Distributed

teams that POP

Tips and Tricks to build energy, enthusiasm and
collaboration.
Offsite Offshore India China Argentina Japan
Is the pendulum swinging
away from offshoring? No!
In its latest study, Forrester predicts that by the
end of next year, U.S. firms will offshore more
than 800,000 service jobs, 40 percent more than
the firm estimated previously. Forrester's overall
estimate remains the same: The firm predicts that
about 3.3 million jobs will go overseas by 2015.
Telecommuting
A recent study commissioned by collaboration software
company Wrike reveals that: 83 percent of respondents
reported working from home for at least part of their
workday in 2012; 66 percent believed that their office
could be completely virtual within the next five years.
American workers who spend most of their time working
from home rose from 3.6% of the workforce in 2005 to
4.3% in 2010.
The bureau also noted that home-based work in
computer, engineering and science is rising particularly
fast, growing almost 70% between 2000 and 2010.
(Source: US Census Bureau)
Trends
•Rural Sourcing
•Crowdsourcing - free agency, in-the-wild
testing (Turk, uTest)
 Case:
New Mobile app must be released in 12 weeks.

Team consists of:

1 PM, on shore but full time work from home.

5 QA Analysts based out of corporate headquarters,
but most work two days per week from home
5 Offshore Developers
5 Offshore QA Analysts
To enable better collaboration, QA analysts work
more closely with development during functional
testing, leaving the onshore Analysts to do
regression.
Challenges? Risks? Advantages?
t
Your situation
Offsite
Contract
Offshore
Remote office
Consider the role you
play on your local team.
What do you offer?
What are your
limitations?
Your

Challenges
Planning
Consider your team's processes and
environment. Identify roadblocks early.

What are the limitations? What are the essentials?

Examples:

Process (Agile or Waterfall? CMM?)Technical –

what equipment/licenses do you need? Day to day
events. Build process and frequencyMaintenance
periods

•Build process and frequencyMaintenance periods

 Pl

Tr

How do we do it? Me

Co

Re
Planning
What will this new team or individual be doing?
How independently can they work, or is there
overlap with onsite teams?
Manage Forming the team
Who is responsible for hiring?

Know what you’re looking for and communicate

that

Don’t look for what you already have

Get involved in the interview process

Manage Training
Consider how to replicate onsite training
availability.Knowledge base (such as a Wiki) –
create it and direct the team to it.

Consider how to replicate onsite training

availability.Knowledge base (such as a Wiki) –
create it and direct the team to it.
Manage Training

Too many organizations “Plug and Play.” “How to

do it” vs. “How to get it done.”How do we give
offsite teams the “metadata” about how we work
that they need?

Too many organizations “Plug and Play.” “How to

do it” vs. “How to get it done.”How do we give
offsite teams the “metadata” about how we work
that they need?
Volunteers, please.
Project spec
Training means:
Product and Process Knowledge
People Knowledge
Cultural knowledge (yes, geographic, but…)
Tuckman’s model
Forming

Storming
Performing

Norming
Manage Effective Meetings
Logistics & Technology – What are you
using and is it effective?
Who is responsible for conducting?
How are the meetings organized?
Verify understanding.
Effective questions
What is your
When will you be done? assessment of the
project?
How many defects
What risks do we
have you found? vs. need to be aware of?
What time will you be
in the office tomorrow What other information
to report on status or assistance do you
again? need?
Manage Effective Interaction
Idioms
Age
Background
Geography
Channels
It's so easy to be misunderstood!
Does your communication pass the test?

To Be or Not To Be:
Korean -  “Lives dies!”
Dutch – “To be be or!”
Japanese – “Because of a certain or because it is not! ”
Chinese – “The survival destroys!”
Greek  – “In order to it is or in order to it is not!”
Hungarian – “Be, or not be!”
Turkish – “had straight exist or even if not had straight exist!”
 Manage Measure
How is success defined?
•Cost savings?
•Productivity?
•24/7 development cycleHow is it measuredIs it trac
• How is it measuredIs it tracked?
• How is it measuredIs it tracked?
How is it measured?
Is it tracked?
How is your performance evaluated?
Manage Feedback
Who is responsible for feedback?
How are expectations communicated?
One-on-ones with offsite team members.
How is performance rewarded/corrected?
What is the career path?What motivates
each individual?
Report success...and failure
Status – what should people be aware of, not just
what is being asked for. Time to completion
doesn't tell the whole story.
Efficiencies and Inefficiencies
Trends, trends, trends...
Mobile initiatives QA progress
Defects Found in Requirements (onshore)
Defects Found in Functional Testing (offshore)
Defects Found in Regression Testing (onshore)
Defects reported in Production
Total Defects Found

Ship date 03.01.2013

Defects found by area

Defects Found in Requirements (onshore)

Defects Found in Functional Testing (offshore)
Defects Found in Regression Testing (onshore)
Defects reported in Production
What doesn’t work
Wind up and go
Assuming the offsite folks can do
what your onsite folks can do
Trusting people outside of your
organization to know what you
are looking for
Expecting instant ramp-up
Not providing feedback
What doesn’t work
Assuming the onsite folks
won’t be affected
Asking the wrong question
Assuming motivation
Ignore success
Ignore failure
What works
Clearly defined responsibilities
Clearly defined ideal candidates
Clearly defined measures of success
Establish agreed-upon procedures and
tweak if necessary
Understand that training is ongoing (just
like your onsite folks)
Anticipate and deal with technical
limitations
What works
Change the source
Evaluate task size - Start with
small goals and work up
Consideration of environment
Establishing points of contact
Establishing consistent procedures
Inclusion
Learn from failure, celebrate
success
Any of this sound familiar?
Questions?