Episode #54: Steven R. Baker

Posted on

In this episode, Steven R. Baker, shares his experiences facilitating a remote team in Canada, his philosophies that led to working remotely,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Show Notes:

Steven R. Baker (twitter / blog)

01:10 – Steven Introduction & Background

[unordered_list style=”bullet”]

  • Writing software between 10-20 years
  • Focus on testing and developing high quality software
  • For the last 8-10 years, working from home

[/unordered_list]

02:01 – Working from the road

03:07 – VersaPay: Bank transfers in Canada

[unordered_list style=”bullet”]

  • 5 developers and a designer
  • Coordinate work with office in Toronto
  • Don’t know where team members are working from on a given day and don’t care

[/unordered_list]

05:16 – Coordinating

[unordered_list style=”bullet”]

  • Optional daily standup
  • Mailing lists

[/unordered_list]

06:34 – Managing the distribution of work

[unordered_list style=”bullet”]

  • Take the next story at the top of the backlog
  • Rotate through the team every two weeks to have a new Q&A/support person

[/unordered_list]

08:03 – Avoiding knowledge silos

10:15 – Looping others into a project

11:33 – Philosophy that led to working remotely

15:04 – Finding business

[unordered_list style=”bullet”]

  • Twitter
  • Conferences
  • Develop personal connections

[/unordered_list]

17:23 – Facilitating/encouraging a remote team

[unordered_list style=”bullet”]

  • Maintain a culture of openness and trust
  • Standup format: “What are you working on right now?”
  • Utilizing tools

[/unordered_list]

25:41 – Team building offsite days