A few words
I like the Microsoft software process. Basically they are
using SCRUM on large scale (~1000 engineers) with few rules and a debt commitment
by teams. Debts have to be delivered by teams. I don’t want to spend words on team
forming, storming, norming and performing model by Tuckman. I adapted the
Microsoft approach a little to make it work for my company’s environment where
team members often change and I am confronted with virtual teams all the time.
New teams to build:
- A short kick off meeting
- Face to face is best
- Sometimes virtual because of our matrix and international organization
- A few ground rules, fewer rules is better
- Commitment by team regarding debts
Debts are:
- Minutes after a meeting (usually I do them)
- Chosen software process, here it’s SCRUM
- Only a certain bug amount is tolerated. If a threshold amount is reached the team has to go into bug fixing mode.
- Non-functional requirements e.g setup has to work after each Sprint
- No issues about functional development, because everyone loves this work usually.
Existing teams
Check for common rules. It can be truly discouraging to team
members if a product owner/ project manager doesn’t know about existing ones.
Once I had an Asian team and they were used to have a short tea break at
11.30am. I didn’t know at that time and scheduled meetings regularly. Later, I discovered and
the whole team thought I wasn’t happy with their work which wasn’t the case.
My debts as project manager
- A clear communication of scope and expectations
- Discussion to understand the current game field
- Listen to the end
- Keep the team environment great
Retrospective
I
am trying to do it regularly on short periods. I don't have a good experience
with feedback sessions after a half year or year has passed by. Much has been
forgotten and usually one gets a vague picture (not specific, measurable, appropriate,
relevant and timely). I just use it to adjust and tune, means a step at a time, not a stormy way changing everything at once after each session.
Usage of collaboration tools to improve working situation of virtual teams
- Kanban boards, I really like Trello, it is great to present tasks in a swim lane view
Trello: Kanban tool - Webex / Lync with drawing and highlighting feature
- JIRA, only internally because if one is confronted with quick changing processes and external contributors it hasn’t the flexibility I need especially because I have to go through IT
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