1. Distributed scrum
10/07/2013

2. Agenda
Scrum
Challenges for distributed teams
What works for us?
Closing thoughts

3. SCRUM

4. Scrum
1 day
3 weeks
Sprint
Backlog
Completed
Work
Daily
Scrum
Iteration
Planning
Meeting
Iteration
Retrospective
Meeting
Iteration
Review
Meeting
Scrum of scrums

5. Scrum
PRODUCT
BACKLOG
RELEASE
X
BACKLOG
RELEASE
X + 1
BACKLOG
RELEASE
X + n
BACKLOG
TEAM 1
BACKLOG
TEAM 2
BACKLOG
TEAM n
BACKLOG
ITERATION 1
BACKLOG
ITERATION 2
BACKLOG
ITERATION n
BACKLOG

6. Scrum
Epic
ü Format: EPIC - As a (role) I want (something) so that
(benefit)
ü Must not comply with INVEST (Independent,
Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable)
model
ü
User Story 1
ü Format: As a (role) I want (something) so that (benefit)
ü Must comply with INVEST (Independent, Negotiable,
Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable) model
ü
User Story n
ü Format: As a (role) I want (something) so that (benefit)
ü Must comply with INVEST (Independent, Negotiable,
Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable) model
ü
Task 1
ü
ü Real action to implement a User Story or Bug
ü Best practice is het size is between 4h and 16h
Task n
ü
ü Real action to implement a User Story or Bug
ü Best practice is het size is between 4h and 16h
Task 1
ü
ü Real action to implement a User Story or Bug
ü Best practice is het size is between 4h and 16h
Task n
ü
ü Real action to implement a User Story or Bug
ü Best practice is het size is between 4h and 16h
Bug
ü A defect in the product detected by QA, customer,
support,...
ü
Task 1
ü
ü Real action to implement a User Story or Bug
ü Best practice is het size is between 4h and 16h
Task n
ü
ü Real action to implement a User Story or Bug
ü Best practice is het size is between 4h and 16h

7. CHALLENGES FOR
DISTRIBUTED TEAMS

8. Challenges for distributed teams
Time zones & working hours
Cultural differences
Language differences
Communication

9. WHAT WORKS FOR US?

10. What works for us
Try to get rid of the 1 hour time difference
Distributed teams often need more written documentation than
collocated teams
Keep the distribution level as low as possible
Build trust! Have face-to-face contact often, do retrospective
meetings, keep pulling to get the right input, act when feedback is
given, do what you say + say what you do, …
Don’t guess everything is understood. Ask to summarize, ask
questions to verify,…

11. What works for us
Organize short feedback cycles:
• Test driven development
• Continuous integration
• Code reviews
• Review meetings
• …
Organize language courses if necessary
Make sure you have proper tooling:
• Video conferencing
• Skype
• Team Foundation server
• Team viewer
• …

12. CLOSING THOUGHTS

13. Closing thoughts
Working with distributed teams is challenging, wether you are using
scrum or not
Large-scale distributed teams should look for ways to reduce their
level op distribution. Organize as cross-functional collocated teams
Value the entire team. Be carefull for a “us versus them”
atmosphere in or between scrum teams
Having a strong understanding of the core scrum principles is
important

14. Questions?