5 anna timofeeva - all secrets of effective distributed teams distributed qc for testing
1. All Secrets of Effective
Distributed Teams
Tymofiieva Anna
2. ● 11 years in IT, 5 years QA Lead
● 3,5 years at SoftServe
● QMO Partner
● Graduated from Leadership
Development Program SoftServe
● Hillel IT School Coach
● Volunteer “Open Eyes” Foundation
● Mother of teenage girl
e-mail: atymof@gmail.com
skype: ann_alen
About me
3. ● Remote Development Team Key
Challenges
● What can we do?
● How to work with Remote Developers
Team
Agenda
5. A distributed development project is
defined as a group of members
actively collaborating on a common
software/ systems project separated
by
– Distance
– Time zone
– Culture
Distributed Development
7. ● Quality standards are harder to reach
– In a co-located team, you can reach quality
standards by pair
programming, coding standards
– Knowledge diffuses easily by spontaneous
communication, you
can build shared values just by walking around
and talking
● In a distributed setting it’s harder:
– less identification with the project
– less identification with the employer
– less responsibility, and may be less team work
What is different for QA?
8. ● No personal contacts
● Information is transmitted less
- The information is transmitted with great
distortion, sometimes important social
components are thrown out of it (for
example: feedback to me as a person and an
employee, etc.)
Key Challenges
9. ● More conjecture.
- A person is little included in a working social
group and is more included in other groups. It
affects the motivation to work and the
priorities of the tasks.
- Feeling of "wildness" and loneliness
- Increased anxiety
- Reduced motivation and "unhealthy
POFIGISM"
● Missed information
● Lost control
Key Challenges
10.
11.
12. Successful Group
● There is a characteristic of the group resembling
the human IQ
● With the amount of IQ members of the IQ team,
the group is weak
● Positively, the IQ of the group is affected by the
ability to maintain social contacts
● Negatively, group IQ is affected by "dominance"
in the group
Anita Williams Woolley, Christopher F. Chabris, Alex Pentland, Nada Hashmi, Thomas W. Malone. Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups // Science. 2010. V. 330 P. 686–688.
Successful Group
13. but separate work and personal communication
Maintain not only a working relationship
14. ● Types:
- Video or audio call
- Written communication
● Main activities:
- Introduction
- Collecting information
- Setting goals
- Controlling the execution of tasks
- Testing
- Feedback
- Building relationships (informal
communication, which is everywhere)
Communication
15. Maintain eye contact simulation
Make sure that you are well heard
and seen
Show correct facial expressions
Active listening
Use of summary and paraphrase in
order to show understanding of the
interlocutor
Video call
20. ● Formulate a request for the necessary
information via chat / letter
● Sent mails every morning
● Arrange a call for information, write a plan,
specify the duration of the call
● Additionally:
- Make sure that your message reached the
addressee
- Correctly find compromise in
communication
Written Communication
21. - Add as many meaningful details as
possible on a requirement or bug!!!!
- Special meetings for BUGs (Bug Triage)
- Share regular status reports with your
team, always giving credit for good
work done.
Written
Communication
24. ● Information is often not enough. Flies or falls
important details, there are speculations.
● The first is that which is not spoken.
- Identify areas of default, assess the risk of
discussion, formulate the necessary questions.
● The second is vice versa, many words, the flow of
thoughts from which it is difficult to render the
necessary information.
- Ask specific closed questions, make notes, then
send for approval with a postscript like "I
understood it this way, this is what I expect if
there is no other information"
QA Key Challenges
26. ● Сreate short, clear and unambiguous formulations for
assignments.
● Сlearly, correctly explain and describe the task
verbally.
● Highlight the main and briefly duplicate the task in
writing
● Correctly determine the terms or conditions of
implementation using questions
● Briefly summarize the results
● Ask questions or requests to get a task
● Suggest questions about the assignment, if they arise
in the correct form
● Correctly reformulate the task if necessary and
stabilize the emotional state of the interlocutor
Setting goals
27. ● Be understandable and predictable
● Have a control plan (reminders, etc.)
● Reminder should not be accusing, but
supportive. It's OK, to take some of the guilt
("I'm sorry I did not remind you before")
● Provide feedback
● Correctly formulate the consequences of
non-fulfillment of the task in personal
communication via Skype and in writing
● Identify the positive aspects of the work
performed and performers.
Control task in remote communication
30. ● Exceptionally important !!!
● Positive feedback is important to maintain
contact.
● Avoid ambiguous messages in written
communication.
● Write about emotions! Use emoticons, etc. ☺
● Being rude is also a feedback, but not the
right one.
● Important feedback can be duplicated (video
and writing), with time diversity.
Feedback
31. ● Make a map of your team’s locations
● Search information about traditions in
other countries
Cultural
33. - Create a list of all team members where
you have all the ways to contact each
person including office phone number,
mobile number, mail, Skype, etc. Add
some personal info as well, starting with a
picture of the person, date of birth,
hobbies, marital status, etc.
Communication
