The document discusses bad advice for destroying distributed teams. It outlines 4 phases: 1) destroy communication by not using proper collaboration tools, 2) destroy processes by not documenting them, 3) destroy infrastructure by not updating hardware/software and reducing office utilities, 4) destroy team and personal development by not sharing knowledge or doing team building. The takeaway is that strong values like communication, processes, infrastructure and development are important for any team, whether distributed or not, and destroying things is easier than building them.

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‣ Project Manager at Atwix
‣ Lecturer at stfalcon’s
IT Academy
‣ Former Account Manager
at RexSoft
ALEX LUNKOV

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WHAT MAKES
ATWIX SPECIAL?

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ATWIX IS
WHAT MAKES ATWIX SPECIAL?
‣ 27 employees
‣ In 8 cities
‣ Within 5 countries
‣ And 3 Magento teams that contribute every day — Atwix Task Units

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WHAT
WE ALL WORK TOGETHER
EVERY DAY AND EVERY DAY
IS A NEW CHALLENGE

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WHAT ARE WE GOING TO TALK ABOUT TODAY?
“BAD ADVICES FOR DISTRIBUTED TEAMS”

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LET’S IMAGINE THAT WE ARE HERE TO
DESTROY THE TEAM
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

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PHASE #1
DESTROY THE COMMUNICATION

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HOW TO DROP
A NUCLEAR BOMB
ON COMMUNICATION?

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INTERNAL COMMUNICATION DISEASE SYMPTOMS
PHASE 1 | COMMUNICATION
▸ PITA
▸ Files exchange issues
▸ All public communication is a total mess
▸ Does not foster company’s culture
▸ No integrations

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EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION DISEASE SYMPTOMS
PHASE 1 | COMMUNICATION
▸ PITA
▸ Clients have to find you in Skype as “live.mawenka_solnuwko_69”
▸ Connection issues
▸ Performance issues
▸ No built in calls recording tool
▸ No advance presenter mode functionality

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PHASE #2
DESTROY THE PROCESSES

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HOW?

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WHAT
THE BEST WAY TO KILL ANY
PROCESS IS TO HAVE IT
NOT DOCUMENTED

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WHAT DO WE GET?
PHASE 2 | PROCESSES
▸ Man down — process down
▸ We need more resources to teach newcomers
▸ No clear path to share knowledge
▸ In the end, everything is up to one person’s decision:
communication approach, security, development practice and
many more

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PHASE #3
DESTROY THE INFRASTRUCTURE

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WHAT
WHAT IS INFRASTRUCTURE
TO YOU?

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WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO DESTROY THE
INFRASTRUCTURE?
PHASE 3 | INFRASTRUCTURE
▸ Keep hardware outdated
▸ Keep software outdated
▸ Do not unify
▸ Save on office utilities

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PHASE #4
DESTROY TEAM’S AND
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

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WHAT
WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT
ABOUT?

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WHAT
SELF-DEVELOPMENT IS
ABOUT EVOLUTION

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WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO DESTROY IT?
PHASE 4 | TEAM’S DEVELOPMENT
▸ Do not rotate people
▸ Do not share knowledge internally and externally
▸ Do not hire senior people
▸ Do not do any team building activities, or, what is even more
effective, do them in a wrong way

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WHAT IS OUR
TAKEAWAY?

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WHAT SHOULD WE ALL BRING HOME TODAY?
TAKEAWAY
▸ The same principles apply to every team, whether distributed or
located in a single office
▸ There are no strict rules, but values that matter whatever the
team you work with is
▸ Destroying something is much easier than it seems

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ATWIX IS HIRING!
THANK YOU!
AND LET’S DO SOME Q&A