CTO summit 2016 Remote teams - 5 things I am doing wrong and maybe you should too. Thoughts on leading distributed teams.

1. Remote Teams
5 things I am doing wrong
and maybe you should too.
Ted Tencza CTO
finder.com.au
@darthted

2. Leading distributed teams for close to 15 years.
finder.com.au has developers in:
Background

3. Leading distributed teams for close to 15 years.
finder.com.au has developers in:
SYDNEY
Background

4. Leading distributed teams for close to 15 years.
finder.com.au has developers in:
SYDNEY
WROCLAW
Background

5. Leading distributed teams for close to 15 years.
finder.com.au has developers in:
SYDNEY
MILAN
WROCLAW
Background

6. Leading distributed teams for close to 15 years.
finder.com.au has developers in:
SYDNEY
MANILA
MILAN
WROCLAW
Background

7. Leading distributed teams for close to 15 years.
finder.com.au has developers in:
SYDNEY
ADELAIDE
MANILA
MILAN
WROCLAW
Background

8. 1. Remote teams are
primarily a cost saving

9. 1. Remote teams are
primarily a cost saving
Slide 1 of the pitch deck from our partner

10. 1. Remote teams are
primarily a cost saving
Slide 1 of the pitch deck from our partner

11. 1. Remote teams are
primarily a cost saving

12. We do not use remote
teams as a cost saving

13. We do not use remote
teams as a cost saving
Our primary goal was finding talented developers

14. We do not use remote
teams as a cost saving
Travel
Facilities, Hardware, Office Supplies, Furniture
Recruiting
Training (including language skills)
Communication Equipment
Incorporation Overhead
Talent

15. 2. Have a different Management
style across locations
ITALY
TURKEY
POLAND
SOUTH AFRICA
USA
PHILIPPINES
AUSTRALIA
INDIA
SINGAPORE
UK

16. 2. Have a different Management
style across locations
ITALY
TURKEY
POLAND
SOUTH AFRICA
USA
PHILIPPINES
AUSTRALIA
INDIA
SINGAPORE
UK

17. 2. Have a different management
style across locations
Difference in management style should
be tailored to people, not locations

18. Clarity of instructions and requirements
We have the same management
style across locations

20. Autonomy is vital for distributed teams and non-
distributed too
Training and opportunities should be available
Ensure shared vision
Set clear expectations for everyone in organisation
We have the same management
style across locations

21. Manifesto
How We Make Things
• Heterogeneous over homogeneous
• In-house over external
• Outcome driven over date driven
• Do it correctly over do it quickly
• Autonomy over control
• Finish one task completely over
multi-tasking
How We Function as a Team
• Rapid releases over batching it up
• It is not done until it is live in
production
• Automated testing over manual
checking
• Do not be afraid to experiment
• Build tools to allow other teams to
experiment safely over saying no
How We Operate
• As flat an organisation as possible,
but no flatter
• Cross team/cross project cooperation
at all times
• Grow team at sustainable rate
• Retention and promotions over new
hires
• Make time to learn and grow as
developers
• Be active in the developer community
We have the same management
style across locations

22. 3. You can rely on free
communication tools

23. 3. You can rely on free
communication tools
Communication is key

24. 3. You can rely on free
communication tools
Communication is key

25. 3. You can rely on free
communication tools
Communication is key

26. We don’t rely on free
communication tools
Invest in high quality Video Conferencing tools
Document sharing, real time annotations, pair
programming easier
Asynchronous communication patterns are preferable

27. 4. Don’t use ‘hybrid’ teams

28. 4. Don’t use ‘hybrid’ teams

29. Need to have all co-located or all remote
Need to have geographic centric teams
4. Don’t use ‘hybrid’ teams

30. Both co-location and remote:
Team members have different needs
Trains team to treat distributed employees like full
members of the team
Retain talent
We use ‘hybrid’ teams

31. We use ‘hybrid’ teams
Non Geo-centric:
Location not a significant factor in team assignments
Prevents us vs. them
Encourages cross geo-communications
Allows flexibility

32. 5. You can have lower
standards for Offshore teams
When all else fails …
lower your standards.

33. We have the same standards
across all teams
Make no allowance for lowering the bar of technical
competency
Do not create a second tier remote team for scrub work
Extra work
Resentment
Give distributed teams same access to training / career
enrichment

34. Results

35. Results

36. Results
Not all sunshine and rainbows:

37. Results
Not all sunshine and rainbows:
Split geographic teams increases workload of team leads.

38. Results
Not all sunshine and rainbows:
Split geographic teams increases workload of team leads.
Spreading the pain means more people feel pain.

39. Results
Not all sunshine and rainbows:
Split geographic teams increases workload of team leads.
Spreading the pain means more people feel pain.
Communication is still more difficult

40. Results
Not all sunshine and rainbows:
Split geographic teams increases workload of team leads.
Spreading the pain means more people feel pain.
Communication is still more difficult
Time zones still exist

41. Results
Went from 0 to 16 distributed employees in 18 months
Total employees from 7 to 34 in 2 years.

42. Results
Zero distributed team resignations in Manila over 12
months
Staff attrition rates are between 25% to 50% (depending on source)
amongst skilled outsourced teams.
Zero distributed team resignations anywhere else in
the world (except for Sydney) over past 2 years.

43. Results
High levels of job satisfaction - Local and Distributed
Flexible work schedules
Attract Talent
Team given chance to self organise, overwhelmingly
wanted cross-geo teams
Increased awareness of problems facing distributed teams

44. Conventional wisdom
not all that wise

45. Thank you