Effective Communication In A Remote First World

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EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN A REMOTE FIRST WORLD @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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COMMUNICATION PROCESS CULTURE WHAT WE’LL BE COVERING @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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PROCESS TEAM ORG COLLEAGUE WHAT WE’LL BE COVERING

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ME NOW: HEAD OF ENGINEERING @VIX TECHNOLOGY PREV: PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT @TELSTRA PURPLE @DDDPERTH CO-ORGANISER RECOVERING RFC ADDICT + = ROBDCROWLEY ARCHITECTURE TRAGIC

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@ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY Remote Working? 3,2,1 JUMP!

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INSPECT + ADAPT QUANTITATIVE + QUALITATIVE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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70% 70% of colleagues felt more productive working remotely than in the office 92% 92% of colleagues felt aligned with the company mission and have the context required to operate effectively 75% 75% of colleagues believe that Vix is open to new methods of working to improve productivity and effectiveness 84% 84% of respondents felt empowered to do their jobs VIX FLEXIBLE WORKING SURVEY @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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60% 60% of respondents felt that working remotely had not impacted the quality of their interactions with other colleagues. OPPORTUNITIES TO IMPROVE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Colleagues who had been working flexibly had increased their productivity, work-life balance and feelings of empowerment @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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The question then became, how could we make remote working a sustainable approach? @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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CULTURE MOVING TOWARDS A SHARED TRUTH

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communication noun the imparting or exchanging of information between two or more people by speaking, writing, or using some other medium. @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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ENGINEERING AT VIX CLOUD OPERATIONS TEAM ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT CENTRE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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4 4 COUNTRIES 3 TIMEZONES 103 TEAM MEMBERS 15+ NATIONALITIES 103 15+ 3 ENGINEERING AT VIX @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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There are tougher challenges to overcome with remote communication than temporal coupling @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Cultural patterns of behaviour and belief frequently impact our perceptions (what we see), cognitions (what we think), and actions (what we do) ERIN MEYER – THE CULTURE MAP

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“ “ Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another GEERT HOFSTEDE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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CULTURAL DIMENSIONS POWER DISTANCE INDULGENCE UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE LONG TERM ORIENTATION INDIVIDUALITY MASCULINITY HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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LOW POWER DISTANCE HIGH POWER DISTANCE POWER DISTANCE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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COLLECTIVISM INDIVIDUALISM INDIVIDUALISM @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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COLLECTIVISM INDIVIDUALISM LOW POWER DISTANCE HIGH POWER DISTANCE

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FEMININE VALUES MASCULINE VALUES MASCULINITY @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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LOW UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE HIGH UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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LOW UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE HIGH UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE FEMININE VALUES MASCULINE VALUES

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Education tends to amplify the dominant cultural tendencies within an individual @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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When interacting with someone from another culture, watch more, listen more, and speak less @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Minimise use of colloquialisms, idioms and localised expressions @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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MONOCULTURE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Misunderstandings are inevitable. Nip issues in the bud before they escalate @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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CULTURE § COMMUNICATION IS HARD, CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION IS EVEN HARDER § CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT FIRST, THEN PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS § HOFSTEDE’S DIMENSIONS ILLUMINATE THE CULTURAL VALUES OF COUNTRIES § DO NOT TRY AND CREATE A MONOCULTURE, IT WILL HURT IN THE LONG RUN § DISAGREEMENTS AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS WILL OCCUR, MOVE ON

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PROCESS HOW TO COMMUNICATE REMOTELY

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“ “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place GEORGE BERNARD SHAW @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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TRANSIENT PERSISTENT ASYNCHRONOUS SYNCHRONOUS EMAIL VIRTUAL MEETINGS WIKIS COLLABORATIVE DOCUMENTS WORK MANAGEMENT TOOLS INSTANT CHAT A MODEL COMMUNICATION ARCHITECTURE IN PERSON MEETINGS RECORDED VIRTUAL MEETINGS THE MAJORITY OF COMMUNICATION SHOULD OCCUR WITHIN THESE TOOLS AND CHANNELS @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Codify the desired usage patterns for semi- synchronous tools. Failure do so will lead to existing behaviours being replicated @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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LEADERS @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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An engaged HR team is a wonderful asset @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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ORGANISATION REMOTE COMMUNICATION

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VALUES ⇒ PRINCIPLES ⇒ BEHAVIOUR @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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CASE STUDY: FRAUDULENT VALUES @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Define clear guidelines that codify the rules of etiquette for organisation wide communication @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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A company’s goals as well as its scale and maturity will drive the level of guidance required @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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CASE STUDY: COMMUNICATION GUIDELINES @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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ANNOUNCEMENTS ONE-WAY STATUS UPDATES

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ANNOUNCEMENTS SHOULD BE... AVAILABLE REFERENCEABLE PERSISTENT @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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SO WHY DO WE CHOOSE EMAIL WHEN IT HAS EXACTLY ZERO OF THESE PROPERTIES? @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Email is decentralized so there’s no permanent record in a permanent place everyone can see @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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So how can we steer use away from email? @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Hi team, The NDC Sydney agenda is out and it looks great. I’m thrilled be speaking at the event again this year and sharing our journey with remote working. You can find out more about the session on the NDC website. NDC { Sydney } > Agenda > Remote Communication Thanks, Rob BREADCRUMB MENU MIRRORING THE ACCESS PATH WITHIN THE APPLICATION @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Bonus Round: Pay attention to content metadata tags to improve searchability @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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CONTEXT TOWARDS SHARED UNDERSTANDING

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Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like bananas. “ “ Groucho Marx @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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A Leader’s Prerogative: Hire great people and give them the context required to enable effective distributed decision making @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Effective communication requires context @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Be specific around the context of the update to ensure that shared understand is achieved @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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START WITH WHY THE REQUIRED AMOUNT WILL DEPEND ON YOUR AUDIENCE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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WHY > HOW > WHAT OUR VALUES OUR PRINCIPLES OUR BEHAVIOUR @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Corollary: The further from where the decision was made, the stronger the focus on the why needs to be @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Short video messages are incredibly powerful @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Write content when it’s convenient for you but publish when it’s convenient for your audience @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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EFFECTIVE VS EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Communicating extraneous information between teams is waste @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Over communication of information that is not germane to a team increases cognitive load @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Team boundaries are critical in a remote working environment @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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The problem with taking the org chart at face value is that we end up trying to architect people as if they were software, neatly keeping their communication within the accepted lines TEAM TOPOLOGIES

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TEAM TOPOLOGIES STREAM COMPLICATED SUBSYSTEM ENABLING PLATFORM @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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MAKING TEAM INTERACTIONS EXPLICIT X AS A SERVICE FACILITATING COLLABORATION @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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ORGANISATION COMMS § COMMUNICATION REQUIRES CONTEXT, SHARING THE WHY IS CRITICAL § CHOOSE CHANNELS WITH ADEQUATE BANDWIDTH FOR THE TARGET AUDIENCE § EFFECTIVENESS IS THE PRIORITY, EFFICIENCY IS AN OPTIMISATION

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TEAM REMOTE COMMUNICATION

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In teamwork, silence isn’t golden, ‘ “ “ John Sanford It’s deadly @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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The ability to communicate asynchronously is the most valuable skill a team can learn @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Choose the most asynchronous channel that has the required social bandwidth to support the effective exchange of the information @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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The Problem Of Now @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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TEAM MEETINGS TWO-WAY GROUP COLLABORATION

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Use meetings judiciously. Consider them a fallback, not the default @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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CERTIFY, DON’T BRIEF INCREASED FOCUS ACTIVE VS PASSIVE LEADER-LEADER INTERACTIONS SHORTER DURATION @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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GROUP CHAT TWO-WAY GROUP COLLABORATION

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Newsflash! Group chat considered harmful @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Group chat is like being in an all-day meeting, with random participants, and no agenda @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Rule of Thumb: More than three back and forth exchanges on a design topic, then go long form @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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TRUST THE CATALYST FOR HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS

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Asymmetry of information leads to an erosion of trust @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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A CLASSIC CASE OF INFORMATON ASYMMETRY @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Remote workers polling for information updates is a strong indicator of information asymmetry @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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TRANSPARENCY IS THE SOLUTION MAKE WORK VISIBLE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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CASE STUDY: EMAIL TRANSPARENCY @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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TEAM COMMS § ASYNCHRONOUS OFTEN, SYCHRONOUS SELDOM. THIS IS A SKILL! § MEETINGS ARE EXPENSIVE, SHARE THE CONTEXT UPFRONT § CHAT IS GREAT FOR QUICK EXCHANGES BUT BE WARY OF GROUP CHAT § INFORMATION SILOING ERODES TRUST. TRANSARENCY IS THE BEST DEFENCE

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TEAM MEMBER REMOTE COMMUNICATION

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“ “Communication – the human connection – is the key to personal and career success PAUL J MEYER @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Working Out Loud Observable Work + Narrating Your Work @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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TEAM MEMBER COMMS @ROBDCROWLEY § MAKE YOUR WORK VISIBLE AND EXPLAIN YOUR APPROACH AND THINKING § SET CLEARING LEARNING GOALS AND LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO SHARE § BE OPEN TO FEEDBACK, IT WILL COME IN MANY FORMS!

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BEYOND 2020 PREDICTIONS FOR FUTURE ENVIRONMENTS @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Communication worsened within regions but improved across regions @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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The shift to remote working had inadvertently democratised communication @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Hybrid working environments offer the worst of both worlds @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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Hybrid working environments demand that multiple colleague experiences are delivered @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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While companies had little time to prepare for remote working, they should consider any change to stop or change it very carefully @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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TAKEAWAYS @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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@ROBDCROWLEY | ROBDCROWLEY THANK YOU!

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QUESTIONS @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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RESOURCES @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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§ The Basecamp Guide to Internal Communication: https://basecamp.com/guides/how-we-communicate § The Gitlab Communication Handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/communication/ § Hofstede Insights: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries § Stripe Email Transparency: https://stripe.com/blog/email-transparency RESOURCES @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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§ Start With Why | Simon Sinek: https://youtu.be/u4ZoJKF_VuA RESOURCES @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY

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§ Country flag icons made by Pixel perfect from www.flaticon.com § Images source from www.pexels.com ATTRIBUTION @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY