We all want to work with a co-located team in order to increase communication and trust within the team. The reality is more and more common for big companies to have distributed teams around the world or allowing their employees to work from home several days a week.
My last three years I worked for big multinational companies (a challenge itself) scrum mastering distributed teams around the world. I will share with you my findings regarding common pitfalls and how we managed to improve as a team.
8. My current team
@Mind_of_AC
1 Business Analyst
1 Product Owner
1 Engineering Lead
1 Delivery Lead
1 Scrum Master
1 QA
1 QA
1 Dev
1 Dev
1 Dev
9. My previous team
@Mind_of_AC
1 Product Owner
1 Engineering Lead
1 QA
1 Dev
1 Dev
1 Dev
1 Dev
1 Scrum Master
1 Dev
1 Dev
1 Dev
1 Dev
1 Architect 1 Dev
10. Why do we prefer co-located teams?
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17. Daily standup
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● Screen share with the digital board
● Allow people to talk
● If you don’t talk mute yourself!
● SM ensures everyone participates equally
● Webcam on!
18. Daily stand-ups tips
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● Quick filter on the board (if you walk the people)
● Rotate the person who share the board
● Try to walk the stories on the board
19. Backlog refinement
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● PO or BA sharing the screen
● If you don’t talk mute yourself!
● SM to collect the estimations on direct message
● SM to ensure every opinion is considered
● Webcam on!
20. Sprint Demo
@Mind_of_AC
● Every member sharing their screen to demo
● If you don’t talk mute yourself!
● SM to invite external people to the demo
● Webcam on!
● If nothing to demo… walk the board
21. Planning
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● PO or SM sharing the screen
● If you don’t talk mute yourself!
● SM to ensure every opinion is considered
● Webcam on!
24. Retrospective tips
@Mind_of_AC
● Try to change format as much as you can
● Need ideas? https://retromat.org/en/
● No phones
● No laptops
● Icebreakers are powerful, use them!
25. Apply to remote retrospective
@Mind_of_AC
● Prepare for the retro
● Need ideas? Ask the team - www.typeform.com
● Ensure the actions are properly captured
● Webcams on!
26. Wrapping up
@Mind_of_AC
• Webcam ON!
• Possibility of video call at any moment
• Allow people time to talk equally
• Mute if you don’t talk
• Involve the whole team
• Make every retrospective UNIQUE!
• If you can, organise regular trips