Working remotely as an IT team during COVID-19
It’s probably clear by now that the 2020 pandemic has turned things upside down, including the way we interact and function within IT, specifically in a DevOps team. We still want to uphold principles and working agreements within the team and pursue growth and maturity, but how to do that while working remotely?
I see two challenges:
- How do we maintain cohesion in pre-COVID-19 teams?
- How can we form a new team, mid-COVID-19?
A pre-COVID-19 team has the advantage of an already established way of working. There is a team dynamic, and the members know each-others non-verbal signals and behaviour. Remote communication is not so much of a barrier than it is an inconvenience.
For instance, if a team member is too passive during a discussion, it’s probably easy for others to address it. A disadvantage is that the team might be resistant to the ‘new normal’ of working remotely, because it has already experienced working together in the same physical space before.
On the other hand, a new team that is formed mid-COVID-19 has the advantage of starting green-field: they can define working agreements, team principles, and forms of interaction that enable working remotely.
In both cases, it’s important that someone in the team guards the inner dynamics of the team, for instance a team lead, Product Owner, or a Scrum Master.
Tips for working remotely
Try to mimic physical interaction
While it’s not yet possible to be fully emerged in a virtual office environment with the current technology (afaik), there are tools and platforms available that enable us to share and write on a virtual whiteboard, share computer screens, and have discussions.
Working remotely requires effort from team members
Some things don’t just work when we’re not in the same physical space. For instance, it’s hard to assess one’s reaction in a high-stake discussion when the conference cameras are off.
As a remote team member, it’s helpful to be actively engaged in communication. Be assertive enough so that the team knows where you stand, what you think about a topic, or if you dislike something.
Actively monitor and optimize engagement within the team
Based on decided working agreements, the team-lead or Scrum master can actively monitor the engagement of each team member and the energy within the team without being in the way.
Some team members can be passive, while others are too much on the foreground. Participating in remote meetings can be harder than participating in physical meetings, and the attention span is often shorter. That’s why its important to time-box meetings and discussions.
Collaboration Tools for working remotely
Most of us are probably already familiar with the following collaboration tools:
- Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Slack, or Whereby for meetings and presentations
- Trello or Jira for organizing work and backlogs
Miro
The tool I’m particularly happy with is Miro, which is a virtual whiteboard platform. A whiteboard is a helpful tool to communicate ideas, flesh out designs, and facilitate Agile sessions, like retrospectives.
Miro is flexible and can be used just like a physical whiteboard. It has a limitless canvas, you can share it with multiple participants, and there are all kinds of cool drawing features, including the familiar stickies to write on.
Let’s have a look at some examples on how I use Miro in my daily work.
Retrospectives
Miro is great for retrospectives. Everyone can put their stickies on the board and have a discussion. We can also import images, for instance, to create a dynamic retro format. (yes, my last step in the retrospective is beer!)
Design sessions
Start with a clean board, and design away. We can draw diagrams, connect components with lines, write pseudo-code.
Project roadmap
Creating and sharing a project roadmap is easy to do. If you don’t want to start from scratch, there are dozens of templates available.
Air Sketch
If you don’t have drawing tablet or digital smartboard, a mouse is probably the only option to draw on a virtual whiteboard. However, with an iPad we can use software like Air Sketch to draw with a finger or tablet pen.
I use Air Sketch if I quickly want to share an idea. It’s easy to use, just open the app which shares a webserver on the private network and use the computer browser to access it. By sharing the browser screen in a conference call, we can draw in real-time.
In conclusion
With some effort and flexibility, it is possible to maintain cohesion and performance within a team, despite the physical distance of remote working.
