Distributed: of systems and teams (SPS)

@bridgetkromhout
distributed:
of systems and teams
Bridget Kromhout

@bridgetkromhout
Bridget Kromhout
lives: Minneapolis
works: Pivotal
podcasts: Arrested DevOps
organizes: devopsdays
was: ops @ DramaFever, 8thBridge

@bridgetkromhout
distributed systems free-association game
Images from Kyle Kingsbury’s Jepsen project

@bridgetkromhout
CA
CP AP
AvailabilityConsistency
Partition Tolerance
“a partition is a
time bound
on communication.”
Eric Brewer

@bridgetkromhout
tl;dr:
distributed systems
are complex
let’s talk
distributed teams

@bridgetkromhout
I live nearly 2,000 miles from the Pivotal San Francisco office.
(It’s probably definitely fine.)

@bridgetkromhout
…especially as the whole team is distributed.

@bridgetkromhout
distributed != remote

@bridgetkromhout
The network is
the computer.
the oﬃce.

@bridgetkromhout
people > tools
choose:
tools people will use
xkcd.com/1254/

@bridgetkromhout
Group chat: we use Slack
But anything you like works
If you all use it.
a slack haiku

@bridgetkromhout
Pairing: state persists in RAM… write it to disk!

@bridgetkromhout
“Durable communication exhibits the
same characteristics as accidental,
convenient communication in a co-located
space. The powerful difference is how
inclusive, transparent, and reliable it is.”
Casey West

@bridgetkromhout
Lower-bandwidth communication: more handshaking

@bridgetkromhout
Provide context.

@bridgetkromhout
Let the team know when you’ll be unavailable.

@bridgetkromhout
Remote-friendly is good for work/life balance.

@bridgetkromhout
Tell the team what you’re doing.
(Nobody can see you’re working on slides.)
(Again.)
(Still.)

@bridgetkromhout
Misunderstandings happen.
Over-communicate.
It’s better than being hurt or angry for no reason.

@bridgetkromhout
Be explicit
about
actions &
decisions.
Ask for help.

@bridgetkromhout
Screencapping PDFs is the new emailing PDFs.

@bridgetkromhout
Common Ground and Coordination in Joint Activity
Klein, Feltovich, Bradshaw, Woods (2004)

@bridgetkromhout
non-violent communication & emotional literacy

@bridgetkromhout
examine assumptions
be explicit about guarantees
architect for failure

@bridgetkromhout
distribute decision-making
(over)-communicate
resolve conﬂicts as they arise

@bridgetkromhout
“There is no
talent shortage.”
Andrew Clay Shafer

@bridgetkromhout
what if distributed teams are a competitive advantage?
Images from Martin Fowler, “Remote versus Co-located Work”

@bridgetkromhout
“Any organization that designs a system
(deﬁned broadly) will produce a design
whose structure is a copy of the
organization's communication structure.”
Mel Conway

@bridgetkromhout
References
1. Kyle Kingsbury, Jepsen project: aphyr.com/tags/Jepsen
2. Eric Brewer, “CAP Twelve Years Later: How the "Rules" Have Changed”: www.infoq.com/articles/cap-twelve-years-later-
how-the-rules-have-changed
3. Casey West, “Durable Communication”: caseywest.com/durable-communication/
4. John Allspaw, “Blameless Portmortems and a Just Culture”: codeascraft.com/2012/05/22/blameless-postmortems/
5. Klein, Feltovich, Bradshaw, Woods: “Common Ground and Coordination in Joint Activity”: jeﬀreymbradshaw.us/
publications/Common_Ground_Single.pdf
6. Marshall B. Rosenberg,”Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life”: cnvc.org/nonviolent-communication-language-
life-3rd-edition
7. Andrew Clay Shafer, “There is no talent shortage”: youtube.com/watch?v=P_sWGl7MzhU
8. Martin Fowler, “Remote versus Co-located Work”: martinfowler.com/articles/remote-or-co-located.html
9. Mel Conway, “Conway’s Law”: melconway.com/Home/Conways_Law.html

@bridgetkromhout
Thank you.
Slides at bridgetkromhout.com/speaking/2015/sps/

Distributed: of systems and teams (SPS)

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