Category: distributed environments

Working in distributed / remote environments 4: one on ones (1:1s)

~ toscalix ~ 2 Comments

An important part of any (people) manager's work is to evaluate how things are going for your team members, the people under your responsibility. When managing distributed or remote teams, the one on ones (1:1) become even more relevant than in collocated environments. In extreme cases, they represent the only opportunity a manager to have … Continue reading Working in distributed / remote environments 4: one on ones (1:1s)

Working in distributed / remote environments 3: weekly meetings (II)

~ toscalix ~ 3 Comments

This is the second and last post of the Weekly Meetings series. If you haven't read the first one, I recommend you do before reading this one. Where? There is a very simple rule in distributed environments. If one of the participants in the weekly meeting is remote or at a different office, everybody is … Continue reading Working in distributed / remote environments 3: weekly meetings (II)

Working in distributed / remote environments 3: weekly meetings (I)

~ toscalix ~ 3 Comments

This is the first out of two parts dedicated to share my experience around weekly meetings in distributed and/or remote environments (DRE). Introduction As a manager I cannot tell you how many times I have listened colleagues of mine complaining about having too many meetings, but specially about too many unproductive meetings. Sadly, they are … Continue reading Working in distributed / remote environments 3: weekly meetings (I)

Working in distributed / remote environments 1: daily short meetings.

~ toscalix ~ 3 Comments

Agile establishes conversations as one key principle. The set up in those companies that follow agile methodologies are designed to maximise the interaction among developers and other people involved in product or service development. When working in distributed environments, the need to have those conversations does not change, but since the environment is significantly different, … Continue reading Working in distributed / remote environments 1: daily short meetings.

Working in distributed / remote environments 0: presentation.

~ toscalix ~ 2 Comments

I have been working in distributed or remote environments (DRE) since 2003 approximately. I started back in the Canary Islands using IRC, wikis, ticketing systems, mailing lists...all designed to work remotely, avoiding VPNs. A few years later I moved to the mainland of Spain and the situation in this regard became even more complex. I … Continue reading Working in distributed / remote environments 0: presentation.

Bitacora: personas

~ toscalix ~ 3 Comments

Introduction This is the third of a series of articles about Bitacora. Please read the previous ones to get full context: The diary (aka bitácora): towards alignment in distributed environment. Bitacora: environment definition. The environment description is incomplete without the personas. I like this concept for many reasons but the main one is because I … Continue reading Bitacora: personas