Mission
One sentence. Why this team exists in the world, in language a non-engineer would understand.
Scope: what we own, what we don't
- Systems, surfaces, or outcomes we're accountable for
- Adjacent areas we support but don't own
- Explicit non-goals to prevent scope creep
How we decide
Who's the decider for what — architecture, prioritization, hiring. Reference a RACI or DACI if you have one.
How we measure success
Two to four outcome metrics the team is judged on. Not activity — outcomes stakeholders can see.
Working agreements
Meeting cadence, on-call model, code review norms, definition of done. The stuff every team re-invents; capture it once.
Common pitfalls
- — Writing it alone. Charter without team = shelfware.
- — Skipping non-goals. This is the section that saves you.
- — Never revisiting. Re-check whenever a peer team's scope changes.