distributed tech teams
TRANSCRIPT
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Distributed tech teams
Ricardo Parro – CTO maguru.dk
@ricardoparro
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
About myself
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
About myself
• 9 years working in startups(Portugal, UK,
Brazil, Denmark)
– wonga.com (UK – online loans)
• From MVP to a 1 Billion dollars
– printi.com.br (BR – printing)
• From MVP to exit (merging with Vista Print)
– maguru.dk (DK – Online Marketing)
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Distributed teams – Does it work?
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Good news: it works!
• Companies working with distributed teams– Automattic (wordpress)
– MySQL
– Kissmetrics
– Mozilla
– Github
– Rackspace
– Etsy
– Skype
– Basecamp
– Stack Exchange
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Good news: it works!
• wonga.com – UK, Ukraine, Ireland
• printi.com.br – Brazil, Romenia
• tacerto.com – Brazil, Portugal, Ukraine
• maguru.dk – Denmark, Ukraine
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Distributed team- Recruitment
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Distributed team- Recruitment
• Choose the country/location
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Distributed team- Recruitment
• Recruiter’s profile should be appealing
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Distributed team- Recruitment
• Canditate’s profile
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Distributed team- Recruitment
• Head Hunting
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Distributed team- Recruitment
• Interview
– Phone Screen
• Profile
• Motivations
• Communication
– Code Interview
• coder pad
• team viewer
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Distributed team- Recruitment
• Decision
– Hire, No hire – avoid maybes
• Offer
– Country employment rules
– Work Hours
– Fair offer – comfortable for both parties
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Agile in Distributed teams
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Agile in Distributed teams – tools, setup
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Agile in Distributed teams – tools, setup
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Agile in Distributed teams – process
• 2 week sprints
• Focused on:
– Speed
– Quality — heavy testing
– Iterative process — robust small iterations
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Agile in Distributed teams – culture
• Remote first
• Assumptions free
• Flat
• Fail Friendly
• Transparent
• Waste-repellent
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Agile in Distributed teams – Team
Motivation
• Communication
• Clear and precise specs
• Lean
• Continuous feedback
• Engagement on decisions
• Perks
• Avoid “Divas”
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Distributed Teams – Tech Squad
Organization
• Office
– CTO, Head of Tech, team leader
– Product manager
– Project manager/agile coach
• Remote
– Developers
– Web Designers
– QAs
– Data analysts
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Distributed Teams – Tech Squad
Organization
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Distributed Teams – Scaling Agile
• Tribes
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Distributed Teams – Scaling Agile
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Resources
• Remote (37 signals)
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Resources
• “Smart and gets things done” by Joel
Spolsky
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Resources
• Healthy Hacker podcast episode 18 by
Chris Hunter (github developer)
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Resources
• GSIGR podcast – Episode 139
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Resources
• Spotify Engineering Culture videos (part 1
and part 2)
– https://labs.spotify.com/2014/03/27/spotify-
engineering-culture-part-1/
– https://labs.spotify.com/2014/09/20/spotify-
engineering-culture-part-2/
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
@ricardoparro Agile in distributed teams – Agility Labs
Thanks!
@ricardoparro
github.com/ricardoparro
linkedin.com/in/ricardoparro