What a working agreement is
A working agreement is a short document in which a team writes down how it intends to work together. It is not a contract and it is not a rulebook handed down from above. It records the team’s shared expectations about everyday things: how quickly people reply, how work is passed along, how meetings run, and what to do when something goes wrong.
Most teams already have unwritten norms. The trouble is that they differ from person to person. One person assumes a message needs an answer within the hour, another thinks end of the day is fine. Neither is wrong, but the mismatch causes quiet friction. Writing the norms down makes them visible and lets people adjust them.
This is general guidance. Formal obligations such as contracts, scheduling laws and company policy take priority over anything a team agrees informally, and these rules vary, so check your own employer’s policies.
Why bother
A good working agreement can help in a few ways:
- It reduces guessing. People know what is expected without having to ask or infer.
- It makes disagreements easier. You can point to what was agreed instead of arguing about preferences.
- It helps new members get up to speed.
- It gives a team a neutral way to raise a problem: “Our agreement says X, and that did not happen” is less personal than a complaint.
It will not fix deep problems such as unclear roles or an overloaded team. It is a tool for making ordinary coordination smoother.
What to include
Keep the list short, since a document with forty items will not be read. Choose the areas that cause the most friction for your team. Common ones include:
Communication
- Which tool is used for what: quick questions, formal decisions, urgent matters. Agreeing on communication channels removes a lot of confusion.
- Expected response windows, for example “within one working day unless marked urgent.”
- How to flag urgency, and what counts as urgent.
- Group chat norms, such as whether to use threads and how to avoid tagging everyone.
Availability
- Core hours when people can be reached, and how time zones are handled.
- How after-hours messages are treated, including that no reply is expected outside agreed work hours unless it is a true emergency.
- How to share planned absence and who covers.
Meetings
- Whether an agenda is required and how long meetings usually run.
- A shared habit of asking whether a meeting is needed at all.
- How notes and action items are recorded.
Handoffs and deadlines
- How work is passed between people and what a handoff note should contain.
- How the team signals that a deadline is at risk.
- What “done” means for common tasks, and who reviews.
Feedback and conflict
- How comments on each other’s work are given.
- What to do if two people disagree and cannot resolve it.
You do not need all of these. Two or three well-chosen items are better than a long list nobody remembers.
How to create one
The process matters as much as the result. An agreement the team helped write is more likely to be followed than one imposed on it.
- Set aside a short session. Thirty to sixty minutes is often enough for a first draft.
- Ask what works and what does not. Start with experiences: “When has our coordination gone well? When has it been frustrating?” Let people write answers individually first, so quieter members are included. If someone struggles with speaking up in meetings, written input helps them participate.
- Turn the pain points into proposals. For each recurring issue, draft one plain statement: “We reply to direct questions within one working day.”
- Discuss and adjust. Check that people can live with each item. The goal is “good enough that everyone will try it,” not perfect agreement.
- Write it down in one place. One page is a good target. Use plain sentences.
- Share it where people will see it, such as the top of the team’s main channel or the team’s shared folder.
If a team includes people with different needs, such as caregivers, part-time staff or people in different regions, take these into account early. An agreement that suits only some members will quietly fail.
Write it in a way people can use
Prefer specific, observable wording. “We communicate respectfully” is hard to apply. “We give at least a day’s notice when asking for review of a long document” is easy to check. Describe behaviors, not attitudes.
Also include the reason for items when it is not obvious. People follow an agreement more willingly when they know why it exists.
Avoid phrasing that makes expectations sound like absolute promises. Real work has exceptions, and a short line such as “unless something urgent comes up” keeps the document realistic.
Keep it alive
A working agreement that is written once and forgotten will not help. A few habits keep it useful:
- Review it on a schedule, perhaps every few months, and after any big change such as new members or a new project.
- Ask a simple question at the review: “What should we keep, change or drop?”
- Refer to it during onboarding and when a related problem comes up.
- Update it openly. Note the date of the last change.
If an item is constantly ignored, do not simply scold people. Ask whether the item is realistic. Either the team needs to change its behavior or the agreement needs to change.