interteam

Interteam is a term used to describe interactions, coordination, or collaboration that occur between two or more teams within an organization, project, or ecosystem. It contrasts with intrateam activity, which occurs within a single team. In management and software development, interteam coordination is essential where multiple teams share goals, dependencies, and interfaces. Effective interteam collaboration relies on shared objectives, transparent communication, and integrated planning. Techniques include cross-team roadmaps, dependency mapping, RACI or DACI responsibility models, and joint stand-ups or scrum of scrums. Governance may involve program management offices, product management interfaces, and defined escalation paths.

In practice, interteam alignment seeks to synchronize delivery timelines, standards, and quality practices across teams, mitigating risk of duplication or conflicts. Challenges include information silos, differing cultures, varying priorities, and incomplete visibility into each team's work. Addressing these challenges often requires regular cross-team ceremonies, lightweight documentation, common tooling, and a culture of knowledge sharing. Interteam collaboration is particularly prominent in large-scale agile frameworks, such as SAFe or LeSS, where multiple agile teams coordinate through a shared cadence and integration events.

In non-business contexts, interteam can refer to competitions or exchanges between teams, such as sports leagues or research consortia, where performance and resource sharing occur across teams.

Etymology: from inter- meaning between and team. See also cross-functional teams, interdepartmental collaboration, scrum of scrums.