Links of interest to distributed teams, from around the web. Today: breaking bread remotely, Starbucks gets free wifi, and more.
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Perfect Labor Storm 2.0: Working Virtual: Goodbye Office, Hello Telework – Annotated
More and more people are writing about how the virtual office is the office of the future.
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Instead of employing a group of competent generalists, the expectation is now one based on specialists who are productive, efficient, and good at meeting deadlines without someone looking over their shoulder. Are your employees ready and able for this challenge?
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StickyMinds.com: Manage People & Projects – Annotated
There are some terrific concrete tips here on fostering communication in a distributed team. I’m going to be adding some of these to my own remote work repertoire.
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Post a map that shows where your far-flung team members are located. Post pictures of them. (We tend to trust what we can see, and this little gesture can help build trust.)
When you can, share a meal together–even if you are on different continents. Schedule a call, post the pictures, and set the table. Breaking bread together is an ancient sign of hospitality and good will. This simple gesture can help knit the team together.
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When they have a conference call, the frames are placed around the table to remind the people in the room of who else is on the phone.
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it’s good practice to say your name each time you speak
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Appoint a facilitator for each call
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Even if you work for the same company in different locations, you work in different organizations
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Having a picture of your teammates’ physical surroundings–their cubes, floor, and building–is another way to make distant people more real.
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InfoQ: Remote Customer, Remote Developers and a Project in Crisis – Annotated
Sometimes the transition to remote doesn’t go so well…
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Jeff suggested that blaming everything on remote customers and remote developers is just a way to find excuses. According to him, he has done several projects in distributed mode and those have had excellent results. The real solution is a commitment to succeed by both the team and the organization.
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Using Starbucks As Your Office? Here Are Some Tips – Annotated
Personally I prefer to use local non-chain coffee shops for an office away from home, but it’s great that Starbucks is finally getting free wifi.
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Today, Starbucks launched a plan that offers free Internet access at 11,000 locations.
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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.