A team of teams meeting is a crucial coordination meeting used when scaling Agile frameworks to large groups.
When multiple Agile teams work concurrently on a larger initiative, each typically holds its own daily standup meeting. To facilitate necessary coordination and synchronization between these teams, a specific meeting structure is employed. This is where the team of teams meeting comes in.
Based on the provided reference, when scaling Agile up to large groups, many Agile teams work concurrently, each conducting a daily standup meeting. To help these teams coordinate between themselves, they designate one member as an ambassador to participate in a meeting with ambassadors from other teams, called the team of teams meeting.
Purpose and Participants
The primary goal of a team of teams meeting is to ensure alignment, identify dependencies, discuss impediments that span across teams, and coordinate work among multiple interdependent Agile teams.
- Participants: Typically consists of one designated "ambassador" (often a Scrum Master, Product Owner, or a senior team member capable of representing the team) from each individual Agile team.
- Frequency: Often held frequently, sometimes daily or a few times a week, similar to a daily standup but at a higher level.
- Focus: Discussions revolve around cross-team issues, dependencies, upcoming work that impacts other teams, and resolving blockers that individual teams cannot handle alone.
Benefits of a Team of Teams Meeting
Implementing this meeting structure offers several advantages for large-scale Agile adoption:
- Enhanced Coordination: Improves synchronization and understanding between otherwise siloed teams.
- Dependency Management: Helps identify and manage dependencies early, reducing delays.
- Blocker Resolution: Provides a forum to escalate and resolve impediments affecting multiple teams.
- Alignment: Ensures all teams are aligned towards common goals and objectives.
- Information Flow: Facilitates the flow of critical information across the larger group.
Practical Insights
- Agenda: The agenda is usually lightweight, focusing on what each team's ambassador did that impacts others, what they plan to do that impacts others, and any impediments they have that require cross-team support.
- Timeboxed: Like a daily standup, it is typically timeboxed to keep it focused and efficient (e.g., 15-30 minutes).
- Role of Ambassador: The ambassador acts as a liaison, bringing information from their team's standup to the team of teams meeting and taking information discussed in the team of teams meeting back to their individual team.
This structure is a common pattern in scaled Agile frameworks to manage complexity when working with numerous interconnected teams.
