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Johanna Rothman @johannarothman www.jrothman.com Lead Your Remote Team to Success: Focus on Principles & Outcomes

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Productivity Poll • How productive do you feel now, in November 2020? • Please go to menti.com and enter this code: 36 73 39 0 • Or, go to https://www.menti.com/eddqt7fpmi 2

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 3

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Feelings Word Cloud • How do you feel about remote work now, November 2020? • Please go to menti.com and enter this code: 36 73 39 0 • Or, go to https://www.menti.com/eddqt7fpmi 4

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 5

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman My Experience with Remote Work • I’ve led and worked with remote people and teams since 1987 • Roll-your-own TCP/IP and FTP • As much fun as that sounds • Clients started to offshore/outsource since 2001 • “Why can’t I hire people anywhere in the world?” • Especially if lower salaries 6

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Relative Collocation Data for Agile Teams • Even by 2011, fewer than half of all agile teams were collocated • Scott Ambler’s survey, http:// www.ambysoft.com/surveys/ agileTeams2011.html • Several organizations are remote-first by design 7

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Dispersed Teams: The New Reality • 2020: All dispersed • 2021: Dispersed for at least several months, longer? • 2022: Expect most teams to be distributed • We’re never going “back” • How do we optimize for forward? 8

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Wants & Needs From Work 9 What People Want & Need What Companies Want & Need Work that means something (outcomes) Products that serve a need (outcomes) Autonomy mastery, purpose (with collaboration) Effective teams who can create those products Products that customers want (outcomes) Acquire and retain customers with products (outcomes)

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman How Can We Achieve Those Results? 10

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman How Do We Create Outcomes? • Pervasive communication to understand the work and its meaning • Use that communication to collaborate • Project rhythm to verify we’re on track • Sufficient transparency 11

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Deliver Those Outcomes • What do we need to create collaboration at distance? • Hours of overlap • Good intention • Work together (pair, swarm, mob) • Team resilience • Freedom to learn early 12

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Principles, Not Practices 1. Establish acceptable hours of overlap. 2. Create transparency at all levels. 3. Create a culture of continuous improvement with experiments. 4. Practice pervasive communication at all levels. 5. Assume good intention. 6. Create a project rhythm. 7. Create a culture of resilience. 8. Default to collaborative work. 13

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 1. Establish Acceptable Hours of Overlap • Visualize “when” people can collaborate • Fewer than four hours and agile approaches might not work for your team • Chart has hours—your team might need to work in 20-30 minute blocks 14

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Visualize Your Team’s Working Hours by Day 15

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 2. Create Transparency at All Levels • What information can your team members see? • How easy is that information to access? • What information can you not easily see? 16

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 3. Create a Culture of Continuous Improvement with Experiments • Does the “book” work for you? • What freedom do you have to experiment? 17

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman • This team started with a Scrum board (not shown). They experimented with the board on the left and then moved to the board on the right with WIP limits. Easy Experiments: Boards! 18

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 4. Practice Pervasive Communication at All Levels • Dispersed teams need many communication options 19

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Dispersed Teams Require Rich & Natural Communication 20

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 5. Assume Good Intent Satir Congruence Model 21

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 6. Create a Project Rhythm • Most projects need a drumbeat, a rhythm • Some work can use flow-based approaches • Every team needs a cadence of retrospectives, at the very least 22

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 7. Create a Culture of Resilience • If we understand everyone else’s context, we can create a more resilient team 23

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman 8. Default to Collaboration • We tend to think of solo work when we are dispersed • However, our hours of overlap offer opportunities for collaboration. Our tools need to support these opportunities. 24

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Resource Efficiency vs Flow Efficiency • Resource efficiency looks efficient • But, everything takes longer because of the delays between people • Agile teams work best in flow efficiency 25

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Create a Value Stream Map • Value stream map helps you see your team’s system • How can your team support everyone’s work to create an outcome? 26

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Measure Cycle Time 27

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Can You Optimize for Flow Efficiency? • These principles create flow efficiency • See also: • https://www.jrothman.com/ flowefficiency • https://www.jrothman.com/ cycletime 28

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman My Near-Future Predictions • Remote work will remain an option • We will learn to use asynchronous work better (cycle time, cost of delay…) • (Orgs) Fund personal setups that work for each of us • More… 29

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Use These Principles for Your Distributed Team 1. Establish acceptable hours of overlap. 2. Create transparency at all levels. 3. Create a culture of continuous improvement with experiments. 4. Practice pervasive communication at all levels. 5. Assume good intention. 6. Create a project rhythm. 7. Create a culture of resilience. 8. Default to collaborative work. 30

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© 2020 Johanna Rothman @johannarothman Let’s Stay in Touch • The book: jrothman.com/SDAT • Hours of overlap chart: https:// www.jrothman.com/HooChart • Online workshops: https:// distributedagilesuccess.teachable.com/ • Consider subscribing to the Pragmatic Manager: www.jrothman.com/pragmaticmanager • Please link with me on LinkedIn • A Product Value Team post: https:// www.jrothman.com/mpd/2019/04/product- roles-part-2-the-product-value-team/ 31