Five Tips to Lead Distributed Agile Teams
Johanna Rothman, an expert in product management, gives the audience of the Best Agile Articles Conference some tips about working with distributed agile teams in the age of remote work.
Tag: team building
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Agile
Bridging the Gap Between Remote Locations
In my years as a consultant I have seen it time and time again. Companies with multiple sites all working together. It is hard to bridge the gap across the miles and inevitably it shows up – The Red Headed Step Child Syndrome. Perhaps you’ve seen it before? This phenomenon happens when the people in offices separated by miles can’t quite see one another as human.
This is usually how I see it portrayed:
I meet people in one site in Arkansas and they talk to me about how “Michigan” has a mindset that is way off base. They explain how “Michigan” really doesn’t understand how to get the work done properly so they need a lot of help. “Arkansas” holds a bit of bitterness because “we” are always getting treated like second class citizens. “Michigan” forgets us, doesn’t give us information timely, has a superior attitude, and doesn’t really care about “Arkansas.”
Then, I go to the Michigan office and meet people there who tell me how “Arkansas” doesn’t really get it. They describe “Arkansas” having a bit of an attitude, an incorrect mindset and lacking understanding of how to get the work done properly. They say that “Arkansas” needs lots of help to get better.
Coaching
Sometimes you just need to laugh
This is the glass door I ran into on my first morning in a new office. Five minutes after I arrived. And I had to laugh at myself! “Way to go brainiac. Good thing no one was watching that one.” Then I giggled.
Messing up, making mistakes, looking stupid in front of others – these are things that often cause people to put up walls around themselves as a means of self preservation. No one wants other people to look at them and roll their eyes. No one wants to be “that person.” Unfortunately, the need to self preserve hinders a team’s ability to be transparent, take risks, and share ideas openly.
As a scrum master or coach we need to be aware of the human nature that says, “protect yourself,” and help develop a culture of safety so team members can learn to trust one another and bring out the best in one another. Part of the scrum master’s role is to help the team have the best communications possible. Safe discussions in a team happen when everyone’s ideas are valued and respected. Great ideas come forth when no single idea has to be the winner. Instead of allowing people to fight for their position like there is a trophy at stake, teach them how each person can contribute to the ideas of the others and build the best solution for the problem at hand so everyone can win.
