Remote Team, Collaboration and Agile 101 @ TQ Amsterdam

Nearsoft @ TQ Amsterdam

Transcript

2. Why Remote?
3. • Access to more and better talent, exactly the talent you need. • We can respond to "oh shit" situations faster. • Our overhead is lower. Team Benefits
4. • Our employees have lives outside of work. • The ability to hire Inexpensively • Talent is easily retained by not requiring an undesired relocation Team Benefits
5. Personal Benefits Work at your own pace Less costly Flexibility
6. Agile?
7. Not a methodology! The Agile movement seeks alternatives to traditional project management. Agile approaches help teams respond to unpredictability through incremental, iterative work cadences and empirical feedback. Agilists propose alternatives to waterfall, or traditional sequential development. Scrum, Planning, Retrospectives, Standups… http://agilemanifesto.org
8. Remote Agile? Two of the twelve Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto are about people working together in close daily collaboration. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
9. Remote Agile? It is impossible to collaborate effectively on Agile projects in a remote fashion. Tradition insists on co-location of agile development teams.
10. It's difficult to adopt the agile practice of face-to-face interactions. Team Challenges
11. How do remote teams engage in stand up meetings, sprint planning sessions, retrospective meetings, and other Agile ceremonies?
12. You just have to leverage on good practices and the right tools.
13. Problems • Give cards to everyone in the team • Get rid of physical cards • Coordinate between remote teams • Keep track of results • Some people shared video calls Objectives • Have more control in our meetings • Create a neutral environment • Keep track of results • Don’t use new tools
15. Problems • Get control of your flow • Keep the format • Tracking of action items Objectives • Have more control in our meetings • Don’t use new tools
17. A great regular employee doesn’t necessarily make a great remote startup employee. Team Challenges
18. • Hire the Right People, Great employees are not always great remote working employees • Remote work isn’t just a fact of your company, it’s a very specific skill set that you need to hire for. Experts recommend...
19. • Self-managed people, Proactive • Ensure Expectations Are Straight • It’s (practically) impossible to transition to an office. Experts recommend...
20. Embracing remote work doesn’t mean you can’t have an office, just that it’s not required. It doesn’t mean that all your employees can’t live in the same city, just that they don’t have to. Remote work is about setting your team free to be the best it can be, wherever that might be. -Jason and David, the Founders of BaseCamp Piece of Advice
21. • Communication gets harder. • Coordinating across time zones Team Challenges
22. • Ensure Team’s Understanding of Project Goals and Objectives • Maintain Up-to-Date Process Documents • Define Communication Lines • Which lines of communication should be open • When these lines of communication should be open Experts recommend...
23. • Allow a degree of flexible work hours but also keep some consistency, Maximize the golden hours (between office) • Schedule Regular Calls and Meetings • Wake up at 3 a.m. every morning. Seriously. • Overcommunicate, overcommunicate, and overcommunicate some more. Experts recommend...
24. BaseCamp’s founders add: We need a good four hour of overlap to avoid collaboration delays and feel like a team. Piece of Advice
25. Slack Standup Bot Problems • Coordinate between timezones • Loose information • Lack of format Objectives • Have more control in our meetings • Create a formal communication channel • Keep history • Don’t use new tools
27. Collaborating among different development cultures Trust Team Challenges
28. • Ensure Team’s Understanding of Project Goals and Objectives • Performance standards for professional conduct • Create Process! • Maintain Up-to-Date Process Documents • How to apply for and announce holidays (process) Experts recommend...
29. Company culture takes a hit. Team Challenges
30. • Overcommunicate decisions across all geographies • Integrate all your Team, not just the developers • Make offsite events to integrate your Team Experts recommend...
32. Building sympathy when everyone is not in the same office Personal & Team Challenge s No workplace social life
33. • Give Feedback and Praise • Encourage “water cooler” conversations • Share everything about yourself with your team. • Turn your webcam on--and leave it on all day. Experts recommend...
34. It’s important to open up communication channels dedicated to that water cooler type of conversation. We have a channel in Slack labeled ‘random’ where the team can feel free to tell jokes or share things from their personal lives. We also have a tag #personal in iDoneThis where the team can celebrate Dones outside of their work life. - Walter Chan, CEO of productivity app iDoneThis Piece of Advice
35. Nearsoft Portal • This project creates a video portal between 2 offices in Mexico • Video and Audio • All the time is on • Explore new ideas...
37. PERSONAL The challenge of the work/life balance Lack of routine Distractions
38. • Get dressed • "Treat [your home] like a real work environment," • Create (and maintain) a designated work space • Block out your time to focus on specific tasks • Take breaks… Because the normal distractions are not there... • Learn to "turn off" your business Experts recommend...
39. Tools Communication Tools
40. Tools Agile Tools
41. Don’t make the mistake that some teams make after they experience success and start to feel comfortable. Avoid the temptation to drop off important ceremonies, like the stand-up meeting.
42. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ hbenitez@nearsoft.com HectorBenitez hectorbenitez Héctor Benítez Software Developer Thanks, You were awesome! fhernandez@nearsoft.com fhernandezn Frank Hernández Software Developer