CAJ 016 - Mark Kilby - Thriving in Virtual Space

transcript

THRIVING IN VIRTUAL (TEAM) SPACE

MARK KILBY - OCT 2017

CommunityGroup

Support

volunteer

Mark’s distributed agile background …

for hire

What about you?

more info at http://remotelyagile.info / @mkilby

Satellite one or a few remote from team

Nebula whole team dispersed

Clusters team in a

few locations

What kind of distributed teams have you worked in?

HOW DO WE HELP PEOPLE BE SUCCESSFUL ON

DISTRIBUTED TEAMS?

PRINCIPLES OVER

PRACTICES & TOOLS

PRINCIPLES OVER

PRACTICES & TOOLS

IN COLLABORATION WITH …

Principle 1: Pervasive Communication

WHY before WHAT

Delegate “How” - don’t tell the teams what to do

Assume multiple communication / learning styles to absorb new information

Broadcast over the right number of channels

Facilitators need multiple tools and techniques

Back Channel - always have all hailing frequencies open (chat);

someone should always monitor

Buddy System - each remote person has a “buddy” in the room to make sure they are connected to the team (paired communication)

Co-Pilot – someone at another location that can help you

coordinate the whole team (paired facilitation)

more info at http://remotelyagile.info / @mkilby

Principle 2: Assume Good Intent

Trust is reciprocal and earned

Trust has a financial impact

It is difficult to trust unless…

we can see demonstrations of trustworthiness (competency, honesty, reliability) see http://bit.ly/distributedtrust

we know their natural tendencies

Learning natural tendencies within a team

Time to Introduce

more difficult

1-2 hours week weeks or months

DISCMBTI

Strength Finder 2.0

Compass exercise

North: Acting - “Let’s do it;” Likes to act, try things, plunge in.

South: Caring - likes to know that everyone’s feelings have been taken into consideration and that their voices have been heard before acting

East: Speculating - likes to look at the big picture and the

possibilities before acting

West: Paying attention to detail - likes to know who, what, when, where and why before acting

Learning natural tendencies within a team

Time to Introduce

more difficult

1-2 hours week weeks or months

DISCMBTI

Strength Finder 2.0

Compass exercise

Liftoffs (diy)

Other benefits - shared vision, working agreements?

Principle 3: Rhythm

Whether time-boxed (e.g., Scrum, XP) or in Flow (Kanban), all teams have a rhythm

Encourage the team to decide their rhythms as they form

Encourage the team to change their rhythm when retrospectives indicate they are not “keeping a beat”

Principle 4: Adaptability & Resilience

Can individuals quickly adjust to meet a goal?

Can teams quickly adjust to meet a goal?

Can the organization quickly adjust on goals or approach?

How resilient is the individual / team / organization to hardship?

Can the organization provide an “adaptive environment”?

Checking Adaptability & Resilience

Example - Communication

How many communications tools are available to the team? Which are primary and which are backups?

Can anyone on the team start a new communication channel at any time?

Example - Facilitation

Can anyone on the team facilitate any ceremony? (backlog refinement, planning, standup, review, retrospective)

Maybe time for 1-2 questions?

Principle 5: Pervasive Collaboration

Deep Focus can be important, but …

Pervasive Collaboration can help you explore problems and solutions faster

Distributed Collaboration Limits?

Principle 6: Continuous Improvement

Change leaders should model improvement first

Then focus on the team

Works with rhythm principle

Examples:

Personal - Improvement Days / Mentoring

Principle 7: Transparency at all Levels

Keep team spaces as open as possible

“ask questions in public”

get multiple solutions

you may help educate others with your question

public appreciations and mea culpas

get to know each other & interests: 1:1s, lean coffees, “guilds”, open lounge, meetups in person (team vs workgroup)

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN HIRING VIRTUAL TEAM MEMBERS?

WHO DRIVES THE HIRING PROCESS ON DISTRIBUTED TEAMS?

EVERYONE

Can the candidate … ?Quickly collaborate with a (hiring) team of peers and managers

Can they adapt to different schedules? Work synchronously and asynchronously? Do they adapt from one interview to the next?

Is there a rhythm to their communication?

Are they transparent with their history and experience and why they are seeking new opportunities?

HOW DO YOU KNOW A DISTRIBUTED TEAM IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

DO YOU HAVE CHOICE?

Can you work within these principles? What about your team? Company?

Pervasive Communication

Assume Good Intent

Rhythm

Adaptability & Resilience

Pervasive Collaboration

Continuous Improvement (self then team)

Some distributed teams can look odd

or they have shiny new tools

Focus on principles to get your distributed team on the right course

Thanks! Questions?

more info at http://remotelyagile.info

http://markkilby.com

@mkilby

http://worldretroday.com

References (in order of mention)

- Paul J. Zak - Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High-Performance Companies – January 17, 2017 - https://www.amazon.com/Trust-Factor-Creating-High-Performance-Companies/dp/0814437664

- Mark Kilby, Presentation - Do I Trust What I Can't See? Successful Distributed Teams - http://bit.ly/distributedtrust

- DISC vs MBTI assessments. https://coachfederation.org/blog/index.php/8211/

- Strengthfinder 2.0 - https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/

- Compass exercise adapted for online teams from “A Simple Exercise to Strengthen Emotional Intelligence in Teams” KQED Mindshift https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/06/22/a-simple-exercise-to-strengthen-emotional-intelligence-in-teams/

- Play Prelude for forming virtual teams http://www.playprelude.com/

- Liftoff: Start and Sustain Successful Agile Teams, 2nd ed. https://pragprog.com/book/liftoff/liftoff-second-edition

Photo credits (in order of appearance)

- starry sky (title slide). Mitchell Hollander on unsplash.com

- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Airman_1st_Class_Matthew_Hickle_instructs_a_plane_to_land_while_completing_a_simulation_on_the_Tower_Simulation_System.jpg - Public Domain

- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ISS-47_Tim_Kopra_on_a_Laptop_in_the_Zvezda_Service_Module.jpg - Public Domain

- https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_feature/public/iss036e006695.jpg - Public Domain

- Satellite.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Navstar-2F.jpg - Public Domain.

- Crab Nebula.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula#/media/File:Crab_Nebula.jpg - Public Domain.

- The Pleiades, an open star cluster. Public Domain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_astronomical_objects#/media/File:Pleiades_large.jpg

- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hohmann_transfer_orbit.png - under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.

- Space station concept - https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/arc-15570-1_160554main_jsc2006e43519_high.jpg - Public Domain

- Organize Your Distributed Team with Johanna Rothman - https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/organize-distributed-team-johanna-rothman/ - used with permission from Lisette Sutherland

- Uhura / Star Trek https://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/12263923206 (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

- Buddy System for -6 PLSS, Apollo 14 press kit. https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a14/a14pk_buddy_system_en.jpg - Public Domain.

- Gemini astronauts. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/258507main_s66-44601_full.jpg - Public Domain.

- https://dribbble.com/shots/3167286-Users-Icon-Free-PSD

- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/STS-128_MCC_space_station_flight_control_room.jpg - Public Domain. Star Trek cast at NASA Dryden - https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/ec76-5806.jpg - Public domain

- SpaceX CRS-8 first stage landing - https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/25788014884/ - Public Domain.

- SpaceX JCSAT-14 Launch - https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/26751237322/ - Public Domain.

CAJ 016 - Mark Kilby - Thriving in Virtual Space

Small Business & Entrepreneurship