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Team Circles
Table of contents
What is Team Circles?
Team Circles is a card from the Team Tactics deck by Pip Decks.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos famously instituted a rule: every internal team should be small enough that it can be fed with two pizzas. A smaller team spends less time keeping people up to date, and more time doing what needs to be done.
Try Team Modelling beforehand to help with the first part of the tactic. Afterwards, use Agile Comms to help keep your teams informed.
When to use Team Circles
- Rapid organizational growth leading to communication breakdowns
- Siloed teams causing inefficiencies
- Need for improved cross-functional collaboration
- Desire to reduce micromanagement
- Challenges in aligning team goals with organizational objectives
- High turnover due to lack of team cohesion
- Difficulty in managing remote or hybrid teams
How to use Team Circles
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Invite your team and others who help you ‘connect the dots’ in your workplace.
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Draw three concentric circles and label them: Informed (outer ring), Involved, Core team (inner circle).
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Using the following prompts, add names to the diagram:
Core team
- Up to nine multidisciplinary team members with a shared goal.
- Communication: daily.
- For example: designers, engineers, project managers.
Involved team
- Up to 12 people from multiple teams who bring specialist knowledge as needed.
- Communication: as needed, with regular progress updates using Agile Comms or Lean Updates.
- For example: subject matter experts.
Informed team
- Up to 24 people who connect the dots across the organisation.
- Communication: fortnightly and for changes in direction.
- For example: leadership team, steering groups.
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Follow up with Team Charter and Roles & Responsibilities. Set your team’s rituals using Ritual Reset.
Tip: make your Team Circles visible to others to encourage collaboration.
