Top 5 Secrets of Distributed Teams

Christina McNeill – Penn State – cmcneill@plone.orgT. Kim Nguyen – Wildcard Corp. – nguyen@plone.org

Why Are Successful Teams Important?

●Individuals have limits●Affect Plone’s success●Team effectiveness is a range: 0% <–> 100%●Ways to boost effectiveness

Team Challenges

NormalRoles

Personality

Organization

Leadership

RemoteMomentum

Collaboration

GlobalTime/Distance

Language

Cultural Norms

1.Plan the Meeting

1.Plan the Meeting

Share agenda & other documents beforehandScheduling: be consistent in frequency, time,

formatDo you need a meeting?Pick collaboration tools

1.Plan the Meeting

Google Drive & DocsGoogle Calendar

2. Manage the Meeting

2. Manage the Meeting

Start and finish on timeFollow agenda: Stay on topic

Can use task managers as structure for the meeting

Manage personality dynamicsRecord minutes and action items

2. Manage the Meeting: Face-to-Face

Google Hangouts (group)Skype (group)Firefox Hello (1 on 1)FaceTime (1 on 1)

2. Manage the Meeting: Task Managers

ActiveInboxHQ.comTrelloJIRABasecamp (PSM13, PSM14)Github issue tracker

3. Communicate Between Meetings

3. Communicate Between Meetings

1.Email2.Collaborative

EditingGoogle Docs

Design: invisionapp.com

3. Folder / Google Drive4. Chat

IRC

Slack.com

4. Share with the Community

4. Share with the Community: What & Why

Team membersAgendaFor transparencySo people know you’re active & can coordinate

with youYou may get help!

4. Share with the Community: How

1.community.plone.org: Announcements -> Team Minutes

2.Twitter 3.Personal blog (feed to planet.plone.org)

news from these sources are included in the newsletter

5. PeopleThink™

5. PeopleThink™

●Who make good team members? not always obvious

●Easing collaboration / group dynamics●Allowing personality and style differences to

complement, not clash●Who will show up consistently? Who will do

what they say they would do?●The ideal team member mix may change over

time

Applied Theory / Plone Teams

1.Foundation Board2.Plone.com3.Plone 5 Launch Team4.Marketing & Communications

Plone Foundation Board

The Star Chamber … evolved into a political weapon, a symbol of the misuse and abuse of power

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Plone Foundation Board

Team with most formal processScheduled bi-weekly meetingsFormal agenda process

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Plone Foundation Board

AgendaGoogle HangoutApprove prior meeting minutesRecord meeting minutes

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Plone Foundation Board

EmailGoogle Docs

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Plone Foundation Board

Meeting minutesposted on plone.org/foundation/minutes

posted on community.plone.org

emailed to Foundation membership

Agendaposted on plone.org/foundation/agendas

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Plone Foundation Board

●A truly effective mix of:○quiet (and maybe not so quiet) doers

○reality checkers

○social networkers

○longstanding context keepers

Plone.com

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Plone.com

Regularly scheduled bi-weekly meetings

Same day

Same time

Google CalendarRecurring meetings

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Plone.com

the same Google Hangout URLprivate Trac issue tracker

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Plone.com

EmailComments on issue trackerIRC

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Plone.com

Closed (private) issue trackerNo meeting notes taken, none shared

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Plone.com

Right people in right roles:themer

decider

writer

idea bouncer & editor

general purpose doer

Plone 5 Launch Team

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Plone 5 Launch Team

Regularly scheduled bi-weekly meetings

Same day

Same time

Google CalendarRecurring meetings

Agenda

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Plone 5 Launch Team

Follow AgendaGoogle Hangout

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Plone 5 Launch Team

Notes *eventually* posted on community.plone.org

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Plone 5 Launch Team

●Members chosen to represent all aspects of P5: docs, training, installers, framework team, marketing & communications

●A good mix of deciders and doers●Needed more people to DO

Marketing & Communications Team

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Marketing & Communications Team

Regularly scheduled bi-weekly meetings

Same day

Same time

Google CalendarRecurring meetings

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Marketing & Communications Team

Overlap with Plone 5 Launch Team members

EmailSlack

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Marketing & Communications Team

Folded into Plone 5 Launch TeamNotes not taken and/or nothing to

shareMiscommunication

No one attends

Meetings canceled

Plan the meeting

Manage the meeting

Communicate between meetings

Share with the community

PeopleThink™

Marketing & Communications Team

So much to do, not enough peopleSmall team, work well together Skills needed

5 Secrets

1.Plan the Meetings2.Manage the Meetings3.Communication Between Meetings4.Share with Community5.PeopleThink

Top 5 Secrets of Distributed Teams

Christina McNeill – Penn State – cmcneill@plone.orgT. Kim Nguyen – Wildcard Corp. – nguyen@plone.org