Survival tricks and tools for remote developers (especially Python and Django) presented at Djangocon Europe 2018 in Heidelberg, May 25th. Video available at https://youtu.be/-n9lytad4cg

1. Alessio Bragadini © 2018
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Survival tricks and tools for remote developers
(especially Python and Django)
Alessio Bragadini
@abragad
agile42 International

2. agile42 | the agile coaching company Alessio Bragadini © 2018
• Web (backend) developer and assorted cra!s
• Working for agile42, an Agile training and coaching company:
Europe, North America, South Africa
• Web/IT team working in Berlin and distributed
• We use Python and Django, and Agile methodologies
• I work remotely from Milan, for this job and previous ones
• How do I manage to work effectively and without stress?
Who I am, my team

3. agile42 | the agile coaching company www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2017.agile42 | the agile coaching company Alessio Bragadini © 2018
The dream…

4. agile42 | the agile coaching company www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2017.agile42 | the agile coaching company Alessio Bragadini © 2018
…the reality

5. agile42 | the agile coaching company www.agile42.com | All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2017.agile42 | the agile coaching company Alessio Bragadini © 2018
Remote working is not easy

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“I think there’s a split between being remote-
friendly — hiring some workers in a different city —
and remote-first, meaning you build your
development team around a workflow that
embraces the concepts of remote work, whether or
not your employees are remote.”
Zach @Holman / http://bit.ly/2nTomQb

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Can Agile help?

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• TDD (Test-Driven Development)
• no code ownership
• shared “visual backlog” (boards etc.)
Can Agile help?

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“The most efficient and effective method
of conveying information to and within a
development team is face-to-face
conversation.”
– Principles of The Agile Manifesto

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What is face-to-face?

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• Face-to-face means proximity but also truthfulness
• We are now used to constant chat and group chats
• We have Slack, Skype, WhatsApp, Hangout
• This is 99% of face-to-face (body language still counts)
What is face to face?

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What is “Information”?

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• Discussion about the project
• Discussion about code or design
• What moves forward: commits, tasks
• What moves backwards: bugs, regressions
• Links, ideas, jokes, etc.
What is Information?

14. agile42 | the agile coaching company Alessio Bragadini © 2018
“By forcing yourself to use chat instead of
meetings, by forcing yourself to use chatops to
mercilessly automate every single manual
action, you end up creating things faster, with
more built-in context, and greater ability to
share your knowledge across the organization.”
– Zach @Holman / http://bit.ly/2nTomQb

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How you do it (technically)

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• Shared code repository, possibly reachable from every location
(GitHub, Bitbucket, but security is a factor)
• Automated unit testing and integration testing
• Continuous Integration
• Continuous Deployment on a test server
• Shared tool for task planning and big picture (epics, sprints,
milestones, etc.)
• All available online from any location
• All feeding a communication channel

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How you do it (as a person)

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• Agile ceremonies: daily standup, sprint planning, sprint review,
retrospectives
• Explain what you’re going to do, what you’ve done, offer advice
• Establish “work hours” even if you are not in a proper office
• Keep chat channel open during work hours
• Meet face-to-time from time to time
• Learn from companies that “do it”: e.g. Automattic, Balsamiq

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21. agile42 | the agile coaching company Alessio Bragadini © 2018

22. agile42 | the agile coaching company Alessio Bragadini © 2018

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Our team setup for
Python and Django

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• Test-Driven Development (unittest, Selenium, visual tests)
• Infrastructure as code
• In-house GitLab as Git repository and project center
• Continuous Integration with Pipeline
• Slack channel with integrations with GitLab and Sentry
• GitLab boards, the occasional Trello board
• Skype for Agile ceremonies including daily standup
• Google docs etc.

25. agile42 | the agile coaching company Alessio Bragadini © 2018

26. agile42 | the agile coaching company Alessio Bragadini © 2018

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Thank you!
Contact us at
www.agile42.com / @agile42 / @abragad
Always looking for talents

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• zachholman.com/posts/remote-first/
• www.helpscout.net/blog/agile-remote-teams/
• www.agile42.com/en/blog/2014/08/28/agile-team-co-location-remote/
• whenihavetime.com/2014/07/08/10-lessons-from-4-years-working-remotely/
• blog.balsamiq.com/remote-work/
• hbr.org/2017/11/what-managers-need-to-know-about-social-tools
Links