Distributed & Local: Getting the Best of Both Worlds
summary
Company runs seven scrum teams with 51 tech staff across six states and four countries and keeps teams to three to five people, enforces a three‑hour time spread rule so teammates overlap, and requires code reviews for every production change. Communication uses video conferencing, screen sharing, flowcharts, text chat (internal “Connect”), daily standups and retrospectives. Quarterly “Create” weeks and occasional onsite launch weeks build social trust. Junior devs experimented remotely (retained but harder to mentor), HQ has collaboration space, a public “knowledge dojo,” and 12 quiet pods.
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chapters (14)
- 0:00Start
- 1:23Ben Klang
- 3:45Mixed Teams
- 6:46Not Everyone Can Be Remote
- 8:18Benefits to Employees
- 11:46Mutual Benefits
- 13:02What are the Challenges?
- 13:27Communication Challenge #2
- 17:08Communication Challenge #3 PERCEPTIONS & DISTRACTIONS
- 18:54It Continues with Process
- 21:01It Finishes with Culture
- 22:12Optimizing for Local
- 25:10Optimizing for Remote
- 27:51Summary
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