Podcast #30: Dan Menard of Macadamian

A discussion with Dan Menard of Macadamian, covering the importance of taking the time to build personal relationships; the advantages of having a team that’s split across time zones, the practice of distributed code review, and much more!

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Announcements:

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• I’m looking for a sponsor so I can do the podcast on a more regular schedule! Contact me if you’re interested.
• Get your free copy of the Dispersed Team Kick-Start Guide by signing up to the Wide Teams mailing list.

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Show notes:

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• Dan blogs at dan-menard.com and is @dan_menard on Twitter.
• Macadamian
• How to work with someone 12 hours away
• Yammer
• Smartboard
• The Wine project

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03:15 – Dan’s background

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• Macadamian Technologies based out of Ottowa, Canada, with offices in Romania and Armenia
• Product creation company that helps other companies bring products to life
• Software development
• User research
• User experience and visual design
• Quality assurance

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04:02 – History with oversea startup

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• Helped to work more effectively with clients in different timezones

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06:00 – Schedule Flexibility

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• Adjusted schedule
• Work from home or office

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07:28 – Importance of relationships

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• Personal connection
• Avoid “Us” versus “Them” mentality
• Skype is useful
• Personal presence at all offices

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09:50 – Advantages of working with teams across time zones

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• Working in teams across time zones expands a regular work day
• Instead of fitting 8 hours into a work day, you can get around 16
• Get projects done in half the time
• Overlap shifts slightly to sync up with SCRUM meetings, etc.

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12:00 – Tools

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• Skype
• Confluence (Wiki)
• Email
• Internal mailing lists and news groups
• Yammer

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14:40 – Smartboard

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• Whiteboard with a projector hooked up to it
• Touchscreen
• Interactive

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17:06 – Code Review

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• Patch-a-day
• Do things in small batches
• Develops good patterns and catches bugs earlier
• Responsibility

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19:00 – Adjustment to working with distributed teams

20:52 – Future of working with distributed teams

21:24 – Advice to distributed groups

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• Do whatever works for your individual team

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