Managing remotely, while remotely managing

Learn more:

When work takes over your life (podcast) – WorkLife with Adam Grant

https://www.ted.com/talks/worklife_with_adam_grant_when_work_takes_over_your_life

36 Great Tips for Online Meeting facilitation (infographic)

http://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Online-meeting-facilitation.pdf

Banishing Burnout: Six Strategies for Improving Your Relationship with Work –Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter (book)

Template “My Relationship With Work” survey (make a copy and fill out every month)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zDC7wzeNqy5K07CVSfNVneqqhHeTzQGQRKBNkFmR_KA/edit#gid=39816133

Transcript

1. Managing remotely, while remotely managing Lindsay Holmwood
 @auxesis
2. ! About me Worked in and lead distributed software engineering teams for 8 years
3. ! About me Lead teams with follow-the-sun coverage
4. ! About me Currently at Envato leading distributed team of 15, 
 growing to 20
5. The journey
 0. Fundamentals 1. Starting out 2. Growing the team 3. Scaling to the whole org
6. You Org Technology Practice
7. You Org Technology Practice
8. No management buy in? Don’t even bother.
9. Outsource Working from home Distributed
10. Distributed? • Geographical • Temporal
11. 1. Starting out
12. You Org Technology Practice
13. All remote, or no remote
14. Create a level playing field
15. Hybrid is hard
16. Regular face to face catchups. Ideal: once a quarter
17. Regular face to face catchups. Likely: once a year
18. Establish rituals
19. Priming
20. “exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus, without conscious guidance or intention”
21. Say silk five times.
22. Now spell “silk”.
23. What do cows drink?
24. If a red house is made with red bricks, a blue house is made with blue bricks, 
 a pink house is made with pink bricks, a black house is made with black bricks, what is a greenhouse made with?
25. Priming to reinforce segmentation
26. Segmenters Create partitions between work and home
27. Segmenters Use rituals to reinforce boundaries
28. Establish rituals Wear shoes while working
29. Establish rituals Different devices
30. Establish rituals Walk around the block
31. Establish rituals Standing desks
32. Integrators Blend home and work life
33. Integrators Strong desire to blur the domains
34. Integrators Easily transition between domains
35. You Integrator Segmenter
36. You Integrator Segmenter
37. Integrators are more accepting of segmenters than vice-versa
38. Integrators need boundaries too, and strategies for disconnecting
39. Segmenters report higher levels of job satisfaction compared to integrators
40. How does this impact working remotely?
41. Remote working naturally lends itself to integrators
42. Integration is a slippery slope to burnout
43. Christina Maslach
44. 6 contributing factors 1. Workload 2. Control 3. Reward 4. Community 5. Fairness 6. Values
45. 6 contributing factors 1. Workload: Too much Too complex Too urgent Too awful
46. 6 contributing factors 1. Workload: The amount of work to complete in a day The complexity of my work The intensity of demands from customers The firmness of deadlines The frequency of surprising, unexpected events The opportunity to settle into a comfortable groove The frequency of interruptions in my workday The proportion of my work time spent with customers The amount of time I work alone The amount of time I work with other employees
47. Understand your relationships with work
48. Promote a culture of segmentation
49. You Org Technology Practice
50. Multiple internet connections Dongle with lots of data
51. Multiple internet connections Don’t skimp on quality (fast upload a must)
52. Multiple internet connections Have backup equipment
53. Multiple internet connections Move to areas with NBN
54. Increase the size of your hiring pool Parents re-entering the workforce
55. Increase the size of your hiring pool People priced out of major cities
56. Increase the size of your hiring pool People with caring responsibilities who can only work part time
57. Have a second monitor See screen + video at the same time
58. Instant messaging Non-negotiable, primary comms method
59. Instant messaging Your lifeline to your team.
60. Instant messaging Scheduled do not disturb time
61. Instant messaging Announce start/stop
62. You Org Technology Practice
63. Ceremonies: Daily standup Rotate the facilitation responsibility
64. Ceremonies: Retrospectives Discuss and refactor practices
65. Leadership participation Show endorsement. Build empathy.
66. 2. Growing the team
67. The basics Even more important!
68. The basics Bring in coaches to observe and facilitate.
69. You Org Technology Practice
70. Hack: Greet everyone to " check
71. Hack: Ask questions in the negative “Does anyone disagree?” not “Do we all agree?”
72. Ceremonies: Daily standup Keep time boxed to 15 minutes
73. Ceremonies: Daily standup Walk the wall
74. Team design: Time zone coverage How many time zones? How much time zone overlap?
75. Team design: Time zone coverage Add people in new time zones in pairs.
76. Team design: Time zone coverage Beginning & end of day standups.
77. Team design: Time zone coverage Record crucial meetings.
78. Team design: Antipattern: Forcing everyone to work at exactly the same time
79. Team design: Antipattern: Communication in physical spaces that excludes remoters
80. Team design: Antipattern: Activities that exclude remoters (use of whiteboards) (in-person icebreakers)
81. Google Quick Draw
82. Team design: Defining question How would this decision make me feel if I was not working in the office?
83. Leadership participation Show endorsement. Build empathy.
84. 3. Scaling to the whole org
85. You Org Technology Practice
86. What does it take to make distributed teams a first class citizen in the organisation?
87. The executive and management working remotely at least 2 days a week.
88. Guilds Share lessons learnt with other teams
89. Feedback loops Keep refactoring your ways of working.
90. Permission to halt # Make it culturally acceptable to halt meetings that aren’t remote friendly
91. Feedback loops “What got us here won’t get us there."
92. Thank you!
 (and questions?)
93. Thank you!
 (and questions?) Liked the talk? Let @auxesis know.
94. Stock photos from Fonts Junction from League of Movable Type Fanwood from League of Movable Type
95. Learn more ◦ When work takes over your life (podcast)
 WorkLife with Adam Grant ◦ 36 Great Tips for Online Meeting facilitation (infographic) ◦ Banishing Burnout: Six Strategies for Improving Your Relationship with Work (book)
 Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter ◦ Template “My Relationship With Work” survey (worksheet)
 (make a copy and fill out every month)
96. Tracking your relationship with work over time
97. Tools for remote working ◦ GroupMap
 Excellent retro + meeting facilitation tool ◦ Mural
 Collaborative online real-time white boarding that doesn’t suck ◦ Trello
 Go wild and create a Trello board for all your meetings!