Podcast #40: Mike Leone of Panoptic Development

Jul 11, 12 • In Featured, Interviews, Podcast

In this episode, Mike Leone of Panoptic Development, talks about transitioning into remote work, working with people who are not local, and integrating someone new into a dispersed team.

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Show Notes:

Panoptic Development
Twitter: @panopticdev

01:28 – Mike’s background and history

One of the founders of Panoptic Development
Does software engineering with open source development
Mobile application development
Systems integration work
4 full-time partners: 2 in Providence, RI, 2 in San Francisco and a network of 5 consultants throughout the country

02:38 – How the company came to be

3 partners worked at a startup in Providence and branched off

03:59 – Changes made when going remote

Get better at the things they were already doing
Think about business development
Tool selection

05:14 – Working with people who were not local

Networking

05:56 – Integrating someone new into a distributed team

Transition from small tasks to larger ones
People who express more interest in becoming more active within the company

07:10 – A day in the life working together remotely

IRC meeting
Client work/business development

13:35 – Challenges of going remote

Picking better projects to people to integrate them into working remotely
Being consistent

14:57 – Physically getting together as a team

At least once a year the partners get together

16:55 – Advice for remote workers

Having good tools makes a difference
Be flexible in your process: everyone works differently

dispersed teams distributed teams Interviews podcast remote 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.