Posts Tagged ‘communication’
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5, 6, 7, 8, who do we appreciate?
In a dispersed team it is more important than ever to make a habit of showing appreciation for a job well done. A quick article today since I don’t have a lot of time. If you’re a regular reader you know I’m a big advocate of practicing regular retrospectives in distributed teams. In one of the the teams I work with right now, he first item on the retrospective template we use is “appreciations”. We take time at the beginning of the meeting to recognize the efforts of members of the team who have gone above & beyond. Anyone can pipe up, and the recognitions can be for anything from fixing a nasty bug over the weekend to being extra helpful on Campfire. When you don’t see each other every day, it’s easy to forget
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Wide Links #17
Some of my favorite reading on dispersed teams from the last week. In this edition: investing in your home office; staying in touch with your team; agile software practices for distributed teams; giving a presentation over the internet, and much more. Where to Invest for the Biggest Productivity Gains You can save a lot of money by working remotely, but that doesn’t mean you should skimp on the tools that really matter. A few strategically chosen expenditures can dramatically increase your productivity and connectivity. tags: wideteams Remote workers can’t escape talking on the phone, or its modern day equivalents. I personally have a fairly expensive handset hooked up to my landline, which I use when it’s important to have great call quality and a connection I can depend upon. You might not consider a landline
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Celebrating Six Months of Wide Teams!
It’s our 6-month anniversary! Come join us for a look back over our first half-year of existence, and tell us what you want us to cover in the future. Six months ago (technically, six months ago yesterday) I published the first Wide Teams blog post. Since then I’ve interviewed dozens of remote workers, made a lot of awesome new friends, and confirmed that a lot of people are interested in the subject of geographically dispersed teams. We’ve even been featured in the Wall Street Journal! Some stats as of today, for the record: 82 posts, and 122 comments. 21 episodes of the Wide Teams podcast. 119 RSS feed subscribers. 227 people follow @wideteams on Twitter. 37 Facebook fans. Here are our five most popular posts over the last six months: Ironically, the most popular post
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Ask the experts: Adding a new member to a dispersed team
Bringing a new member into a distributed team poses special problems. How do you introduce your team’s culture, rhythms, and practices to a new coworker when they can’t sit in the same room with you? I asked some seasoned remote-work pros for their advice. Here’s what they had to say. David Browning of Two Guys had this to say: Bring them into all methods of communication. If necessary, explain the differences between each and what they’re used for (Skype vs Campfire vs Basecamp vs whatever-tool). Preferably you have a standup, so having them talk and hear others talk is a good way for everyone to feel more comfortable speaking their mind and getting to know one another. Nudge them to speak more if they’re shy at first, once they open up you should be good
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Wide Links #16: Meeting, Coaching, Bridging, Chatting
A heaping helping of links for remote workers today! In this edition, why work often doesn’t happen at work; an open thread on managing remote workers; advice for improving communication between the main office and remote workers – and much, much more. Making a long-distance relationship work: When feds go remote – Tom Fox tags: wideteams Don’t forget the small talk.When separated by distance, it’s even more important to make small talk about the little things in life to build rapport. Don’t forget to establish a sort of virtual water cooler for your folks by talking with them about their lives, the big game or whatever you can find to make a personal connection. Consider having your team virtually share their favorite recipes or books each week to help them stay connected while telecommuting. Jason
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Saving the Day with Social Media
One of the biggest struggles in a dispersed team is to maintain a sense of connection with your coworkers. Social media can play a role in keeping the team together. It was one of those days. Things just weren’t going right and I felt like everything – and everyone – was against me. I posted a frustrated, grumpy Tweet (squawk?) to Twitter. If this were a story in the traditional media about the “risks of social media” this is where you might expect the story to get really bad – the boss sees the tweet, and all hell breaks loose. What actually happened was this: a coworker – someone I hadn’t yet met in person, and whom I hadn’t really gotten to know – IMed me privately to see if I was OK. They asked
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Wide Teams Podcast Episode 19: Interview with Steven Willmott
In this episode of the Wide Teams podcast, I interview Steven Willmott of 3Scale. We talk about supporting clients in multiple timezones, what you do when one of your developers who lives on a mountainside and generates his own power gets hit with a snowstorm, and much more!
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Wide Links #15: Management, Busyness, Satisfaction
The week’s best articles on remote teams from all around the web. In this edition, pointers for managing a distributed team, tips for communicating how busy you are to people who can’t see you, a report that says teleworkers are happier than people who work in offices, and more! How to Manage Telecommuters: Tips from Project Managers – Annotated Four managers chime in with tips on leading remote teams. tags: wideteams “For complicated tasks, employees are asked to paraphrase tasks given. The manager reviews and sees if they are both in sync and if any extra input is required. This is more important for employees who are new to the job. Seasoned employees can read between the lines and have the experience required to understand any given task.” Ideas for a Distributed Team &#
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Conquering “The Fear”: 5 pointers for stress-free management of remote teams
Managing a dispersed team for the first time can be pretty scary. How will you know if everyone is doing their jobs and staying on schedule? Here are some tips that will have you breathing easy again. Here’s the situation: you’re leading a dispersed team for the first time. You’ve had a kickoff meetup so that everyone could meet face to face. You’ve assembled your collaboration tools. You’ve scheduled daily standup meeting at a time when everyone is available. But now the project has started, and you’re starting to get anxious. What is everyone doing right now? Are they working? Do they really understand their tasks? Are they on schedule? Are they being distracted by their families? Don’t look now, but you’ve got The Fear. It’s a creeping anxiety that affects many managers who have
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Wide Links #14
Another fresh serving of articles and presentations about remote work and distributed teams, from all around the web. In this edition: building trust, collaborating on visual design while distributed, keeping a team together during dry spells, and much more! Creative Remote Collaboration » IQ Blog – Annotated tags: wideteams Remote collaboration is important for any line of work where people are divided by time and space, but the need is expanded in a creative industry where there is an increased requirement of collaboration, communication, and execution of ideas. When you work for a creative agency with colleagues and clients around the country (and developers around the world), how can you improve and streamline the creative collaboration process? Building Trust Within Virtual Teams – Small Steps Add Up – Annotated One of the ideas
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The Wide Teams Podcast
A weekly podcast featuring interviews with people who are making dispersed teams work day by day.
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