This document summarizes the process of developing the new Theme Showcase for WordPress.com by a distributed team at Automattic. It involved 5 design iterations over 3.5 months with input from external and internal testers. The team used principles of transparency, initiative, communication, remote-friendly tools, and an emphasis on culture to successfully collaborate across distances. The new Theme Showcase was launched on schedule and within budget, demonstrating how effective work can be done in a fully distributed company.

1. DISTRIBUTED COMPANIES
A WORDPRESS.COM
TEAM PERSPECTIVE
Davide ‘Folletto’ Casali

2. Manifesto Ibridi
F E L L O W
UX REDIRECTOR
NIGHT.EU
ADVISOR

3. @Folletto

4. CODENAME CALYPSO
PROLOGUE

5. WHAT IS CALYPSO?
Next generation WordPress.com

6. 127
Contributors
26,030
Commits
6,915
Reviews
March 2014 → November 2015 (20 months)

7. ?How did you do that in a fully
distributed company?

8. Story
of a
Showcase

9. HYPERION
BLASTING AT THEME UX WITH THE FIRE OF 1,000 SUNS

10. MEET HYPERION

11. THE PROBLEM
PART I

12. Themes

13. v2.0

14. THX

15. v4.0v4.0

16. 3 DESIGNS
PAINFUL FOR USERS
3 CODEBASES
MAINTENANCE HELL

17. Create one single
Theme Showcase
for WordPress.com

18. PLANNING
PART II

19. VIENNA MEETUP
14 April 2015

20. Pains Goals

21. The Milestone·1 Model
Only user-facing
features
One
major feature
Many smaller
details & fixes

23. “
”
Steve Seear, Hyperion
I found this session really valuable.
It was intense, challenging,
and led on to a lot more discussions.

24. “
”
Miguel Fonseca, Hyperion
+1000 on the value and ROI
of our meetup exercises.

25. INITIAL ROADMAP
POSTED ON P2

26. MILESTONE 1
‘MINIMAL’
PART III

27. MASTER THREAD
POSTED ON TEAM P2

28. DESIGN ITERATION 1
POSTED ON P2

30. 1125

32. DESIGN ITERATION 2
POSTED ON P2

34. 1015

35. DESIGN ITERATION 3
POSTED ON P2

36. May 20, 2015

37. 928

38. 4
features added
JUNE 5

39. Live for Automatticians
inTest Environment
JUNE 5

40. M4 Purchases
M1 Minimal

41. UPDATED ROADMAP
EDITED ON P2

42. DESIGN ITERATION 4
DISCUSSED LIVE ON SLACK

43. DESIGN ITERATION 5
POSTED ON P2

44. June 11, 2015

45. 161
That is one lovely blueprint!
Very nice.

46. 5
features added
JUNE 11
JUNE 17
JUNE 24
JULY 1
JULY 15

47. Horizon
External Testing
JULY 21JULY 15
Automattic
Internal Testing

48. M1 LAUNCHED
3 August 2015

49. THEME SHOWCASE M1
THE PROCESS IN NUMBERS
5
Design
Iterations
11
Horizon
Testers
6
Automattic
Testers
100+
Feedbacks &
Comments
124
GitHub
Tickets
85
GitHub
Pull Requests

50. THEME SHOWCASE M1
TIMELINE
LIVE
~3.5 months
Meetup
4 days

51. THEME SHOWCASE M1
SALES CHECK

52. June 23, 2015 July 3, 2015

53. PRINCIPLES
PART IV

54. THE REMOTENESS CONTINUUM
Distributed
100%
Local
100%
Remote
in between

55. A SEPARATE
FLOOR
OFFICE
CITY
COUNTRY
MAKES THE COMPANY
ALREADY REMOTE

56. CULTURE

57. Transparency
share everything, share early

58. Initiative
individual leads, teams autonomy

59. Communication
is oxygen

60. SUPPORT

61. Meetups
build trust and give a face to text

62. Everything as Remote
behave as remote even if you’re not

63. Watercooler Spaces
sociality vs efficiency, do both

64. TOOLS

65. Realtime speed
one-to-one, you must be there

66. Async speed
one-to-few, you will be there

67. Stable speed
one-to-many, you are not there

68. Slack P2
WordPress
Wiki
WordPress

69. WORK & COLLABORATION
EXIST BEYOND PROCESSES

70. SUPPORT TOOLS
Transparency
Initiative
Communication
Meetups
Everything as Remote
Watercooler Spaces
Realtime speed
Async speed
Stable speed
CULTURE
Distributed
100%
Local
100%
Remote
in between

71. “
”
Bruno Munari
To complicate is easy, to simplify is hard.
To complicate, just add,
everyone is able to complicate.
Few are able to simplify.

72. Thanks.
@Folletto
INTENSEMINIMALISM.COM