Lessons from the Rapidly Remote

The “new normal” of being rapidly remote has finally settled in. Or has it? You may have been unprepared to go remote and then you were suddenly turned into a “remote only” company. So has anything “normal” come out of this? Are we any closer to making remote work and agile principles together? This talk outlines key lessons from those who have gone rapidly remote and how they survived and even thrived.

Transcript

1. LESSONS FROM THE
   RAPIDLY REMOTE
   Mark Kilby
   @mkilby
   https://www.markkilby.com
   #AgileDayATL
   (virtual edition)
   

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3. ???
   

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4. © 2020 Mark Kilby
   WHAT ABOUT YOU?
   

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5. WORKING AGREEMENT
   WORKING AGREEMENTS
   Please ask questions anytime
   (in Zoom)
   Pets and kids welcome…
   …but please stay muted
   

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6. RAPIDLY REMOTE TIP:
   WORKING AGREEMENTS FOR WORK AND HOME
   Work has invaded your home
   Every day is now
   “bring your kid/pet to work day”
   We might call this a “mindshift”
   

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7. © 2020 Mark Kilby
   • WHAT IS A MINDSET
   SHIFT (MIND SHIFT)?
   • 3 DISCIPLINES FOR
   LEADING
   DISTRIBUTED TEAMS
   • EXPERIMENTING TO
   EXPLORE MIND
   SHIFTS
   Our path today
   

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8. © 2020 Mark Kilby
   • WHAT IS A MIND
   SHIFT?
   • 3 DISCIPLINES FOR
   LEADING
   DISTRIBUTED TEAMS
   • EXPERIMENTING TO
   EXPLORE MIND
   SHIFTS
   Our path today
   

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9. My first UK trip
   

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10. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    BEST
    PRACTICES
    ONLY WORK IN
    A CERTAIN
    CONTEXT
    Mindshift that day …
    

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11. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    IN THE WRONG CONTEXT
    “Best Practices” can be harmful
    

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12. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    ARE TIME ZONES REALLY A PROBLEM?
    (another mind shift coming)
    

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13. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    WHAT IF WE CONSIDERED HOURS OF OVERLAP?
    

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14. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    WHAT IF WE LET THE
    TEAM DECIDE HOURS OF OVERLAP?
    

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16. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    – 2 mind shifts
    “Team hours over office hours”
    &
    “Give distributed teams choice”
    

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17. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    • WHAT IS A MIND
    SHIFT?
    • 3 DISCIPLINES
    FOR LEADING
    DISTRIBUTED
    TEAMS
    • EXPERIMENTING TO
    EXPLORE MIND
    SHIFTS
    Our path today
    

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18. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    3 KEY MIND SHIFTS FOR
    DISTRIBUTED LEADERS
    Manage for change through
    experiments
    Amplify communication and
    collaboration
    Focus on principles over
    practices
    These become your “daily
    disciplines” or “operating system”
    for distributed leadership
    

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19. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    3 KEY MIND SHIFTS FOR
    DISTRIBUTED LEADERS
    Manage for change through
    experiments
    Amplify communication and
    collaboration
    Focus on principles over practices
    These become your “daily
    disciplines” or “operating system”
    for distributed leadership
    

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20. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    IMAGINE A TEAM WORKING TOGETHER …
    Performance
    Time
    Status Quo
    Change
    introduced
    

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21. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    IMAGINE A TEAM WORKING TOGETHER …
    Performance
    Time
    Status Quo
    Change
    introduced
    Change could be:
    - New process
    - New team member
    - New leader
    - New tools
    - New conflict
    - Urgent request
    - Urgent change in direction
    - Tool failure
    - Process failure
    - Team member out
    unexpectedly
    - Leader unavailable
    - Etc.
    

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22. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    Our expectations when
    we initiate change on
    our teams
    Our expectations when
    change is imposed
    Performance
    Time
    Status
    Quo
    New Status
    Expectations
    Change
    Time
    Performance
    Status
    Quo
    Change
    

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23. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    QUESTION:
    For you and your team, has change been…
    1) Initiated by someone in your organization?
    2) Imposed by outside forces?
    3) Both?
    4) Caused by something else?
    

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24. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    RAPIDLY REMOTE TIP(s):
    Keep number of tools minimal
    &
    You don’t always need a separate tool
    

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25. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    WHAT REALLY HAPPENS
    (UNDER THE RIGHT CONDITIONS)…
    Performance
    Time
    Status Quo
    New Status
    Quo
    Change introduced
    and challenges
    assumptions
    

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26. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    SMOOTHING IT OUT, WE GET THE J-CURVE
    Time
    (1) Status
    Quo/Old
    (8) New Status
    Quo
    (2) Change
    introduced and
    challenges
    assumptions
    (7) Integrate New
    Learning
    Performance
    (3) Resistance
    (5) Initial
    Results / Period
    of Disruption
    (6) (first) Transforming Idea
    (4) Unlearning
    

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27. RAPIDLY REMOTE TIP: EVERYONE MOVES
    DIFFERENTLY THROUGH THIS CURVE
    Time
    (1) Status
    Quo/Old
    (8) New Status
    Quo
    (2) Change
    introduced and
    challenges
    assumptions
    (7) Integrate New
    Learning
    Performance
    (3) Resistance
    (5) Initial
    Results / Period
    of Disruption
    (6) Transforming Idea (s)
    (4) Unlearning
    

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28. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    – an attentive audience member
    But wait. You said something about
    “under the right conditions”?
    

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29. Mind shift: Best way to navigate change is through Experimentation
    (How to experiment is the last part of the presentation)
    

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30. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    3 KEY MIND SHIFTS FOR
    DISTRIBUTED LEADERS
    Manage for change through
    experiments
    Amplify communication and
    collaboration
    Focus on principles over practices
    These become your “daily
    disciplines” or “operating system”
    for distributed leadership
    

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31. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    THIS IS
    THE WAY
    TO
    WORK
    REMOTELY
    Some believe…
    

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32. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    A TYPICAL DISTRIBUTED
    COLLABORATION PROBLEM
    You hire great people from all over the
    world
    Team sets some good hours of overlap
    Location 1 people work well together
    Location 2 & 3 feel isolated (left out of
    conversations, small tasks, not clear on
    big picture)
    Eventually, people in location 2 or 3
    either join an all remote team .. Or
    just join another company
    

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33. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    TEAM AFFILIATION OVER LOCATION AFFILIATION
    (another mindshift)
    Strengthen
    Weaken
    

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34. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    Nebula
    whole team dispersed
    

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35. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    HOW TO BUILD TEAM AFFILIATION
    Hours of Overlap
    Dedicated Team Backchannel
    Buddy System & Co-Pilot(s)
    Know the Whole Person
    Bring everyone together for big
    initiative / quarterly planning
    

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36. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    3 KEY MIND SHIFTS FOR
    DISTRIBUTED LEADERS
    Manage for change through
    experiments
    Amplify communication and
    collaboration
    Focus on principles over
    practices
    These become your “daily
    disciplines” or “operating system”
    for distributed leadership
    

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40. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    • WHAT IS A MIND
    SHIFT?
    • 3 DISCIPLINES FOR
    LEADING
    DISTRIBUTED TEAMS
    • EXPERIMENTING
    TO EXPLORE
    MIND SHIFTS
    Our path today
    

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41. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    HOW TO MANAGE CHANGE THROUGH EXPERIMENTS?
    Hint: Limit the Chaos
    Time
    Performance
    Sometimes known as the
    “point of chaos”;
    It will get worse before it
    gets better as the team
    wrestles with change
    Chaos
    

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42. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    TOO MUCH CHANGE
    Can the team recover?
    (1) Status Quo/
    Old Way
    (2) Many/Bigger
    changes introduced
    and challenges
    assumptions
    Performance
    Chaos extended. Team may
    not come out of chaos without
    huge effort and support
    Chaos
    Chaos
    Time
    

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43. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    TOO MANY CHANGES
    Time
    (1) Status
    Quo/Old
    (2) Change
    introduced
    Performance
    (3) Resistance
    Chaos
    Results may look more like this if team is not
    given time to adapt to each change and learn
    from it.
    

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44. RAPIDLY REMOTE TIP: SLOW DOWN WHEN POSSIBLE
    Let the team absorb the changes and stay on track
    

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45. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    SET EXPERIMENTS
    To control the chaos
    

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47. RAPIDLY REMOTE TIP: EXPERIMENT WITH, NOT ON
    (no one wants to be a lab rat)
    

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48. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    • WHAT IS A MIND SHIFT?
    • 3 DISCIPLINES FOR LEADING
    DISTRIBUTED TEAMS:
    • MANAGING CHANGE
    THROUGH EXPERIMENTS
    • AMPLIFY COMMUNICATION
    AND COLLABORATION
    • FOCUS ON PRINCIPLES, NOT
    PRACTICES
    • EXPERIMENTING TO
    EXPLORE MIND SHIFTS
    Our path today
    

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49. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    AND MY 3 FAVORITE ONLINE
    TOOLS …
    

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50. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    3 FAVORITE ONLINE TOOLS
    Patience
    Empathy
    Listening
    

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51. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    THANKS! Q&A? NEED MORE?
    Blog, articles resources & distributed
    agile newsletter at https://
    www.markkilby.com
    Twitter: @mkilby
    http://www.linkedin.com/in/mkilby
    ONLINE CLASSES at https://
    distributedagilesuccess.teachable.com, includes
    FREE course for Rapidly Remote
    Get the book - https://
    www.markkilby.com/sdatbook/
    

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52. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    BACKUP CONTENT
    

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53. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    WHAT IF WE CONSIDERED HOURS OF OVERLAP?
    

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54. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    WHAT IF WE LET THE
    TEAM DECIDE HOURS OF OVERLAP?
    

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55. © 2020 Mark Kilby
    PHOTO CREDITS
    star swirl - https://unsplash.com/photos/rMmibFe4czY
    Mountain Path - Photo by Justin Kauffman on Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/a8lTjWJJgLA
    road trip - Photo by Esther Tuttle on Unsplash
    wrong way - https://unsplash.com/photos/w5sHBvTYss0
    Man in front of headlights - https://unsplash.com/photos/XIx85KpKmWU
    State of Remote Report 2020 http://buffer.com/state-of-remote-2020
    3 face sculpture - Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/zIoFNTnA8Ok
    Jungle bungie jump station - Photo by Nazim Zafri on Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/OmQBmAU-ihI
    Oculus Rift - https://www.flickr.com/photos/121483302@N02/13491081124 CC-SA
    http://agilemanifesto.org
    Winding road into desert hills by Jannes Glas on Unsplash
    http://agendashift.com/a3-template
    2 rats - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sister_ratties_3.jpg
    All other images (c) 2020 Mark Kilby & Johanna Rothman
    

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