Crafting A Design Team Charter
(Originally published 3 Dec 2020; revised 1 Jun 2025; scheduled for additional revision)
This year, I’ve helped 5 design teams draft their charter. At the outset of this work is a series of 4 2-hour group sessions (it used to be a one-day workshop in a conference room) to define different aspects of the team. Having done it a bunch now, I’ve developed a fairly strong agenda for conducting these sessions. Below I have shared the entire agenda. Feel free to use it for your team!
Why draft a charter?
As design teams grow, they often realize that there’s a set of assumptions about they work they do, assumptions put on them by people outside design. These assumptions end up constraining the potential of the design team, and they find themselves focused on production when there is so much more they could offer.
I believe these charter projects have proven popular because they provide a platform for a design team to define itself, to set its own course and agenda. They help teams build confidence taking control of the kind of work they do, and how they do it. This empowerment, in turn, makes the teams more effective, as they feel greater connection to their work.
“If Design Were A Person” Activity
Most of the activities are fairly straightforward group work to arrive at some common understanding, with a divergent phase (generate a lot of ideas), grouping and organizing, and then a convergent phase (voting) to arrive at a result.
These activities tend toward the logical, verbal, rational. Working with design teams, I wanted to tap into the creative, pictorial, visceral. When I conducted these group sessions in a conference room, I would use the Design The Box activity to get people in that generative, lateral thinking mode, hoping to tap into stuff that’s subconscious. I tried bringing that into a remote session, but I find that drawing tools just aren’t sufficient in these platforms, and were getting in the way of creation.
So I changed it to a “If The Design Team Were a Person,” with the idea that we still have imagery, and there’s something subconscious that goes into the identification of that person, with a post hoc rationalization of the qualities of that person and how they apply to the Design Team.
That said, I’m not thrilled with the exercise. It works, and I’ve gotten good stuff from it, but I suspect it could be better. I’d love to hear from folks on generative, creative activities that they’ve facilitated remotely.
The Sessions Are Only The Beginning
The group sessions account for about a half to a third of the total effort in charter building. The sessions are great for getting ideas out of people’s heads, and the voting and discussion that happens places focus on the specific areas that are most resonant to the team. After the sessions are complete, then someone (or a small group) needs to take what’s been generated as input into the drafting of a charter, which is a process of distillation, wordsmithing, refinement, a lot of dead-ends, and occasional epiphanies—much like any writing work.
Agenda for Leading Teams Through Creating a Charter
Embedded in that agenda are links to a series of public Miro boards for capturing the group work. I think (?) you should be able to copy the boards to your own account, and if not, they’re pretty easy to recreate.
Who’s Involved
These sessions can work for groups up to about 20. More than that and there are too many voices to manage. If your team is 20 people or fewer, have everyone join.
For teams larger than 20, identify a mix of participants who can represent the entire team. It’s essential that all design leadership joins. If there is room for additional people, select people across a range of functions and work teams to get as broad a perspective as possible.
Also, for teams larger than 20, that suggests there may be ‘sub-teams’ that are also suited to this type of work.
Structure
Each Session is roughly 2 hours, in order to accommodate focus fatigue when doing remote work. (Originally this workshop was all-day in a conference room.) Typically these are done one-a-day for four days straight. Two could be done on one day (with preferably an hour break in between). Do not stretch it out beyond a week—maintaining some momentum is crucial.
Session 1
10 minutes—Introduction and ground rules
The day begins with an introduction to the work that we will be doing over the course of the four sessions, and a set of ground rules to ensure we make the most of our time together.
Please…
- Turn off notifications on your devices (including your laptop!)
- Use the largest display you can connect to
- Go with the flow and have fun!
30 minutes—What’s Working, What’s Not?
10 minutes - Writing
We begin by writing down what’s working well and what are our current pains and challenges. Use one ‘sticky’ per idea.
To help you get started, and to organize the group’s thoughts, there are prompts—People/Roles Doing The Work, Relationships/Communication, Culture, Anything Else. Please place stickies where appropriate.
5 minutes - Voting
We will then vote to identify those ideas that feel most acute, the areas that warrant attention. Everyone will have 5 votes.
15 minutes - Discussion
Looking at the results of the voting, we’ll discuss the patterns we see, and discuss how, over the next few days, we can address what has emerged.
30 minutes—If The Design Team Was a Person...
Next, we imagine if the Design Team was a person that represents the team’s best self, who would it be? It could be real or fictional.
5-7 minutes - Find your person, write up their traits
Spend a couple minutes thinking about the person whom you feel is emblematic of the best self of the Design Team. That if you could embody the Design Team in an individual, it would be this person. Find an image of them, paste that into your spot on the board, and write down 3-5 words or phrases as to what that person represents.
23-25 minutes - Share out and Discussion
We’ll go around the board, and people will share out the person and their traits, and we’ll discuss any patterns that we see.
45 minutes—My Best Work Experience
Let’s celebrate the good things we’ve done! Digging into these positive experiences can help us understand the conditions we want to optimize for in product design.
5 minutes - Write about the experience
Spend a few minutes writing notes about the best work experience that you’ve had. Ideally, this would be work done here, but, if it’s work done elsewhere, that’s fine, too. What did you accomplish? What made it so great?
40 minutes - Sharing out
We’ll go around the board, and have people share their experiences about work they feel great about. With any time we have left, we’ll discuss what themes we’ve seen emerge.
Session 2
60 Minutes—Mission/Purpose Statement - The Why
Every team must have a purpose, a reason for being. Sierra Club: “We defend everyone’s right to a healthy world.” Southwest Airlines: “Connect people to what’s important in their lives through friendly, reliable, low-cost air travel.”
So what’s the Design Team’s Purpose? Why do you exist?
10 minutes - Draft purpose statements
Each person has a section of the canvas. Using larger ‘stickies’, everyone drafts multiple purpose statements for the team. Don’t wordsmith or worry about grammar. Get out a few statements (at least 3, up to as many as you can think up) that you feel answer these questions:
- What does this team do for the organization? For our customers?
- What should our team be known for to others in our organization?
- What problem(s) do we solve, what opportunities do we address, why are we here?
The idea here is to develop a volume of statements that we will subsequently review and hone.
20-25 minutes - Place statements in the board, Read, Group
We will go person-by-person, having each one read their statements, and then place them in the middle of the board. If someone has a statement very similar to what was read, then just place it next to it (don’t wait for your turn to read it).
As people place statements, we’ll group them together by theme or topic.
Discuss what has been written. Ask questions, seek clarification. If you have an issue with something, voice it. If you think something’s missing, add it.
10 minutes - Vote
We will conduct two rounds of voting.
For the first round, we’ll use Miro’s voting interface, and have people spend 2 minutes to vote on the 4 topic areas (not stickies!) that you think are most important to reflect in the Purpose Statement.
For the next round of voting, people will have 4 minutes, and you’ll be able to vote on the 4 stickies (specific purpose statements) that most resonate with you. Give preference to stickies within the chosen topic areas, but if there is a statement outside one of the chosen topic areas that you think is crucial, feel free to vote on it.
10-15 minutes - Discussion
We’ll discuss the results of the voting, and whatever feels like is emerging from the group. We’ll identify areas where there is strong alignment, and then areas where there may be disagreement or contradiction.
5 minute break
Step away from the computer. Do 20 jumping jacks. Get a drink of water.
35 minutes—Values - The Why
Every group is bonded through a shared set of values. These values define what the group upholds, what they stand for. It’s important that these values be interesting, and not cliched. For example, every company is Trustworthy, Credible, Friendly, etc. That’s not interesting. At Snagajob, my team had these values: Humility, Quality, Evidence, Fearlessness, and Context. At Capital One, the team had Simplicity, Humanity, Ingenuity.
What are the Values of the Design Team (distinct from the values of the company)?
5 minutes - Write
Everyone should write down at least 5 values, one per sticky note.
10 minutes - Post and Group
Like we did with the Purpose Statements, we’ll go around the ‘room’ one-by-one. People will read their values and place them in the center of the board.
As people post values, if you have an identical or VERY similar value, place it next to theirs.
If you’re not sure that’s similar enough, leave it separate. We don’t want to obscure anything.
We will distinguish clusters and give them a single label to be identified with.
2 minutes Voting
Everyone has 5 votes to place on the Values they feel are most important to them. Place votes on the cluster label, not the sticky.
15 minutes Discussion
We’ll discuss which values have emerged as strong contenders, which are ‘on the bubble,’ and any values that received no or only one vote that someone wants to advocate for. The idea is to end up with 4-5 values that we feel good about aligning ourselves with.
Session 3
60 minutes—The Work - The What
It’s important to be explicit about the kind of work the team does and does not do, and where we should focus our efforts in improvements.
35 minutes - What We Do
10 minute - List all the things we do as a team
We’ll begin by establishing all the things the team currently does. Zoom into the “What we do” part, and start adding stickies. Yellow Stickies for output/deliverables (wireframes, workflows, redlines), Blue stickies for process/activities (ethnographic research, usability testing, facilitating workshops, backlog grooming), Mauve stickies for relationship management (meetings, peer therapy, etc.).
As a group, keep adding them until no one can think of anything else we do. Place related items near each other. If there are duplicates, remove one.
10 minutes - Dot voting: STOP, BETTER, GREAT
Once we’re done writing, we’ll shift gear into a ‘dot-voting’ session. I’ve given you 5 of each kind of dot, but use as many as you’d like.
- STOP: Identify the things you think we should NO LONGER be doing by placing a red dot on them..
- BETTER: Identify the things that we should keep doing, but need to be doing better, by placing an orange dot on them.
- GREAT: Identify the things that we should be doing, and are doing great at, by placing a green dot on them.
Each person can only place one dot on an item, but multiple people can place dots on the same item.
15 minutes - Discussion
After everyone has placed their dots, we’ll discuss the patterns we see, unpack what people intended when they placed their dots, and generally get a better sense of our current work.
20 minutes—What We Want To Do
10 minutes - List all the things we want to do as a team
We will then repeat the process of the first step, but instead of identifying what we currently do, we’ll write down what we want to do, but aren’t currently. Zoom into the “What we want to do (but aren’t)” part, and start adding stickies, using the same color coding. Do not edit as you go -- no shouts of “I don’t want to do that!” or anything.
As a group, keep adding them until no one can think of anything else we want do.
5 minutes - Voting
Then, using Miro’s voting capability (not dots), people will select the 5 items that they think are most important for the team to be doing but currently aren’t.
15 minutes - Discussion
After the voting, we’ll discuss what themes emerged, and begin to identify how we can add these new capabilities to the team.
50 minutes—Internal Norms, Behaviors and Commitments - The How
A defining aspect of a team is how it operates between members, the behaviors and commitments people have to one another.
For the following set of topics, answer the questions -- What should we KEEP doing? What should we START doing? What should we STOP doing?
- Communication within the Design team
- Collaboration within the Design team
- Doing the work of Design
- Hold each other accountable within the Design team
- Resolve conflict and make decisions within the Design team
15 minutes - Get your thoughts down!
Let’s graffiti! Each of these questions is on the Miro board. For 15 minutes, add your answer/thoughts ne ar the appropriate question. If you have ideas for norms and behaviors not addressed by the question, place them in the space at the bottom.
10 minutes - Read and vote
There’s a lot of material here, so we will have plenty of time to read and then vote on which items people feel most passionate about, connected to, or are of importance.
We will use Miro’s voting interface, and everyone will have 20 votes (the maximum that Miro allows) to use across the entire board. That works out to 3 or 4 per topic area, and try to spread your votes accordingly. That said, if you end up with more than 4 votes in a topic area because you feel the items within are worth recognition, that’s okay.
25 minutes - Discuss
We’ll go topic area by topic area and discuss the results of the voting. We’ll identify themes, areas that need to be addressed, etc.
Session 4
50 minutes—External Norms - How The Team Works With Others - The What
We will then think about how we want to ‘show up’ with our cross-functional peers.
For the following set of topics, answer the questions -- What should we KEEP doing? What should we START doing? What should we STOP doing?
- Conduct our business (show up/behave as peers, professionals, colleagues)
- Collaborate and integrate with others
- Plan our work with others
- Help others understand what it is we do
- Advocate for what we need to succeed
Additionally we’ll address, “What must we do in every engagement?” before it starts, while it’s happening, and as it wraps.
15 minutes - Get your thoughts down!
Let’s graffiti! Each of these questions is on the Miro board. For 15 minutes, add your answer/thoughts near the appropriate question. Make sure to work across the whole board, and if you see a topic area that isn’t getting attention, go there!
10 minutes - Read and vote
There’s a lot of material here, so we will have plenty of time to read and then vote on which items people feel most passionate about, connected to, or are of importance.
We will use Miro’s voting interface, and everyone will have 20 votes (the maximum that Miro allows) to use across the entire board. That works out to 3 or 4 per topic area, and try to spread your votes accordingly. That said, if you end up with more than 4 votes in a topic area because you feel the items within are worth recognition, that’s okay.
25 minutes - Discuss
We’ll go topic area by topic area and discuss the results of the voting. We’ll identify themes, areas that need to be addressed, etc.
50 minutes - Measuring Success
A team is, in large part, defined by the impact it makes. Often, measures of success for Design are immature and unsophisticated. By declaring our own measures, we take control of our work. These measures can help us prioritize what we work on, how we hire, and initiatives within the team.
To identify measures of success, we will refer to the prior sessions, specifically around Purpose, Norms, and The Work, and come up with metrics that encourage us to deliver in those areas.
10 minutes - Draft success metrics
This will be similar to how we handled Values.
Everyone should write down around 5 measures of success, one per sticky note.
20 minutes - Place statements in the board, Read, Group
We will go person-by-person, having each one read their success measures, and then place them in the middle of the board.
As people post metrics, if you have an identical or VERY similar metric, place it next to theirs.
As we continue, we’ll group them together, and label their theme or topic.
Discuss what has been written. Ask questions, seek clarification. If you have an issue with something, voice it. If you think something’s missing, add it.
10 minutes - Vote
We will conduct two rounds of voting.
For the first round, we’ll use Miro’s voting interface, and have people spend 2 minutes to vote on the 4 topic areas (not stickies!) that you think are most important for us to measure.
For the next round of voting, people will have 4 minutes, and you’ll be able to vote on the 4 stickies (specific measures of success) that most resonate with you. Give preference to stickies within the chosen topic areas, but if there is a measure outside one of the chosen topic areas that you think is crucial, feel free to vote on it.
15 minutes - Discussion
We discuss the implications of the voting, and how these results may change the nature of the work the team does.
10 Minutes Wrap up and next steps
This process will not be complete in the room. This material will need to be gathered, refined, distilled, and shared back with the team afterwards.
We’ll discuss how people feel about where we ended up, what they feel strongly about, and what may be missing. We’ll then identify next steps and owners of those items.