A clear-eyed look at distributed teams

Distributed teams offer many benefits for employers and employees alike. Having a distributed team can make recruiting and retention easier, and it can help you build a diverse team. Depending on your circumstances, it might reduce costs, and it can improve productivity. As an employee, it offers increased flexibility, improved work-life balance, and broader employment opportunities.

However, success with a distributed team requires changes to work practices and style — and not just from the remote employees. Even the people who still come to the office every day will experience changes, and team leads perhaps most of all. We think it’s a fabulous way to go, but it helps to be prepared … and most of what we see being written and discussed is focused on remote workers, not the organization that supports them.

In this talk, we will look at the challenges and rewards of working in a distributed team setting, with a focus on team leadership and management.

Transcript

1. A Clear-Eyed Look
 at Distributed Teams Maria Gutierrez VP Engineering, FreeAgent Glenn Vanderburg VP Engineering, First.io
8. @mariagut
9. @mariagut
10. @mariagut
11. @mariagut
12. If they can do it, anyone can do it. Distributed teams are just as good as colocated teams in exactly the same ways! It’ll be easy!
13. It’s hard to live and breathe something if you aren’t actually breathing the same air. There is something about a team being more powerful, more impactful, more creative, and frankly hopefully having more fun, when they are shoulder to shoulder. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home Shane Mac, Zaarly Michelle Peluso, CMO IBM Jackie Reses, Head of HR Yahoo
15. Make a Commitment 1
16. But how do you build company culture when you are not working “shoulder to shoulder”? 1Make a Commitment
17. 1Make a Commitment
18. “Organizational culture represents the collective values, beliefs and principles of organizational members” Needle, David
22. Use proper tools 1Make a Commitment
24. Critical mass 1Make a Commitment
25. 1Make a Commitment
26. Remote managers 1Make a Commitment
27. 1Make a Commitment
28. 1Make a Commitment
30. Everyone partly remote 1Make a Commitment
32. Treat on-site and remote employees fairly 1Make a Commitment
33. Treat on-site and remote employees fairly 1Make a Commitment
34. Communicate Intentionally 2
35. Intentional vs accidental and implicit communication 2Communicate Intentionally
36. Intentional vs accidental and implicit communication 2Communicate Intentionally
37. Build Trust 2Communicate Intentionally
38. 2Communicate Intentionally
39. You and your team You and the company leadership Team members Your team and other teams that interact or depend on yours 2Communicate Intentionally
40. Be religious about 1:1s 2Communicate Intentionally
41. 2Communicate Intentionally
42. Communicate upward and outward often 2Communicate Intentionally
43. 2Communicate Intentionally
44. Out of sight should never be out of mind 2Communicate Intentionally
45. Learn to be good at internet video/audio 2Communicate Intentionally
46. 2Communicate Intentionally
47. Choose the right channel for each situation 2Communicate Intentionally
48. Choose the right channel for each situation 2Communicate Intentionally
49. Fewer meetings, more shared documents 2Communicate Intentionally
50. Show your work 2Communicate Intentionally
52. 2Communicate Intentionally
53. Be Clear 3
54. Watch the work product, not the worker 3Be clear
55. Which jobs are closed
 to remote workers? 3Be clear
56. Know the law 3Be clear
57. 1203.47 ON CE % 7 8 9 4 5 6 1 2 3 0 . = 1203.47 ON CE % 7 8 9 4 5 6 1 2 3 0 . = 1203.47 ON CE % 7 8 9 4 5 6 1 2 3 0 . = Understand and control your budget 3Be clear
58. Start with the recruiting process 3Be clear
59. Make a Commitment 1 Communicate Intentionally 2 Be Clear 3
62. Makes change easier
63. Organizations which design systems ... are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations. — Mel Conway
64. Strengthens your company communication strategies
65. Aids diversity
66. Aids diversity
68. Travis Valentine 1983-2017
69. Brainstormed, designed and rehearsed in Dallas and Edinburgh Remotely!
70. Brainstormed, designed and rehearsed in Dallas and Edinburgh Remotely!
71. Thanks! @mariagutierrez @glv