3. R O L A N D F L E M M
• Netherlands
• Working in IT since 1985
• Developer until 2000
• Websphere infrastructure until 2009
• >2009 Scrum master/Agile coaching
roland flemm 2017
5. Cx tribe : 7 teams
5 teams Amsterdam
1 team Kiev
1 team Kiev & Amsterdam
Banking Apps tribe : 11 teams
5 Amsterdam
1 Vilnius
3 Endava
1 Kiev
1 cardiff
B A C K B A S E R & D T E A M S
CX tribe : 9 teams
• 7 Amsterdam
• 1 Kiev
• 1 Kiev & Amsterdam
BA tribe : 11 teams
• 5 Amsterdam
• 1 Vilnius
• 3 Skopje
• 1 Kiev
• 1 cardiff
roland flemm 2017
6. 2 week sprints
3 sprints per release
3 people in product owner role
1 scrum master per 2/3 teams
dedicated roles
1 backlog
1 increment
1 sprint review
overall refinements
overall retrospectives
sprint planning 1
sprint planning 2
WAY O F W O R K I N G - C X T R I B E
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8. The weaker the medium, the less productive the collaboration.
This is due to:
• Communication troubles
• Increased multitasking
• Loss of social and nonverbal cues
• Lack of guidance or supervision
70 % of communication between humans is non-
verbal.
Porter, Rachel, "Business Meetings: A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Audio and Video
Conferencing in Dispersed Teams" (2012). Honors College. Paper 74.
R E S E A R C H
roland flemm 2017
9. T H E W E A K E R
T H E M E D I U M
( A U D I O
C O N F E R E N C I N G )
T H E L E S S
P R O D U C T I V E
T H E
C O L L A B O R AT I O N
roland flemm 2017
10. A G I L E
F R A M E W O R K S
A N D
M E T H O D O L O G I E S
E N C O U R A G E
R I C H
C O M M U N I C AT I O N
A N D
C O L L A B O R AT I O N
roland flemm 2017
11. • The agile manifesto
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
The most efficient and effective method of conveying
information to and within a development team is face-to-
face conversation.
• The scrum guide
Nothing about co-location.
• Nexus
Nothing about co-location.
• Less
Teams are ideally co-located (dispersed, co-located and
mulit-site teams)
W H AT A G I L E F R A M E W O R K S S AY
roland flemm 2017
12. M O S T A G I L E
F R A M E W O R K S
A R E I N
FAV O U R O F
C O - L O C AT E D
T E A M S
roland flemm 2017
13. N U M B E R O F C O M M U N I C AT I O N L I N E S
roland flemm 2017
14. N U M B E R O F C O M M U N I C AT I O N L I N E S
roland flemm 2017
15. C O - L O C AT E D T E A M S
All devteam members sit close together in one space.
R E M O T E T E A M S
All devteam members are co-located in another location.
M U LT I - S I T E T E A M S
Members of one devteam do not sit together in one
space.
D E F I N I T I O N S
roland flemm 2017
18. P O O R I N F R A S T R U C T U R E L E A D S T O
M I S - A L I G N M E N T
roland flemm 2017
19. Cx tribe : 7 teams
5 teams Amsterdam
1 team Kiev
1 team Kiev & Amsterdam
Banking Apps tribe : 11 teams
5 Amsterdam
1 Vilnius
3 Endava
1 Kiev
1 cardiff
P O O R
R E M O T E
FA C I L I TAT I O N
I S A
R O O T C A U S E
F O R
D I S E N G A G E M E N T
roland flemm 2017
20. Cx tribe : 7 teams
5 teams Amsterdam
1 team Kiev
1 team Kiev & Amsterdam
Banking Apps tribe : 11 teams
5 Amsterdam
1 Vilnius
3 Endava
1 Kiev
1 cardiff
R E M O T E C O M M U N I C AT I O N A N D
R I C H C O M M U N I C AT I O N
A R E N O T F R I E N D S
roland flemm 2017
21. R E A L C O L L A B O R AT I O N D O E S N O T
S C A L E A C R O S S L O C AT I O N S
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22. N O T B E I N G I N O N E R O O M L I M I T S
FA C I L I TAT I O N P O S S I B I L I T I E S
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23. O U R R E M O T E C O L L A B O R AT I O N
T E C H N I Q U E S A R E N E V E R P E R F E C T
roland flemm 2017
24. B A S I C S C R U M W I T H A M U LT I - S I T E T E A M
• Every meeting is a remote meeting (harder)
• No nonverbal cues, limited contextual
information (noise)
• No informal contacts (shallow)
• Harder to build trust and respect
• Lower amounts of issues are explored
• Growing cross functionality is difficult
roland flemm 2017
25. L E S S H E L P S T O R E D U C E T H E
C O M M U N I C AT I O N N E E D
roland flemm 2017
26. Cx tribe : 7 teams
5 teams Amsterdam
1 team Kiev
1 team Kiev & Amsterdam
Banking Apps tribe : 11 teams
5 Amsterdam
1 Vilnius
3 Endava
1 Kiev
1 cardiff
M O S T
P R O B L E M S AT
S C A L E
A R E A N
A M P L I F I C AT I O N
O F A
B A S I C ( S C R U M )
P R O B L E M
roland flemm 2017
27. Cx tribe : 7 teams
5 teams Amsterdam
1 team Kiev
1 team Kiev & Amsterdam
Banking Apps tribe : 11 teams
5 Amsterdam
1 Vilnius
3 Endava
1 Kiev
1 cardiff
R E M O T E T E A M S
A R E
A R O O T C A U S E
F O R
L O C A L
O P T I M I Z AT I O N
roland flemm 2017
28. W E A R E
S O C I A L
B E I N G S
W I T H A
D I F F E R E N T
C U LT U R A L
B A C K -
G R O U N D
roland flemm 2017
29. W E A R E
S O C I A L
B E I N G S
W I T H A
D I F F E R E N T
C U LT U R A L
B A C K -
G R O U N D
roland flemm 2017
31. R E C O M M E N D AT I O N S
roland flemm 2017
32. Cx tribe : 7 teams
5 teams Amsterdam
1 team Kiev
1 team Kiev & Amsterdam
Banking Apps tribe : 11 teams
5 Amsterdam
1 Vilnius
3 Endava
1 Kiev
1 cardiff
D O N ’ T H AV E M U LT I - S I T E T E A M S
roland flemm 2017
33. P L E A S E
G E T M E O U T
O F H E R E . .
F I X Y O U R B A S I C ( S C R U M ) P R O B L E M
roland flemm 2017
34. Go See
• Make real contact and build trust
• Create shared goals and shared vision
• Create norms of conduct
• Don’t make promises you cannot keep
F I X Y O U R B A S I C ( S C R U M ) P R O B L E M
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35. G R E AT
T E A M S
C O M M U N I -
C AT E
B E T T E R
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36. A P P LY E A S Y F I X E S
• Make everybody experience being remote
• Fix technical infrastructure
• Use good remote meeting gear
• Reduce latency to absolute minimum
• Treat spaces accoustically
• Fix your team communication skills
• Communication training
• Meeting techniques
• Discussion techniques
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38. O P T I M I Z E Y O U R C E R E M O N I E S F O R
R E M O T E PA R T I C I PAT I O N
• Video images of people should be real life
size
• Add multiple cameras: Points of View
• Have someone monitor the connection
• Remot-e-fy your meeting techniques
• Use collaboration tools
roland flemm 2017
39. R E M O T- E - F Y Y O U R T E C H N I Q U E S
roland flemm 2017
40. A D A P T Y O U R FA C I L I TAT I O N ( S K I L L S )
• Prepare how to involve people
• Verify connectivity before start
• Choose your native tongue if possible
• Love the mic (& your audience)
• Stop the line: fix problems immediately
• Add “white space” … when talking
• Actively facilitate interruptions
• Use diverge & converge
roland flemm 2017
41. L O V E T H E M I C & Y O U R A U D I E N C E
roland flemm 2017
42. T R E AT A L L S I T E S E Q U A L LY
Alternate the host location to facilitate
key sessions:
• Overall refinement
• Planning part 1
• Sprint review
• Overall retrospective
NO separate PO for your remote teams
YES separate SM for your remote teams
roland flemm 2017
43. • Visit each other regulary in real life
• Include remote team in informal gatherings
• Have remote coffee-corner-talks
• Make space for chit-chat at the start/end of
meetings
• Small things matter
• Personal events
• Sincere compliments
M A K E C O M M U N I C AT I O N S O C I A L
E M U L AT E D A I LY L I F E
roland flemm 2017
45. • We are direct
• We expect you to take initiative
• We like to believe we are all equal
• We eat “dropjes”, have simple lunches
• We obey to no one
• We prefer to be transparent to being polite
• We believe in collaboration based on
equality
T H E D U T C H
H A N D L E C U LT U R A L D I F F E R E N C E S
roland flemm 2017
46. D E S I G N Y O U R S C A L I N G
I M P L E M E N TAT I O N F O R R E M O T E T E A M S
R E D U C E T H E N E E D F O R
C O M M U N I C AT I O N
roland flemm 2017
47. R E D U C E O R
E L I M I N AT E
T I M E
Z O N E
D I F F E R E N C E S
roland flemm 2017
48. T E A M
T E A M
T E A M
T E A M
location 1 location 2
1 product
1 value areaNEEDFORCOMMUNICATION
I M P L E M E N T S C A L I N G F R A M E W O R K
A L O N G M I N I M A L C O M M U N I C AT I O N L I N E S
roland flemm 2017
49. T E A M
T E A M
T E A M
T E A M
location 1 location 2
1 product
1 value areaNEEDFORCOMMUNICATION
I M P L E M E N T S C A L I N G F R A M E W O R K
A L O N G M I N I M A L C O M M U N I C AT I O N L I N E S
roland flemm 2017
50. T E A M
T E A M
location 1 location 2
1 product
T E A M
T E A M
1 value areaNEEDFORCOMMUNICATION1 value area
I M P L E M E N T S C A L I N G F R A M E W O R K
A L O N G M I N I M A L C O M M U N I C AT I O N L I N E S
roland flemm 2017
51. T E A M
T E A M
location 1 location 2
1 product
T E A M
T E A M
1 value area1 value area
1 product
NEEDFORCOMMUNICATION
I M P L E M E N T S C A L I N G F R A M E W O R K
A L O N G M I N I M A L C O M M U N I C AT I O N L I N E S
roland flemm 2017
52. Structuring your teams along these lines (product,
value area, team) can reduce the communication
need to:
• None
• PO & Teams,
• (Decision making) communities,
• Overall sessions,
• Multi-team sessions,
• Technical Alignments
I M P L E M E N T S C A L I N G F R A M E W O R K
A L O N G M I N I M A L C O M M U N I C AT I O N L I N E S
roland flemm 2017
53. N E V E R
S P L I T
P E R
S K I L L ,
F U N C T I O N A L I T Y
O R
A R C H I T E C T U R E
roland flemm 2017
54. T E A M
T E A M
location 1 location 2
1 product
T E A M
T E A M
1 value areaNEEDFORCOMMUNICATION1 value area
C O M M U N I T I E S M A K E S C A L I N G W O R K
community
roland flemm 2017
56. process
fix basic
(scrum)
problem
make
communities
work
design scaling
for remote
no multi-site
teams
reduce time
zones
organi-
zation
fix your
infrastructure
train people
optimize
meetings for
remote
use
collaboration
tools
adapt your
facilitation skills
handle cultural
differences
treat all sites
equally
make it
social
tooling &
technique
roland flemm 2017
