Presented by: Jessie Link, Director of Engineering, Lookingglass Cyber Solutions

1. S
Tools Used By Remote Teams
To Stay In Touch and Stay
Productive
Jessie Link
Director of Engineering
Lookingglass Cyber Solutions
WE13 conference lightning talk

2. Risks of
remote work
• Team cohesion may suffer
• Requires trust
• Communication problems
• Security risks

3. Benefits of
remote work
• Recruit/retain better talent
• Work/life balance
• Happier workers
• Increased productivity
• Fewer interruptions
• Focused workers
• Creativity boost
• Early birds and vampires
• Weather/traffic proof

4. Video
Conferencing
• Tools: Go-To-Meeting,
Google+ Hangouts, Skype
• Benefits:
• Non-verbal communication
and feedback from team
• Increased accountability
• Sense of team

5. Code
repository
• Tools: Git, Github
• Benefits:
• Built-in code review
mechanisms
• Visibility into what each
developer is working on
• Data redundancy and
replication
• High availability

6. Requirements
tool
• Tool: Trello, VersionOne
• Benefits:
• Work tracking
• Clear list of what work is
required
• Status of where work is
• Can be accessed online from
anywhere

7. IM/Chat
client
• Tool: Hipchat
• Benefits:
• Asynchronous
communication
• Allows informal chatter
between team members
• Team building
• Quicker response than email
• Allows 1-on-1 chats as well as
team rooms

8. VPN
• Tool: VPN
• Benefits:
• Security
• Employee can access systems
behind corporate firewall

9. IM bots
• Tool: Linkbot (custom Ruby
plugin)
• Benefits:
• Unifies outputs from all tools
into a common interface
• Allows IM client to serve as
the communications nerve
center for the team
• Creates a cohesive picture of
what team has been up to in
one central place

10. Core working
hours
• Process: employees are
expected to be online
between 10am-3pm EST
• Depends on how distributed
your team is
• Benefits:
• Core hours where
communication is expected to
be returned in a timely fashion
• Allows team to
plan/anticipate time to work
collaboratively together

11. Pair
Programming
• Tools: Screenhero, Google+
Hangouts, tmux, Video Chat
tools
• Benefits:
• Team building/bonding
• Keeps people in the loop on
work being done

12. In-person get
togethers
• Tool: planes, trains and
automobiles
• Benefits:
• Team building
• Brainstorming opportunities
• Opportunity to celebrate
• Reward for remote workers

13. Questions?

14. Jessie Link
jlink555@gmail.com
twitter.com/mad_typist