4.2 The Framework or "The 7 Lists"

The first thing I had to figure out was how to structure the work. What questions can you ask a team at the beginning to understand what they do today and how they do it? Or, in other words, what needs to change?

Over time, these seven areas emerged, which now form the core of the teamdecoder framework:

• People – Who is in the team? Is there a hierarchy? Who is connected to whom?

• Skills – What can the team do?

• Roles – How does the team currently work (admin, management, support, organization, etc.)?

• Domains – What clear responsibilities exist (or don’t)?

• Links – Who is the team connected to (or should be), and who takes care of that?

• Circles – Who collaborates with whom on which topics?

• Projects – Are there major initiatives that are ongoing or planned?

I refer to Skills, Roles, Domains, and Links collectively as “Roles” – in the app, these are the blue lists. Since there are usually many roles within a team, it makes sense to divide them into different content-based categories (see above: “Types of Roles”).

Circles and Projects are what I call “Groups.” These are the green lists in the app. In companies, this is often referred to as a “department,” “business unit,” “task force,” or something similar.

All of this is ultimately customizable in the app, but these questions always provide a helpful starting point to get an overview of the current situation in the team. They also help identify the first weak spots to work on.

Plus, they can be used to shape future ideas using the same categories — in the sense of: “To achieve this, you’ll need the following skills, roles, circles, etc.”

Links:

• Knowledge Base "The Framework": https://teamdecoder.tawk.help/article/the-teamdecoder-framework

• Knowledge Base "The 7 lists": https://teamdecoder.tawk.help/article/what-do-the-7-lists-stand-for

• Knowledge Base - all articles about the categories: https://teamdecoder.tawk.help/category/framework