When forming a new team regarding a new business problem, there's going to be a fair degree of getting to know the problem as well as getting to know each other.
A team liftoff is a planned set of activities aimed at getting the team up-and-running as quickly as possible. It is useful for two primary reasons:
- It sets the tone and gives us a clear purpose
- It's an opportunity for team building, which will accelerate team formation
Team liftoffs can span from half a day to a whole week, depending on the activities included. Dedicating time now to giving our team the best possible start is a shrewd investment as a liftoff will likely enable us to become high performers sooner.
Working closely and collaboratively are habits that we want our team to form as quickly as possible. Choosing liftoff activities that create a shared understanding and foster a positive team culture is key.
We'll run through a set of straightforward activities so that you get an idea of how a liftoff would work.
A simple liftoff timeline looks like the following:
I've outlined the core liftoff events in the following section; each is a separate activity. It does make sense to run certain activities before others, for example, we need to understand product vision before we define the product backlog.
One final thing before we get into the details: it's never too late to run a team liftoff. Even if we've already started on our team mission, running a team liftoff will give a team the opportunity to clarify its understanding and codify its approach. If we feel our current team lacks direction or understanding or cohesiveness, it's probably a good time run an Agile team liftoff.