Building and scaling effective distributed teams

Transcript

1. Building and scaling effective distributed teams Lindsay Holmwood
2. About me Worked in and lead distributed software engineering teams for 7 years
3. About me Lead teams with follow-the-sun coverage
4. About me Currently at Envato leading distributed team of 15
5. The journey
 0. Fundamentals 1. Starting out 2. Growing the team 3. Scaling to the whole org
6. Inclusion Practices 
 Technology Sponsorship
7. No management buy in? Don’t even bother.
8. Starting out
9. Inclusion Practices 
 Technology Sponsorship
10. Regular face to face catchups. Ideal: once a quarter
11. Regular face to face catchups. Likely: once a year
12. Establish rituals
13. Multiple internet connections Dongle with lots of data
14. Multiple internet connections Don’t skimp on quality (fast upload a must)
15. Multiple internet connections Move to areas with NBN
16. Multiple internet connections Have backup equipment
17. Instant messaging Non-negotiable, primary comms method
18. Instant messaging Your lifeline to your team.
19. Instant messaging Scheduled do not disturb time
20. Instant messaging Announce start/stop
21. Ceremonies: Daily standup Rotate the facilitation responsibility
22. Ceremonies: Retrospectives Discuss and refactor practices
23. Leadership participation Show endorsement. Build empathy.
24. Growing the team
25. Inclusion Practices 
 Technology Sponsorship
26. The basics Even more important!
27. The basics Bring in coaches to observe and facilitate.
28. Hack: Greet everyone to check
29. Hack: Ask questions in the negative “Does anyone disagree?” not “Do we all agree?”
30. Team design: Time zone coverage How many time zones? How much time zone overlap?
31. Team design: Time zone coverage Add people in new time zones in pairs.
32. Team design: Time zone coverage Beginning & end of day standups.
33. Team design: Time zone coverage Record crucial meetings.
34. Team design: Antipattern: Forcing everyone to work at exactly the same time
35. Team design: Antipattern: Communication in physical spaces that excludes remoters
36. Team design: Antipattern: Activities that exclude remoters (use of whiteboards) (in-person icebreakers)
37. Google Quick Draw
38. Team design: Defining question How would this decision make me feel if I was working from home?
39. Leadership participation Show endorsement. Build empathy.
40. Scaling to the whole org
41. Inclusion Practices 
 Technology Sponsorship
42. What does it take to make distributed teams a first class citizen in the organisation?
43. The executive and management working remotely at least 2 days a week.
44. Guilds Share lessons learnt with other teams
45. Feedback loops Keep refactoring your ways of working.
46. Feedback loops “What got us here won’t get us there."
47. Thank you!
 (and questions?)