Charter authoring

Every charter has the same six sections, in the same order. That sameness is the point — it lets a new manager read across thirty charters in an afternoon.

Team purpose

One sentence. The reason this team exists, in plain language. If you can't say it in one sentence, you don't have a purpose yet — you have a list of activities.

Good: "We turn HR data into decisions about hiring, leveling, and team design." Less good: "World-class people analytics."

Focus areas

The 3 to 7 things this team prioritizes above all else. Not aspirations — territories. Each item should be 2 to 8 words. If an item is longer, it's probably a project, not an area.

Measures

How you know the work is working. Each measure has a verb (increase, decrease, maintain), a description, and a source (where the number lives — a dashboard URL, a quarterly review, etc).

Lagging and leading both count. Don't try to make everything measurable — measure what matters.

Decision rights

Per decision, who Decides, who is Informed, who is Consulted, who Executes (DICE). We use DICE rather than RACI because RACI confuses responsible with accountable and conflates consult with inform. DICE is sharper.

Roles

Each role on the team. Title, focus statement, and (optionally) a named person. A role can exist without a person filling it — that's useful for capturing a gap.

Guidelines

Working agreements. Short. Editable. Operating principles, not aspirations.

What's next

• Linking & nesting — connect roles across charters
• Slack generation — get a draft started from a channel