Achieving the Full Potential of Your Distributed Agile Team. A workshop for those working in complex environments. Given at Agile Australia 2013

1. Achieving the Full Potential
of Your Distributed Agile Team
A workshop for those working in complex environments
Scalable. Flexible. Open.
Dipesh Pala
Agile Capability Lead
Kurt Solarte
Agile Practice Lead
kurt.solarte@au1.ibm.com
@KurtSolarte
au.linkedin.com/in/ksolarte
dipeshpala@au1.ibm.com
@DipeshPala
au.linkedin.com/in/dipeshpala

2. Morning Agenda Topic
1. Background and Introductions 9:00
Social Contract
2. Why are we distributed?
Group Discussion: Why are you distributed?
BREAK 10:30
3. Types of Distribution 11:00
Exercise: What are your greatest challenges?
4. Choosing Communication and Collaboration Methods
Demo: Collaboration with Rational Team Concert
5. Time Zone Issues
Exercise: Picture with 2 sentences
LUNCH 12:30

3. Afternoon Agenda Topic
LUNCH 12:30
Exercise - Mini Farm 1:30
BREAK 3:00
6. Language and Culture Issues 3:30
7. Dealing with Teleconference Dysfunctions
8 . Tips for Distributed Agile Activities
Open Discussion
Close 5:00

4. Part 1:
Background and
Introductions

5. Our Social ContractOur Social ContractOur Social ContractOur Social Contract
We, as a team, agree that:We, as a team, agree that:We, as a team, agree that:We, as a team, agree that:
we will…we will…we will…we will…
•
•
And we will not…And we will not…And we will not…And we will not…
•
•

6. Our Social ContractOur Social ContractOur Social ContractOur Social Contract
Anyone breaching this social contract will be rewarded with an
opportunity to enlighten the rest of the team with a small
motivational talk. The topic of the talk will be randomly picked by
the individual from “the jar” that will be pre-populated with a
selection of topics.
All team members are requested to submit a topic by placing a stick-
note with the talk title in “the jar”. You can continue submitting the
random topics as you come up with them in the future.
Each talk should be no less that 30 seconds and to a maximum of 2
minutes in duration.

7. Our Expectations

8. Agile Scaling Factors

9. Agile Community Survey Circa 2007
Members from 7 Business Units responded -- SWG, STG, GBS, GTS, CHQ, Research, Learning
Members in 12 countries (India, China, US, Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Ireland,
UK,Brazil, Mexico and Canada) provided feedback
98 projects were represented
What is Your Greatest Challenge?

10. #1 Challenge for IBM Teams was*?
Working as a distributed team!
Note: This is just one unit, IBM Software Group
Canada
Toronto,Ottawa
Montreal, Victoria
Edinburgh
London / Staines
Milton Keynes
Haifa
Rehovot
China
Beijing
Shanghai Yamato
Taiwan
Paris
PornichetBeaverton
Kirkland
Seattle
Foster City
San Francisco
SVL/San Jose
Almaden
Agoura Hills
Irving
El Segundo
Costa Mesa
Las Vegas
Andover
Bedford, MA
Bedford, NH
Lexington
Westborough
Westford
Cambridge
Cork
Dublin
Galway
India
Bangalore
Pune
Hyderabad
Gurgaon
Cairo
Rome
Gold Coast
Sydney Canberra
Fairfax
Raleigh
Charlotte
Lexington, KY
Atlanta
Boca Raton
Tampa
Perth
Krakow
Warsaw
Sao Paulo
Malaysia
Delft
Stockholm
Pittsburgh
Poughkeepsie
Somers
Rochester, MN
Boulder
Denver
Lenexa, KA
Tucson
Phoenix
Austin
Dallas
Boeblingen
Hursley
Warwick
York
Southbury
New York City
Princeton

11. Example Mid-Size Team
338 Members World Wide
China 40
Westford 22
Dublin 10
India 20
Sydney 44
Raleigh 79
Boeblingen 123
Core Team
US 101
Germany 123
China 40
Sydney 44
Dublin 10
India 20
Total 338

12. We turned to the broader Agile community
for discussion*
&and to the
creators of
Scrum for
validation of
adherence
to spirit

13. Agile
transformation
is a culture
change
“Culture reflects the
realities of people working
together every day&
&a set of values,
practices, and traditions
that define who we are as a
group.”
--Frances Hesselbeim
Uwe Kils) http://www.ecoscope.com/iceberg/

14. Of course, Agile provides us with
values, practices, traditions&
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
Agile Manifesto
Values
Satisfy the Customer
Our highest priority is to satisfy the
customer
through early and continuous delivery
of valuable software.
Welcome Change
Welcome changing requirements, even late
in development. Agile processes harness
change for the customer's competitive
advantage.
Deliver Frequently
Deliver working software frequently,
from a couple of weeks to a couple of
months, with a preference to the
shorter timescale.
Business + Development
Business people and developers must
work
together daily throughout the project.
Trust the Team
Build projects around motivated
individuals.
Give them the environment and
support they need,
and trust them to get the job done.
F2F Communication
The most efficient and effective method
of
conveying information to and within a
development
team is face-to-face conversation.
Working Software
Working software is the primary
measure of progress.
Sustainable Pace
Agile processes promote sustainable
development.
The sponsors, developers, and users
should be able
to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
Technical Excellence
Continuous attention to technical
excellence
and good design enhances agility.
Simplicity
Simplicity--the art of maximizing the
amount
of work not done--is essential.
Self Organizing
The best architectures, requirements,
and designs
emerge from self-organizing teams.
Reflections
At regular intervals, the team reflects on
how to become more effective, then tunes
and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

15. Embrace the values and principles to fully benefit

16. Part 2:
Common Reasons
for Distributed Teams

17. Group Discussion:
Why are you distributed?
Do you consider it a
“valid” reason?

18. Distribution - Why & How

19. Access to New Markets
2012 Gartner CEO and Senior Business Executive survey:
Expansion into new markets or geographies was one of top three 2012 priorities.

20. Cost Reduction
“In Asian countries, labor cost is very low. In India, the labor wages are less
than 50% of their equivalent labor in USA and other European countries.”*
*Fabriek, Matthias, Reasons for success and failure in Offshore Software development projects, Department of
Information and Computing Sciences, Utrech University, The Netherlands, August, 2007.
Growth
Country
2012 Cost
Index
% Cost
Advantage
China 74.2 25.8%
India 74.7 25.3%
Mexico 79.0 21.0%
Russia 80.3 19.7%
Brazil 93.0 7.0%
KPMG’s Competitive Alternatives survey

21. Expanding for Innovation and Thought
Leadership
“Multinational companies
produce more ideas
than purely domestic
counterparts.”
Chiara Criscuolo "Why Are Some Firms More Innovative? Knowledge Inputs, Knowledge Stocks, and the Role of
Global Engagement"* April 2004

22. Telecommuting and Convenience
“30 percent of workers in
India, Mexico, and
Indonesia claim to
telecommute regularly, and
one in ten overall work
from home every day.”*
*http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/24/us-telecommuting-idUSTRE80N1IL20120124

23. Speed to Market with “Follow the Sun”
“We conclude that there was
an approximate
10% reduction in
development duration -
rather than
the theoretical 50% of FTS.”
Erran Carmel, et al. Follow The Sun Software Development: New Perspectives, Conceptual
Foundation, and Exploratory Field Study

24. Acquisitions
As of June 6, 2011 IBM had
invested more than $14
billion in 24 acquisitions to
expand just its analytics
capabilities.
Microsoft has acquired
approximately 148
companies.
Cisco has acquired approximately 153
companies.

25. Access to Needed Skills

26. Improved Tools for Distance Collaboration
• High-speed Internet
• Voice Over IP
• Video Conferencing
• Whiteboards
• Electronic Meeting Tools
• Electronic Whiteboards
• Collaborative editing tools
• Chat
• Email
• Blogs
• Forums
• Social Networking
• Mobile/Smartphone
• ALM Tools&

27. Part 3:
Types of Distribution

28. Types of Geographical Distribution
* Greater opportunity for language and cultural differences.
Collocated
Collocated
part-time
Distributed
with
overlapping
work hours*
Distributed
without
overlapping
work
hours*
Increasing Challenge

29. Isolated Scrum Teams
Deliverable A:
Cross-Functional Scrum Team
(3-9 Team Members)
Deliverable C:
Cross-Functional Scrum Team (3-9
Team Members)
Deliverable B:
Cross-Functional Scrum Team (3-9
Team Members)
Sutherland and Schoenheim, Fully Distributed Scrum, 2008
IBM Global Business Services
Examples

30. Distributed Scrum of Scrums
Scrum of Scrums
1. What did your team do yesterday?
2. What will your team do today?
3. What blockers do you have?
4. What blockers might you throw in another team’s way?
Sutherland and Schoenheim, Fully Distributed Scrum, 2008
IBM Research
Technology Integration
and IBM Global Business
Services Examples

31. Totally Integrated Scrum (with Scrum of Scrums)
Deliverable A:
Cross-Functional Scrum Team (3-9
Team Members)
Deliverable B:
Cross-Functional Scrum Team (3-9
Team Members)
Deliverable C:
Cross-Functional Scrum Team (3-
9 Team Members)
Scrum of Scrums
Sutherland and Schoenheim, Fully Distributed Scrum, 2008
Large-scale Product
Development Examples

32. Feature Teams
Team is aware of how their work
addresses the needs of end users.
Dependencies are reduced.
Handoffs are reduced.
Planning is easier.
Design issues are found and
corrected earlier.
Administer user accounts
Administer Web server accounts
Bill for services
Administer email accounts
Feature teams work on customer-
centric capabilities delivered as
features in the final product.

33. Component Teams
Where teams are focused primarily on “layers”
or components rather than features:
Limited understanding of problem
Increased dependencies
Delays for feature teams
Bottleneck for feature teams that use the
components
Slower to detect and correct design flaws
Creates risk
Feature:
Administer
user accounts
Component
Team:
Database Team
Component Team:
Web Services Team
Component Team:
Billing System Team
Feature:
Administer
Billing details
Component Teams

34. Exercise:
What is the greatest
challenge that your
Distributed teams
(might) face?

35. Challenges & Tips

36. Part 4:
Choosing Your Method
for Communicating and
Collaborating

38. Strive for the
Richest
Communication
Channel Possible

39. Nonverbal Communication
Edward T. Hall (1959), a
renowned social anthropologist,
argued that in a normal
conversation:
“More than 65 percent of social
meaning occurs through the
nonverbal channel.”

40. Critical Tools for Distributed Team Communication
11 • Conference phones and headsets
22 • Screen sharing
33 • Instant messenger
44 • Video conferencing
55 • Agile Project Management (Electronic Storyboard)
66 • Lifecycle Management

41. That Was Basic
Communication&
What About
Collaboration?
Silo’d teams;
disconnected data
Important discussions are
lost to email -project
records are missing the
“real reason” for decisions
Unified team shares
linked data
ALM environment tracks
what is important for
delivering
“Am I blocking others”
“Are others waiting for
my approval”
ww
w

42. Collaborating in Real-time and in Context of Project Work
Team Awareness
Shows team members and their online
status
Discussions kept with work for all time
Change Awareness
Automatically links to changes if
mentioned
in chat
Drag and drop any work item or
query into chat
Avoid Duplication
Find potential duplicates
Subscribe team members
Move / Copy work between projects
Rational Team Concert

43. Part 5:
Dealing with Time
Zone Issues

44. Approaches to Time Zone Issues
Use a
Liaison
Whole team
Consistent Date/time
Whole team
Alternating
Meeting Times
Documentation
(and chat)

45. Using documentation
Anyone who cannot attend documents their answers in an
e-mail or wiki
The Scrum Master reads their answers in the meeting
BUT&
Lack of opportunity for Q&A
Less rich communication vehicle
People don’t always read about what team mates are doing
Reduces the whole team experience
Reduces peer pressure

46. Meeting via instant messaging (form of documentation)
Transcript of session produce notes for the meeting
Makes the meeting easier for non-native speakers
BUT&
Complete loss of non-verbal communication
Difficult to gauge if everyone is paying attention
Depends on the Scrum Master to start on time
Hard to follow if the meeting is not structured
Instant Messaging

47. Taking a Liaison Approach
Team schedules the meeting at
two different times
Team members attend at the
meeting time most convenient to
them
One team member serves as a
liaison and attends both
meetings
Liaison communicates
information from the other
meeting
4
7

48. Taking a Liaison Approach
Pros
Better for sustainable pace
Allows for a degree of visibility on
everyone’s work
Can be better than docs because
people can ask questions.
Richer communication medium.
Cons
The liaison is basically “playing
telephone”
The liaison may not present all the
details
Risk of fracturing of the team
Negative impact on “whole team”
view
Negative affect on the work-life
balance of the liaison

49. Exercise:
Describe this in 2 sentences&
(in 1 min)

50. 3 Important Questions
What days/times work best for you (including hours
outside of normal hours)?
Which days/times are okay?
Which days/times are off limits?
1
2
3

51. Even if you have fancy tools& ask!

52. Or, you can alternate meeting times for whole team
Team identifies two different times
for the meeting
Team alternates the time used for
the daily scrum at a set frequency
(every day, every week)
Everyone is encouraged to attend
Anyone who cannot attend
documents their answers in an
e-mail or wiki
The Scrum Master reads their
answers in the meeting
5
2

53. Alternating Meeting Times
Pros
Everyone shares equally in the
compromise
Aligns best with interactive spirit of
Scrum and Agile
Verbal communication
Opportunity for Q&A
Greater pressure to deliver on
commitments
Cons
Challenging for sustainable pace
Some may not be willing to share the pain
Loss of information from members if team
members don’t show up during the hours
that are bad for them

54. Distributed Scrum Game
Miniature Farm

55. Game: Miniature Farm
The aim is to create a miniature farm while using the Distributed Scrum Framework.
Timings
Event Duration
Release Planning / Planning Poker 30 mins
Sprint (including Sprint Planning) 6 mins
Sprint Review 5 mins
Sprint Retrospective 5 mins
Final Production Release (Demo) 5 mins

56. Miniature Farm – Release Planning (30 mins)
Inputs
• Product Backlog
• Product Vision
• Team Capacity
• Risks, Issues, Dependencies
Agenda
Product Owner presents the product vision and goals
Product Owner reviews key milestones and dates
Product Owner presents the first cut of the Product Backlog
Team asks questions to understand the stories
Team estimates the stories at a high level
Team estimates initial capacity/velocity per sprint
Team produces a Release Plan
Key Risks, Assumptions, Risks and Dependencies are recorded

57. Miniature Farm – Sprint Planning
Inputs
• Product Backlog
• Prior velocity
• Team capacity
• Risks, Issues, Dependencies
Agenda
Product Owner proposes the Product Backlog for review
Product Owner and Team review and clarify each item
Larger Stories are broken down if necessary
Team and Product Owner clearly define the Acceptance Criteria for every story
Team estimates all resultant stories
Team selects the stories they can complete within this sprint
Team identifies the Sprint Goal or Theme
Product Owner agrees with the order in which work will be completed

58. The Agile Farm

59. Part 6:
Language and
Culture Issues

60. Literally Speaking&
Publicity photo from Oprah Winfrey show. Some rights reserved.
What does this mean?
Paul is a bit blue today.
Paul ist blau.
Paul is true blue.
Until Paul is blue in the face.

61. Communication
Tools

62. Addressing
Language
Issues
1 • Keep language simple• Keep language simple
2 • Say the same thing more than one way• Say the same thing more than one way
3 • Give everyone a chance to be heard• Give everyone a chance to be heard
4 • Use text or verbal as needed• Use text or verbal as needed
5 • Confirm understanding• Confirm understanding
6 • Use translator/transcription as needed• Use translator/transcription as needed

63. Cultural Differences
The meaning of
“Yes”

64. Cultural
Differences
11
• Impacts effectiveness of communication
22
• In some cultures, it is inappropriate for someone to
say they do not understand the speaker
33
• Humor does not always translate well
44
• Each person interprets conversation based on their
cultural background…
55
• Impact on Holiday Schedules

65. Part 7:
Dealing with
Teleconference
Dysfunctions

66. Teleconference Dysfunctions
Side conversations
One person talks too much
Lack of understanding
Lack of attention
Too little information
“Us” vs “Them”
Assuming commitment

68. Teleconference Tips
Make sure
everyone can dial
in
Make sure
everyone can dial
in
Work in meeting
rooms with
telephones
Work in meeting
rooms with
telephones
Identify the
speaker until
team becomes
more familiar
Identify the
speaker until
team becomes
more familiar
Handle missing
visual cues
Handle missing
visual cues
Encourage
participation
Encourage
participation
Limit the side
conversations
Limit the side
conversations
Mute the linesMute the lines
Check for
agreement and
disagreement
Check for
agreement and
disagreement
Name a remote
team
representative
Name a remote
team
representative
When nothing
else works,
everyone dials in
Everyone is a
moderator

69. Part 8:
Tips for Distributed
Sprint Activities

70. Trust and Connection

71. Get to know each other
Culture, customs,
personality, family, likes,
dislikes&

72. Distributed Planning
May have to do planning in two chunks of time
rather than one solid (4-hour) block
Will need/want an electronic agile planning tool
to pull stories into the Sprint plan
Typically use electronic modeling, drawing tools
and screen sharing. May do some diagrams
offline and share electronically.
Easy Planning Poker (Chat, everyone enters
the number of story points)
Teams will share files and links to facilitate
discussions

73. Distributed Daily Scrums

74. Distributed Retrospectives
“At regular intervals, the team
reflects on how to become more
effective, then tunes and adjusts
its behavior accordingly.”*

75. Demos

76. “Rotation” Approach

77. Example Social Contract
We commit to be honest with each other. If we have a concern, a doubt, a worry,
or if we see a problem, we commit to surface it to each other immediately.
If we are unhappy about something that has happened, or something that the
other has done, we commit to surface this immediately to each other.
We commit not to escalate a problem to upper management without first trying
to work it out with each other. If an escalation does become necessary, we
commit to letting each other know in advance, so it doesn't catch anyone by
surprise.
We recognise that people make mistakes and have misunderstandings, and that
the important thing is to find and fix the mistake or misunderstandings as quickly
as we can. For this reason, we commit to each other that there will be no
retribution for surfacing a problem or a concern, a mistake or misunderstanding,
or for speaking honestly.

78. Key Takeaways
1. Even though one of the primary tenets of The Agile Manifesto is that teams need to be
co-located, it’s no longer required for everything
2. If you’re not co-located, tight collaboration and coordination is imperative. Make sure
that everyone is communicating, both in real time and in non-real time
3. Tools are critical, but they are not the only answer. It’s necessary to have good
processes in place, and for team members to meet in person as frequently as possible
4. Technology will help bridge most obstacles so code review, wikis, discussion forums,
bug tracking, requirement tracking, Continuous Integration and SCM tools are very
important
5. Having one integrated platform helps breeding synergy, transparency, productivity and
trust increases efficiencies across projects and organisations.

79. WOWs!, Risks, & Parking

80. Related
Books

81. Thank You
Our Contact details:
Dipesh Pala
Agile Capability Lead
Kurt Solarte
Agile Practice Lead
kurt.solarte@au1.ibm.com
@KurtSolarte
au.linkedin.com/in/ksolarte
dipeshpala@au1.ibm.com
@DipeshPala
au.linkedin.com/in/dipeshpala