Remote Best Practices

Objectives

• Distributed vs Remote
• Principles
• Distributed Work Tips & Tricks
• Remote Work Tips & Tricks
• Tools
• Resources

Distributed

A team whose members do not sit in "the same" office
 

• Team member A sits in Seattle office, Team member B sits in Denver office
• Team Member C is remote, Team Member D is remote

Remote

The act of working somewhere outside of "the" office

 

• Work from home
• Work from garage while car is being worked on

 

Princples

Remaining agile means...

 

people over process

collective ownership

eliminating risk and knowledge silos

everyone contributes fully and equally

 

Everyone contributes

fully and equally.

 

Inclusion is not passive, it is active

If we don't approach distributed work with intention, our teams can have second class citizens

 

Red Flags:

- "Everyone else can just follow along"

- "Should we invite X?, They're WFH today"

- "Don't worry about me, I'll follow as best I can"

 

Distributed Tips & Tricks

 

- Create a "Working Agreement"

- Determine hours to work

- Be flexible with ceremonies (stand-down vs stand-up)

- Have space for all voices

 

- Acknowledge your distributed-ness:

"One remote all remote"

"When everyone is remote, no one is remote"

 

Remote Tips & Tricks

 

- Add a picture to your slack profile

- Know when to use your video
  (see and be seen vs. fatigue)

- Leverage verbal cues over non-verbal cues

- Have a dedicated workstation

- Invest in remote tools

Workstation Tools

 

MUST haves:

- Video camera

- High-quality microphone

- High-quality speaker

- Internet (... great internet) (...hard wired)

 

Poor sound and video quality affects everyone.

 

...and have backups

Software Tools

Facilitating:

- Miro (whiteboard), alternative: whimsical

- Google Drive

Pairing:

- Zoom (screen share, accept remote, annotate)

- Tuple

- Pairit

 

Remote Work is a Mindset

Everyone contributes

fully and equally.

 

Green Flags:

- "Everyone jump into the team zoom"

- "Don't bother booking a conference room"

- "Add it to the team calendar"

 

Resources

 

- TDC Remote Tips

- TDC Remote Tips: Facilitation

- TDC Remote Tips: Tools and Tips

- TDC Remote Tips: Building Relationships

- TDC Remote Tips: Physical Space

 

Slack

- #remote

- #theviewfrommydesk