In this talk from Agile 2010, Cory Foy goes over various tools and techniques for agile teams who are distributed and/or dispersed

1. Thursday, August 12, 2010

2. A Bit About Cory
Thursday, August 12, 2010

3. The State of Software
Thursday, August 12, 2010

4. How Collocated Are We?
1%
17%
28%
13%
41%
Same Building Collocated Driving Distance Some Very Distant Other
Ambysoft 2009 Survey - Courtesy of Scott Ambler
Thursday, August 12, 2010

5. Distributed versus Dispersed USA
Team
3 Groups of
Team USA Europe team
Team members in
Distributed
1
4 different
Headquarters
Team
locations
Team 5
2 India
Tampa Germany
Rod Individual
Dispersed
Bob Joan team
NYC members in
Team 1 Will
different
Rich Julia 3rd Floor locations
Sara
Thursday, August 12, 2010

6. 6
Distance is expensive
Kim Pat Programming in pairs
12 people:
Kim Pat = $100,000 / yr penalty
12 people
Kim = $300,000 / yr penalty
Pat
“Managing the Flow of Technology”
“Distance Matters”
©Alistair Cockburn 2009
Thursday, August 12, 2010

7. 7
Face-to-face is the most effective - Try Video
2 people at
Communication Effectiveness
whiteboard
2 people
on phone
w er)
A ns
Videotape n d-
(Courtesy of Thoughtworks, inc.) io n-a
e st
2 people u
(Q
on chat
r)
n-A nswe
Paper estio
(N o Qu
Richness of communication channel
©Alistair Cockburn 2009
Thursday, August 12, 2010

8. Challenges
Timezones
Communication
Incidental
Communication Culture
Overhead
Image From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr/3914729343
Thursday, August 12, 2010

9. Self Organization
Totally Totally
Conditions for Self-Organizing
Constrained Unconstrained
Self-Organization System
System System
Permeable
boundaries are good
Container Strong, Small Weak, Large
enough to let the
system self-organize
Differences that are
Many, or Every constraining /
Significant Hidden or not
Difference is Equally unconstraining the
Differences acknowledged
Acknowledged system are identified
and worked through
Meaningful contacts
Transforming Many, Top-Down among agents
Few, Trivial
Exchanges Only, Tight Coupling forming the patterns
in the system
From Facilitating Organizational Change: Lessons from Complexity Science
Image From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr/3914729343
Thursday, August 12, 2010

10. Exercise
From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr/3915512588
Thursday, August 12, 2010

11. Review
Image From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr/3914729343
Thursday, August 12, 2010

12. Tips and Techniques
“Teams need
Interpersonal Aggression...”
“...they must be driven to
be engaged”.
-Peter Provost (personal conversation)
Thursday, August 12, 2010

13. Tips and Techniques
5 Tips from Microsoft P&P
•Focus on Communication
•Plan to Travel
•Team Distribution
•Focus on Coaching the Team
•Distribution of Work
http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/4/a/44a2cebd-63fb-4379-898d-9cf24822c6cc/distributed_agile_development_at_microsoft_patterns_and_practices.pdf
Thursday, August 12, 2010

14. Tips and Techniques
Simulate Whiteboards
Thursday, August 12, 2010

15. Tips and Techniques
Use Collaborative Tools
Thursday, August 12, 2010

16. Tips and Techniques
Use Collaborative Tools
Thursday, August 12, 2010

17. Tips and Techniques
Enable Face-to-Face Communication
Thursday, August 12, 2010

18. Tips and Techniques
Keep Reminders of Who’s “There”
In a seating chart, you
put Post-It notes with all
of the people who are
present in the room and
on the phone, adding
and removing as people
“leave”
Thanks to Mark Kilby with Rally
Thursday, August 12, 2010

19. Tips and Techniques
Collaborate with requirements
Thursday, August 12, 2010

20. Tips and Techniques
Collaborate with retrospectives
Thursday, August 12, 2010

21. Tips and Techniques
Keep At It!
•Pay attention to what is going on
•Look for blockers in Communication
•Reach out to People
•Whole Team
Individuals and Interactions
over
Processes and Tools
Thursday, August 12, 2010

22. CORY FOY
@CORY_FOY
CORY.FOY@NETOBJECTIVES.COM
(813) 352-0233
WWW.CORYFOY.COM
Please fill out your
feedback forms!
Thursday, August 12, 2010