From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams

Praise Quotes

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1.Distributed Agile Teams Are Here to Stay

1. 1.1Understand Agile Teams
2. Collocated, Distributed, or Dispersed?
3. 1.2Why Distributed Teams?
4. 1.3Agile Approaches Focus Distributed Teams
5. Questions to Ask First
6. 1.4Create a Culture of Experimentation
7. One Team Learned To Experiment as They Worked
8. 1.5Shift to a Mindset of Collaboration
9. When a “Team” Isn’t a Team
10. 1.6Review the Agile and Lean Principles
11. 1.7Is a Distributed Agile Approach Right for You?
12. 1.8When Agile Approaches Are Not Right for You
13. 1.9See Traps That Prevent Successful Distributed Agile Teams
14. 1.10Now Try This

2.Focus on Principles to Support Your Distributed Agile Teams

1. 2.1Establish Acceptable Hours of Overlap
2. 2.2Create Transparency at All Levels
3. 2.3Cultivate Continuous Improvement With Experiments
4. 2.4Practice Pervasive Communication at All Levels
5. Avoid Over-Communication
6. 2.5Assume Good Intention
7. Communication Gone Awry
8. 2.6Create a Project Rhythm
9. Cadence Provides Reconnection
10. 2.7Create Resilience with a Holistic Culture
11. I Don’t See My Team Members’ Families
12. 2.8Default to Collaborative Work
13. Bus Factor
14. Provide Multiple Contact Information for Each Person
15. 2.9Now Try This

3.Avoid Chaos with Insufficient Hours of Overlap

1. 3.1Defining Working Across the Globe
2. Around the Clock for Support
3. 3.2Map the Value Stream to Visualize Cycle Time
4. 3.3See the Effects of Hours of Overlap on Cycle Time
5. 3.4Manage and Survive Your Team’s Large Time Offsets
6. Who Has Tool Access?
7. 3.5Consider Handoffs
8. 3.6Insufficient Hours of Overlap Traps
9. 3.7Now Try This

4.Identify Your Distributed Agile Team Type

1. 4.1Consider Your Team Size
2. 4.2Encourage Team Affiliation to Improve Collaboration
3. 4.3Understand Boundaries of Collocation
4. Identify the Cost of Asking a Question
5. 4.4Define Your Team Type
6. Are You Faking Collocation?
7. Why Not Collocate the Entire Team?
8. 4.5See Your Team Type Traps
9. 4.6Now Try This

5.Communicate to Collaborate

1. 5.1Create Psychological Safety in Your Team
2. Encourage Safety Even in “Unsafe” Environments
3. 5.2Use the Appropriate Communication Channels
4. Humans Need Rich and Natural Communication
5. 5.3See Your Team’s Communication Options
6. 5.4Build Consensus for Team Communication Preferences
7. 5.5Enhance Discussions with Dedicated Backchannels
8. 5.6Language Matters
9. 5.7See Your Team’s Communication Traps
10. 5.8Now Try This

6.Create Your Collaborative Team Workspace

1. 6.1Select Iterations or Flow
2. 6.2Help Your Team Visualize Their Work with a Board
3. 6.3Help Your Team Create a Board That Fits Their Needs
4. 6.4Identify Your Team’s Focus
5. 6.5Distributed Teams Create Their Own Context
6. 6.6Consider Your Team’s Tools Needs
7. 6.7See Your Workspace Traps
8. 6.8Now Try This

7.Cultivate Your Distributed Team’s Agile Culture

1. 7.1Understand Organizational Culture
2. How One Organization Changed Culture as They Grew
3. 7.2How Agile Approaches Change a Team’s Culture
4. 7.3Create an Agile Culture With Your Existing Team
5. 7.4Build and Maintain Your Team’s Agile Culture
6. Scale Your Agile Culture As You Grow
7. 7.5Understand Your Team’s Decision Boundaries
8. 7.6Enable a Collaborative Distributed Culture with Helper Roles
9. A Team Member Serves as Copilot
10. 7.7See Your Team’s Agile Culture Traps
11. 7.8Now Try This

8.Build Respect With Working Agreements

1. 8.1Lack of Empathy Can Prevent a Team from Norming
2. 8.2Distributed Team Members Require Empathy
3. 8.3Asking for Help Can Build Respect
4. 8.4Facilitate Decisions About Respectful Teamwork
5. 8.5Identify the Team’s Values
6. 8.6Create Working Agreements
7. 8.7Blend Personal and Team Working Agreements
8. 8.8Define the Project Charter
9. 8.9Consider These Tactics to Build Teamwork
10. 8.10Build Respect Across the Organization
11. 8.11Work With Humans Requires Empathy
12. 8.12See Your Respect Traps
13. 8.13Now Try This

9.Adapt Practices for Distributed Agile Teams

1. 9.1Identify the Principles Behind Your Potential Agile Practices
2. 9.2Reflect Often as a Team
3. Shorter Kaizens for Knowledge Work
4. 9.3Create the Team’s Rhythm
5. Build and Maintain Momentum
6. 9.4Consider Which Meetings You Need and When
7. Break the Email Chain
8. What Kinds of Reviews Does Your Team Need?
9. 9.5See Your Agile Practice Traps
10. 9.6Now Try This

10.Integrate New People Into Your Distributed Agile Team

1. 10.1Focus on Interpersonal Skills
2. 10.2Recruiting People For Your Distributed Agile Team
3. 10.3Define Your Hiring Process
4. Offer Options to Candidates
5. Explain the Why Behind These Questions
6. Does HR Facilitate or Infiltrate the Hiring Process?
7. 10.4Use a Buddy System to Integrate New People
8. Onboard or Integrate?
9. 10.5Plan Time to Integrate People
10. Teams Need Time to Adjust to New People
11. 10.6Scale Your Distributed Teams
12. Nebula Teams Might Need Reconfiguration
13. 10.7Integrating People Traps
14. 10.8Now Try This

11.Lead Your Distributed Agile Teams to Success

1. 11.1Cultivate Affinity Between People and Teams
2. 11.2Create an Environment to Amplify Distributed Agile Teamwork
3. 11.3How Leaders Can Show Their Agile Mindset
4. 11.4Build Your Distributed Agile Management Skills
5. 11.5Set a New Direction
6. 11.6Focus on “Better” When Scaling Distributed Agile Teams
7. 11.7Start With a Distributed Agile Management Culture
8. 11.8Set the Path for Your Distributed Agile Journey
9. 11.9Now Try This

Appendix A: Our Toolset

1. Communication and Writing Tools
2. Book Generation Tools
3. Integrating Reviewer Feedback
4. Tools We Didn’t Use
5. How We Lived the Mindset
6. Would We Do It Again

Appendix B: Compass Activity for Distributed Teams

1. Prepare for the Compass Activity
2. Facilitate the Compass Activity
3. Consider These Other Facilitation Tips
4. References

Annotated Bibliography

Glossary

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