Challenges Faced by Distributed Teams. Part 3

In this last article about distributed teams we would like to summarize how we overcame challenges facing our distributed team and what the result was.

So, what was actually done?

• A set of rules regulating communication and team work was implemented, in particular: reports on meetings and taken decisions were sent to all team members; all questions (even within one regional team) were included in the project incident management system or general chat (correspondence); all problems and successful solutions on applied technologies were described in the project Wiki; daily status meetings, weekly reporting, and retrospective meetings were held; changes in the team structure were constantly published; a clear process of task assignment was applied to all project participants; all team members were involved in maintaining the product and sprint backlog as well as planning and priority setting of sprint tasks. As a result, a common information space was created in the team, and one hour time difference was the only point of misunderstanding.

However, it had been gradually cleared up when the timeline of both teams became the same.

• Considering a continuous staff turnover on the project, it was decided to break tasks into subtasks lasting not more than 4 working hours and to appropriately comment on any changes made in the code in the version control system. The use of both version control system and incident management system allowed us to compare instantly business functions of the product with the code implementation and to accelerate the development of the requirements changes. In that case, it took less time to eliminate defects with no need to involve those who had taken part in the primary implementation.
• Permanent close cooperation on tasks, discussion of problems at daily meetings and assisting each other (virtually or directly at the same office) united the team and erased cultural differences. Understanding the exact and clear common goal, simple and obvious workplace policies, tactful and constructive behavior, empathy and concern for all team members didn’t allow disputes to develop into conflicts. All the activities and disputes took the constructive course. The group of people involved in the project turned into a team sharing the same goals.
• As for the choice of a methodology, there was no other alternative. The development of the in-house product within constantly changing goals and priorities required a flexible methodology, SCRUM in particular. Although SCRUM did not assume work of distributed teams on the project, a common information space and a set of specialized tools (virtual SCRUM boards, terminal servers for simultaneous operation with one desktop, VoIP telephony) allowed implementing all the practices of this methodology. However, not all team members (both current and new) had experience in working with this methodology. A workstyle in such conditions required a certain behavior and self-reliance of developers which occasionally contradicted to personal skills of some participants. It assumed additional work within the team: it was necessary to help shy people reveal themselves, develop their team skills, etc.

What is the result?

The described project lasted nearly a year, and during this time we managed to make several releases. The product was successfully implemented within Artezio. Besides, negotiations with investors on creation of specialized solutions were conducted. Although the processes and practices applied to the project were still far from being perfect, the proven approaches have already been successfully implemented in other projects of the company.

Thus, it allows us to draw the following conclusions:

• SCRUM methodology can be successfully used in projects with distributed teams in case of creation of a full-fledged information space and consistent organization of work with a project environment for all team members.
• Successful goal achievement in a similar project depends largely on the quality and depth of details of a project plan.
• Communications management inside and outside the team becomes the main task of a project manager.

Challenges Facing Distributed Teams. Part 1

Challenges Facing Distributed Teams. Part 2