Fully Distributed Scrum - Need Right People & Best Practices

Fully Distributed Scrum:
N eed right people & best practices
Jaibeer Malik Fully Distributed Scrum: Sprint in Action http://jaibeermalik.wordpress.com

JAIBEER MALIK
2004 B.Tech from IIT KGP
Total 5 years of IT Experience in software development
Former Employers: Sapient, Globallogic
Currently working as Senior Consultant with Xebia
Certified Scrum Master
Experienced in: Java, J2ee, Unix, Flex, Distributed Agile.
Thumb rule: Delivering Quality solution to all software problems
Hobbies: Swimming, Basketball, Volleyball, Cricket...Sports
Web: http://jaibeermalik.wordpress.com
Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jaibeermalik

Agenda
Fully Distributed Scrum
Why right people?
Sprint in Action: Typical vs Distributed team
Distributed teams with overlapping time period (e.g. India & Europe)
Distributed teams with no overlapping time period (e.g. India & USA)
Conclusion (Do it right way!) & WARNING!!! (Fail early than be sorry!)
Questions
Feedback

Distributed Scrum Jaibeer Malik Fully Distributed Scrum: Sprint in Action http://jaibeermalik.wordpress.com

Fully Distributed Scrum
World apart teams
Separated by timezone, culture
& language etc.
Brought together by the same set
of standards & principles
Still working as single team
Still following Scrum
Adopt as it suits best to the teams
on both the sides
Working together for the success!!!

Why right people?
Right people are ready to overcome
Timezone, Cultural & Language issues
Process problems
Technical problems
Management problems
other similar impediments
Right people are not afraid of
Change
Failure
Visibility
Right people make it happen
Agile teams: look for right people, not only experts

Best Practices?
That works well for the team on both the sides
Getting evolve over time
Same things not necessarily to work for another team
Adoption as per the requirements is the best approach
Decisions taken as a team
Keeping the team spirit up
Talk more, communicate more
Work towards builidng trust
Single goal to work towards the success
Communication backbone of distributed teams!!!

Sprint in Action
Scrum Meetings
Sprint Planning
Daily standup
Sprint Restrospective
Sprint Review
Collcated Teams
Communication and collaboration with-in team easier
Executing typical sprint is easier comparatively
Distributed Teams
Teams with some overlapping time period
Teams with no overlapping time period

Some Overlapping Period (eg. IN & Europe)
Good part is some overlapping period is there
Whole team can coomunicate to team on other side
Chances of mis-communication are less
Minimize waste in escalation and follow ups

Overlapping Period: Sprint Planning
Adopt the right approach which suits best to teams on both sides
First part of Planning Meeting
Onsite/both team finishes the planning meeting with client
Second part of Planning (Estimations) Meeting
Part one : To get started for one team on next day
Part two: Finish the whole estimations meeting
Knowledge Transfer
On-site team having more insights
Team Composition/Scaling
Divide the team in vertical slices
All the teams on both sides working on all functionalities

Team Compostion & Scaling Jaibeer Malik Fully Distributed Scrum: Sprint in Action http://jaibeermalik.wordpress.com

Overlapping Period: Daily Stand up
Local stand up
Distributed stand up
Status mails
Query or impediment
resolution
Separate offline discussions
Separate design discussions
Live cams

Overlapping Period: Sprint Retrospective
Do it regularly, don't miss
Get everyone involved
Try different flavours
Good points, deltas and action items
Template based
Free flow discussion
Share MOM with team all the times, use wiki
Voting system

Overlapping Period: Sprint Review
Try to engage both sides
Prefer video conferencing
Share demo updates
Share demo feedback with whole team
Dropping mail with demo update or demo gadget is a good idea

No Overlapping Period (eg. IN & USA)
Biggest challenge is no overlapping period, Share the pain
Usually single person of contact, chances of mis-communication more
Less communication between team members, comparatively
Need to take pro-active approach to minimize waste

No Overlapping Period: Sprint Planning
First part of planning meeting
Team plan user stories for next sprint in the current sprint only
Second part of planning meeting
Both teams together do the estimations meeting
Task Break up
Reduce dependency of taks between both sides
Integration/Regression tests
Tests plays much more important role here
Code Freeze/Branching
Plan properly and save time wastage between sprints

No Overlapping Period: Daily Standup
Local stand up
Distributed stand up
Full team meeting
Status update, use mails or wiki
Offline discussions, use mails or wiki
Design discussions, use mails or wiki
Build breaks
Knowledge sharing, use wiki

No Overlapping Period: Sprint Retrospective
Fundamentals are same
Do it regularly, don't miss
Get everyone involved
Try different flavors
Share MOM
Voting System
Biggest challenge to discuss is commonly to overcome the communication gaps
Depends on team how to solve it the best way

No Overlapping Period: Sprint Review
Usually not possible for both teams to be present
Try to indulge both sides, if possible
Share the demo feedback

Conclusion
Easy and continuous access to resources
Source code repository
Continuous integration server
Bug tracking tool
Wiki
Project Management tool
Setup infrastructure to supprt team members communication
Sprint meetings
Offline discussions
Knowledge sharing sessions
Regular movement of people for short duration
Mixing of people to overcome cultural issues etc.
One team feeling

WARNING!!!
You don't need special skills to fail a project irrespective of location and process
Keep the above points as the backbone of the distributed agile development
Lack of communication will raise many more questions, in case missed or ignored
Keeping the single team feeling is also another big challenge
The best part is that it is up to the team to decide how to fix these problems and how to make it work
Have right people and follow best practices, SUCCESS IS YOURS!!!

? Jaibeer Malik Fully Distributed Scrum: Sprint in Action http://jaibeermalik.wordpress.com

Feedback!!!
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Fully Distributed Scrum - Need Right People & Best Practices

by Jaibeer Malik on Sep 29, 2009

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