Many agile coaches think it’s a prerequisite to co-locate the team in order to be successful. However, what if you have remote team members or are considering adding them to your team but afraid it will only slow you down. As more people choose to work remotely it will be important to learn how to be a part of or lead successful remote agile teams. We will discuss three mindset changes that are critical to helping your team, regardless of location, implement agile and lean principals to help your team be a successful agile team. Learning Outcomes: Learn about the four remote team types and some of the traps and how to overcome them with your team. Learn how to use the agile mindset of encouraging and managing for change to encourage the team to experiment with everything so they can decide when to change. Learn how to encourage your team to emphasize communication and collaboration and come up with ways the team can do that effectively with remote teams. Learn how to use agile principles and adapt them to your team.

1. @paulmgower
BUILD A SUCCESSFUL
REMOTE AGILE TEAM
in three easy steps!

2. @paulmgower
I discovered From Chaos to Successful
Distributed AgileTeams: Collaborate to
Deliver. I realized that Rothman and Kilby
had written down much of what I have
been teaching and promoting in my
practice. I have integrated their ideas
into this presentation.

3. @paulmgower
Paul Gower
Maker
Stakeholder
Remote worker

4. @paulmgower
Maker.
I’ve been writing code since 1992.

5. @paulmgower
3 years before eBay.
12 years before Facebook.
7 years before Google.

6. @paulmgower
Stakeholder.
I’ve been leading teams since 2009.

7. @paulmgower
Accidental leader.
I wanted to protect my team from bad leadership.
My leadership style was chaos and the death march
was my methodology.

8. @paulmgower
I needed to find a
better way!
I became a student of Lean and Agile.

9. @paulmgower
Remote worker.
I’ve been working with remote teams since 2005.

10. @paulmgower
Today’s Big Idea

11. @paulmgower
How to build
successful remote
agile teams?

12. @paulmgower
MINDSET

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How to build
successful remote
agile teams?

16. @paulmgower
AGILE & LEAN
PRINCIPLES

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Start with what you do now
Agree to pursue incremental, evolutionary
change
Encourage acts of leadership at all levels
KANBANVALUES

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KANBAN PRINCIPLES
1. Visualize the workflow
2. Limit WIP
3. Manage flow
4. Make Process Policies
Explicit
5. Feedback Loops
6. Improve Collaboratively
(using models & the
scientific method)

19. @paulmgower
How to build
successful remote
agile teams?

20. @paulmgower
REMOTE TEAMS

21. @paulmgower
RemoteTeamTypes
1. Satellite
2. Cluster
3. Nebula

22. @paulmgower
“The optimal distance for
communication frequency is
less than eight meters.”

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ACCEPTABLE
HOURS OF OVERLAP

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HOURS OF OVERLAP

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EXPERIMENTATION

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30. @paulmgower
“Running too many experiments at
once can lead to ‘change fatigue’.
Instead, run experiments with a clear
hypothesis and a short duration.”
From Chaos to Successfully Distributed Agile Teams
Johanna Rothman and Mark Kilby

31. @paulmgower
Insufficient
Experimentation Mindset
TRAP

32. @paulmgower
EMPOWERTEAM
• Ask:“What are our hypotheses, what options do we
have to test them, and how will we measure the
results?”
• Set a time box and regularly gather data.
• Map theValue Stream toVisualize CycleTime

33. @paulmgower
Leaders should
experiment
SOLUTION

34. @paulmgower
COMMUNICATION
& COLLABORATION

35. @paulmgower

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Team Not Created for
Collaboration
TRAP

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Build Respect with
Working Agreements
SOLUTION

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PRINCIPLE-BASED AGILE
APPROACHES

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REMOTETEAM PRINCIPLES
1.Assume Good Intent
2.Create a culture of continuous improvement
with experimentation
3.Default to Collaborative Work
4.Limit Work In Progress

43. @paulmgower
Forcing a Specific
Agile Approach
TRAP

44. @paulmgower
OWNERSHIP
• Allow the team the space to work with the Agile &
Lean Principles we discussed.
• Allow the team to fail and learn from it.
• Help the team focus on customer value delivery.

45. @paulmgower
Keep cadences
as short as
possible
SOLUTION

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ANOTHERTRAP

47. @paulmgower
Lower Salaries == Save Money
TRAP

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RESOURCEVS FLOW EFFICIENCY

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Flow Efficiency
SOLUTION

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MINDSETS
• Foster Experimentation
• Encourage Collaboration
• Guide with Principles not Practices

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AVOIDTRAPS
• Insufficient Experimentation Mindset
• Team Not Created for Collaboration
• Forcing a Specific Agile Approach
• Lower Salaries = Save Money

54. @paulmgower
EXTRATIPS

55. @paulmgower
FACE-TO-FACETIME
• Helps fix systemic problems that can cause
increases in cycle time.
• Builds respect within the team learning strengths
and weaknesses.
• Meet for a minimum of one week per quarter

56. @paulmgower
“You might think the travel expenses
are ‘too high.’ However, the team
saves time and money through faster
clarification of the vision, mission,
goals, and working agreements.”
From Chaos to Successfully Distributed Agile Teams
Johanna Rothman and Mark Kilby

57. @paulmgower
BACKCHANNEL
• Dedicated chat channel to support synchronous or
asynchronous conversations.
• Always available—it adds context and allows people
to collaborate.
• The whole team uses it and only the team uses it.

58. @paulmgower
ALWAYS USEVIDEO

59. @paulmgower
QUESTIONS?

60. @paulmgower
“The problem human beings face is
not that we aim too high and fail,
but that we aim too low and
succeed.”
Michelangelo

61. @paulmgower
Thanks to Rothman and Kilby for
From Chaos to Successful
Distributed AgileTeams:
Collaborate to Deliver.

62. @paulmgower
RESOURCES
• From Chaos to Successful Distributed AgileTeams - https://leanpub.com/geographicallydistributedagileteams
• This is Lean - https://www.amazon.com/This-Lean-Resolving-Efficiency-Paradox-ebook/dp/B00JZZS7Q0
• What is Kanban? - http://www.everydaykanban.com/what-is-kanban/
• Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change forYourTechnology Business - https://www.amazon.com/Kanban-Successful-Evolutionary-
Technology-Business/dp/0984521402/
• The Scientific Method - How ChemistsThink - https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_Chemistry/
Map%3A_Introductory_Chemistry_(Tro)/01%3A_The_Chemical_World/1.4%3A_The_Scientific_Method_-_How_Chemists_Think
• The Education System: Now ClimbThatTree - https://marquetteeducator.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/climbthattree/
• Value Stream Mapping for Knowledge Work and Services - https://blog.lucidmeetings.com/blog/facilitating-value-stream-mapping-for-
knowledge-work-and-service-organizations
• Tools for remote teams - https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/tools/