A Template to Set the Design Stage
Here at City of Wind Design, Val and I drafted our first Team Contract template. It’s not a legally binding contract so to speak, but a tool the team uses at the beginning of design projects to align on goals, develop communication practices, better organize decision making and establish a space for contingencies.
Reflection
The first section is designed for individual self-reflection, where teammates take a personality test to understand each other’s differences and expertise.
This section is followed by communication style, which is really the heart of this document. Here teammates are telling you their preferred methods of communicating, their strengths and weaknesses in communication, and being transparent about their unique communications styles. Wouldn’t it be great to know upfront if one of your engineers needs time to process information before speaking? Or a product manager prefers Slack emojis as a way of confirming read messages?
The reflection section ends with individual goal setting within the design sprint. Teammates can reflect on their areas of growth for this particular project and how teammates can best support them on their professional growth.
Notice
The Notice section is designed for the group to review each teammate’s reflection section and notice similarities and differences among each other’s personality types, communication styles, and goals.
The intention is to practice awareness and establish a space of inclusivity from the beginning of the design project. Appreciating each teammate’s differences and seeing our human differences as strengths allows for stronger collaboration and communication throughout the project.
Ever get that question: “How do you communicate among cross-functional teams?” Well, this document designs a transparent and inclusive communication culture from the beginning of a design sprint. There’s no surprises in how certain team members need to communicate, because that information is made clear up front and is readily available within team folders.
This section also makes space for being Intentional and Adaptive. Some examples teammates have included in the past are:
I noticed Ingrid expressed that she doodles during meetings, it helps her focus and visualize the high level dialogue. I always thought she was being rude. I wonder how we might include these visuals in our meeting notes.
I see that Alejandro is not a big fan of Zoom. Alejandro prefers to do stand ups using Slack calls or having his Zoom video off. I could see us doing Slack calls for stand ups, but still using Zoom with some flexibility for our weekly team meetings.
I noticed that our engineer Linda is most productive from 6:00 am 10:00 am, but my design work doesn’t get completed until 2:00 pm. I wonder if I could send Linda my deliverables at the end of the day, so the next day is set up for Linda to do well.
Where this work gets critical is in examining our own identity as designers. Reflecting on our own privileges, situatedness, emotions, and assumptions under the Values and Biases section reveals how our personal contexts impacts our design work. We need to unpack the “we” of the “How might we” to truly empathize with our users.
Talk it Out
Unpacking the previous sections as a team allows the group to design communication approaches and systems for the design sprint. Discussing the reflections and noticing sections allows the team to co-create visible practices. Imagine three weeks into a design challenge and things are not going as planned. Teammates can refer to this document and redirect a course of action based on agreed upon practices.
Our current discussion topics help make a sound structure for each design project:
Teamwork and Accountability
Ex. For quick design decisions, the team will use the @here notification with Simple Poll on Slack.Accessibility and Inclusivity
Ex. Val will adjust SCRUM board to include an accessibility check for each deliverable.Sustainability
Ex. The Team will draft a “society” archetype based upon societal goals, needs, wants, and pain points of this particular industry.Meetings, Presentations, and Workshops
Ex. Alexandra voiced her area of growth is designing more accessible slide decks and will be the point of contact for client meetings, presentations, and workshops.Stalemates and Plan B
Ex. The team will anonymously vote on a designer for a decision-maker role to quickly decide design directions if a stalemate is reached.Mental Health
Ex. The team agreed upon a 4-day work week for Quarter 3.Highlights and Lowlights
Ex. Anshika will facilitate weekly bi-weekly team retros highlighting individual and team growth of practicing sustainable design.
Notice that City of Wind also makes space to speak to our mission of designing for sustainability and accessibility. How would you adapt this section to meet your companies’ goals and vision? What would you add or takeaway?
And YES, the team completes this Team Contract document because things change, people change, and project asks change.
I hope these thoughts and practices can be used in designing for accessibility and inclusivity for your next design sprints. Let me know how it goes!
David is the founder of City of Wind Design, a design studio that specializes in serving startups through UX design & software development with a bias toward accessibility & sustainability.