Wide Teams

Episode #101: JoseLuis Torres

Oct 30, 13 • In Featured, Interviews, Podcast

In this episode, JoseLuis Torres, a remote worker from Mexico, talks about his experiences working for a NYC-based startup and the challenges behind that, why it is so important to over-communicate, and to never be afraid to ask questions to clarify expectations. Show Notes: JoseLuis Torres (twitter [email protected]) 01:06 – JoseLouis Torres Introduction 02:04 – U.S. Companies hiring from Mexico 04:16 – Challenges of working for U.S. Companies Remotely 08:26 – What Distributed Companies Do Wrong & Fixes 12:19 – Asking Questions 14:43 – Communication Tools 15:22 – Advice for Others Looking to Get Into Remote Work

Episode #83: Interview with Tom Moor of Sqwiggle

May 29, 13 • In Featured, Interviews, Podcast

In this episode, cofounder Tom Moor, talks about Sqwiggle: an application that allows remote teams to work together throughout the day. Show Notes: Tom Moor (twitter github blog [email protected]) 00:41 – Sqwiggle 01:52 – Constant Visual Connection 05:56 – Capturing Faces 08:08 – Awareness vs Monitoring 08:58 – Features 10:44 – Origin 13:22 – Video & Audio Quality 16:06 – Competing with Google+ Hangouts? 17:17 – Upcoming Features

Episode #81: Interview with J Sherwani and Vishal Kapur of Screenhero

May 8, 13 • In Featured, Interviews, Podcast

In this episode, J Sherwani and Vishal Kapur talk about Screenhero: a new and convenient collaborative screen sharing application. Show Notes: J Sherwani (twitter linkedin) Vishal Kapur (twitter github linkedin) 01:01 – J Sherwani Introduction 01:35 – Vishal Kapur Introduction 02:17 – Screenhero 02:43 – Presentation Tools vs Collaboration Tools 05:10 – Proxying 05:54 – Inventing Screenhero 08:15 – The Screenhero Team 09:48 – Use Cases 12:49 – Proxying Desktop Audio 13:41 – Feature Requests 15:34 – In The Works/Improving Screenhero 18:33 – Using Screenhero while Collocated 20:31 – Mobile to Mobile App 23:26 – Work for Screenhero!

Podcast #29: John Hawkins of 9Seeds LLC

Apr 27, 11 • In Featured, Interviews, Podcast

In this episode, an interview with John Hawkins, one of the founders of 9Seeds, a company that specializes in custom WordPress development. The 9Seeds team is fully dispersed, with every team member working from home. We talked about how 9Seeds came to be a distributed company, and why John intends never to set foot in a brick-and-mortar office again. Show notes: John Hawkins is @vegasgeek on Twitter 9Seeds LLC The Event Ticketing and Affiliate Manager WordPress plugins 9Seeds sponsors WordCamp conferences

Podcast #28: Shane Pearlman of Shane & Peter

Mar 23, 11 • In Featured, Interviews, Podcast

In this episode I talk to Shane Pearlman of Shane & Peter, a fully dispersed software consultancy. We talked about recruiting the right kinds of people for a distributed team, and how to stay connected as friends as well as coworkers. Show notes: Shane Pearlman is @justlikeair on Twitter Shane & Peter Check out the Shane & Peter Lifeblog Redmine Adium Coworking Freelance Camp

Wide Links #19

Mar 18, 11 • In Links

The latest and greatest news and resources for remote workers, from all around the web. Set Up Remote Colleagues With the Apps They Need Using Ninite: Online Collaboration « Ninite has a selection of many of the most commonly used apps, including browsers, IM clients, media players, office apps, Flash, PDF readers, security tools, utilities and even some of WWD’s favorite tools, like Dropbox, Evernote and KeePass. The installer installs the most up-to-date version of the apps; running the installer again will update the apps to the latest version. iPad 2: The Best Tablet for Distributed Teams Just Got Better: Online Collaboration « I’ve talked about the importance of a “comms appliance” for remote workers; the iPad 2may just be the best device yet for that role. tags: communication videoconferencing ipad People who think

Podcast #27: Susan Tenby & Jessica Dally of TechSoup

Mar 16, 11 • In Interviews, Podcast

This podcast is a departure from the dispersed software development teams I usually cover. I interviewed Susan Tenby and Jessica Dally of TechSoup, a nonprofit focused on providing other nonprofits with the technology they need to better accomplish their missions. One way they assist nonprofits is in helping them to use Second Life, a massive on-line “virtual world”, to collaborate and build community online. I talked to Susan and Jessica about why TechSoup is a distributed organization, and why organizations are using Second Life to meet, network, and do their work. For someone who spends a lot of time doing remote collaboration, it was eye-opening for me to discover this whole new frontier of online interaction. After listening to this interview you may just be inspired to add a virtual world meeting space to your

Encouraging Involvement in Distributed Teams

Mar 14, 11 • In Basics, Featured, Practices, Tips & Hacks

One of the biggest challenges in remote work is simply making sure everyone has a strong sense of involvement. In this article Steven Baker, a veteran of dispersed agile software development teams, shares his experiences and recommendations for keeping the communication, camaraderie, and personal connections alive in a distributed setting. When you don’t occupy the same office for the same period of time every day with your co-workers, you can’t walk to your co-worker’s desk, or turn around in your chair to have a chat about what you’re working on. There is no water cooler to mill around get in the loop on what’s happening, and having lunch together is difficult. Differences in location, timezone, and working hours, can all combine to make you and the members of your team disconnected from each other. This

Podcast #26: Sahil Parikh of DeskAway.com

Mar 8, 11 • In Interviews, Podcast

In this episode I talked to Sahil Parikh of DeskAway.com, a web-based collaboration tool for distributed teams. This is another episode recovered from near-disastrous technical malfunction, and as a result all of my audio has been re-dubbed. Thankfully, Sahil’s insights into he advantages of a dispersed team have been fully preserved. Show notes: Sahil Parikh is @sahilparikh on Twitter. Check out DeskAway at DeskAway.com / @deskaway

Wide Links #18

Feb 25, 11 • In Links

Been a while since I did one of these… here’s a fresh helping of remote-work related links from all around the web. What to Do When An Employee Asks to Telecommute: Online Collaboration « A telecommuting trial run isn’t a bad idea, as long as it’s not biased against success from the start. tags: wideteams Telecommuting is becoming more common in organizations of every size. It makes it possible to work with the best people for your projects, no matter where they are based. It can be an opportunity to keep your team happy and it’s a privilege you may be able to provide without a lot of work or expense on your part. Even if telecommuting doesn’t wind up working for all of your team and on all of the projects you work on,