Remote team facilitation and scaled scrum: how to make it work.

1. R E M O T E T E A M FA C I L I TAT I O N
A N D S C A L E D S C R U M
R O L A N D F L E M M
roland flemm 2017

2. observations
facts
about me
recommendations
30
roland flemm 2017

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

4. Omni-Channel Banking Experience
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
roland flemm 2017

7. roland flemm 2017

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

16. agile and
remote
meetings
rich
communication
communication
need is huge
co-location
preferred
reduced
productivity
roland flemm 2017

17. M Y O B S E R VAT 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
roland flemm 2017

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
roland flemm 2017

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

30. agile and
remote
meetings
rich
communication
communication
need is huge
co-location
preferred
reduced
productivity
infrastructure
facilitation
basic (scrum)
collaboration
social
cultural
local
optimization
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
roland flemm 2017

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
roland flemm 2017

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
roland flemm 2017

37. roland flemm 2017

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

44. 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

55. agile and
remote
meetings
rich
communication
communication
need is huge
co-location
preferred
reduced
productivity
infrastructure
facilitation
basic (scrum)
collaboration
social
cultural
local
optimization
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

57. roland.flemm@gmail.com
Дякую
roland flemm 2017