Wide Teams Podcast Episode 3: Interview with Mike Zazaian, Part 1

In part 1, Mike talks about how he got into remote work, SCRUM iterations versus Kanban, why it’s important to assume nothing when communicating with remote coworkers – and much, much more.

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Show Notes:

01:00 – Mike Zazaian introduction, history & background

Remote worker for 4 years
PHP work, project management in L.A., C-Sharp, Java, .NET

02:02 – Key to remote work

Rigorous communication and organization
Better to be sure than miss something
Structuring thoughtful emails
State of the project emails
Interpersonal communication
Teamwide communication

05:30 – Importance of daily state of the project emails

Look at every day as nobody knows anything
Item by item completion
Flexible milestones
Doesn’t assume arbitrary temporal segments of work to be done
What is today, may not be the same tomorrow

08:20 – Mike and remote work

Values freedom
Background in English and Film Studies
Rails as an art form
Environments are crucial
Everybody has business value
Perceptible value of happiness

14:40 – Making remote work successful

Convey the quality of work as a developer
Convey business value
Sell the client on yourself
Make the client at ease via communication
Developer and project manager communication

20:40 – Wrap up

20:59 – End

communication distributed management podcasts project remote teams work

About the Author: Avdi Grimm

Avdi has been leading and participating in dispersed software development teams since 2007. He works from home in Southern Pennsylvania, and loves the fact that working remotely enables him to spend more time with his wife and five (soon to be six) children.