Symptoms of dysfunctional distributed teams Jason Novack BigVisible Solutions.

Symptoms of dysfunctional distributed teams

Jason NovackBigVisible Solutions

• Minority of Agile teams are co-located• Distance impacts Agile differently than

Waterfall

© 2010 BigVisible Solutions, Inc. All Rights Reserved

[Symptom #1]

Penny wise, pound foolish


[penny wise, pound foolish]

• Focus on labor rate instead of labor cost

http://jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2010/03/wage-cost-and-project-labor-cost.html© 2010 BigVisible Solutions, Inc. All Rights Reserved

[penny wise, pound foolish]

• No budget for travel• No tools to help team members bridge the

distance gap


[Symptom #2]

Lack of Collaboration


[lack of collaboration]

• Antiquated distributed workforce strategy• Time zones too far apart• Imbalanced mix of skill sets across location

(Centers of Excellence)• No face to face time (actual or virtual)


[lack of collaboration]


[Symptom #3]

Lack of empowerment


• Inability to self-organize© 2010 BigVisible Solutions, Inc. All Rights Reserved

[lack of empowerment]

• Teams don’t create their own plans or determine what can or should be released

• Inability to influence or contribute to product direction


[Symptom #4]

Poor Communication


[poor communication]

• Plans, dates or milestones are broadcast from management or program headquarters

• Inadequate communication channels with the “Mothership”


[poor communication]




Getting it right can be hard


But it will hurt if you don’t


Locations and time zonesTalent SpreadTravelTeam ownershipCommunication

Develop a Strategy


[develop a time zone strategy]

• Have fewest number of locations involved in a team as possible – create critical masses

• Double digit time differences are deal breakers• Local Product Owners or PO proxies are

needed


[develop a talent strategy]

• Mix of resources at each location to foster collaboration

• No one is located by themselves


[develop a travel strategy]

• Have team come to one location to kickoff the project and run a few iterations

• Do travel rotations over the duration of the project


[develop a team ownership strategy]

• Ensure teams are responsible for creating their own plans

• Program management should roll team plans up, not down


[develop a communication strategy]

• Encourage teams to speak up• Share lessons with each other• Distribute ownership across teams• Make it ok to talk about failures



Jason Novack is a Senior Agile Coach with BigVisible Solutions, a coaching and agile enablement consultancy. He has over 12 years of experience in software development in various management roles including the last 5+ years practicing and coaching Agile approaches including Scrum, XP and Kanban. Jason has vast experience ranging from a ramping up a single co-located team to running a globally distributed set of teams within a single program to major Agile transformations across the entire enterprise. He has experience in several major industries including Financial Services, Trading Systems, HR Outsourcing and Online Gaming.Jason has a deep passion for empowering and enabling teams to achieve results they never knew were possible. His diverse experience in both business and technical areas coupled with a straightforward and inquisitive nature help him find problem areas and replace them with simple yet innovative solutions. Through his leadership skills, Jason is able to effectively provide teams with the knowledge, tools and techniques they need to learn Agile and to have it stick. Jason has received certifications from the Scrum Alliance as both a Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and a Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO).


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Symptoms of dysfunctional distributed teams Jason Novack BigVisible Solutions.

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