.
Back to How Mature Agile Teams Handle Pressure? (Part-2)
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Working Agreement to Team Protocols Workshop
The purpose of this workshop is to document 3–5 rules written as If → Then behaviors. These will be embedded into Scrum events, with owners, escalation paths, and consequences.
To start…
Ask everyone (PO, SM, Devs) to submit answers (scenarios) to the following two questions:
“What’s a recent moment of pressure where we didn’t act like our working agreement?”
“What’s the most common ‘problem’ in our team: priority, scope, quality, decision-making, interruptions, stakeholder bypassing, or something else?”
You’ll bring these answers (scenarios) into the workshop below.