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Challenges In Applying Scrum on Dispersed Team
Thang NguyenScrum Master, Coach @ DEK Technologies
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AgendaSituationChallengesSuccess practices
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Situation
Co-located team
Distributed team
Dispersed team
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Why do we need dispersed team?Look for talent all over the worldSpecial skills in another location Cost-savingsAccess to new market
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Agile Values Individuals and interactions over processes and toolWorking software over comprehensive documentationCustomer collaboration over contract negotiationResponding to change over following a plan
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12 Agile Principles…The most efficient and effective method of conveying
information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
…
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SCRUM Framework
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SCRUM in Dispersed Team The principles and practices of Scrum in dispersed team
are no different from the principles and practices of Scrum in a single-location.
Simply Scrum, but with added challenges.
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Challenge #1: Time zone differencesConflicting work hoursParallel workWork allocation and scheduling
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Challenge #2: Cultural diversity Iceberg model
◦ External culture is easy to understand and change◦ Internal culture is more difficult to understand
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Challenge #3: Communication Is a challenge in traditional agile environmentEven more difficult in dispersed team
◦ Most of communication is non-verbal◦ Lost or misunderstood information◦ Difference in language
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Challenge #4: Technical alignmentsMisalignment in engineering best practices can also
create conflicts between team members.
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Challenge #5: Managerial issuesHow to engage all members in the development
process?Difficulties in share project information to all team
members
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Challenge #6: TrustEasy to blame and criticize the other groups and the
team can break down into competing tribes.
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Practice #1: Overlapping Work HoursDocument the time zone differences and rangesDetermine a core-time range for all geographically
dispersed team membersOverlapping working hours needs to be established as
much as possible.
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Practice #2: Exchanging programRegular visits by sending members to other location will
foster collaborationEnhance understanding and also creates personal trust
between team members
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Practice #3: CommunicationVideo conference should be used as much as possible
Communication tools:◦ Instant message: Skype, hipchat, …◦ Desktop sharing: Lync, Bluejeans, …
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Practice #4: Transparent informationSingle source for information across all teams to foster
greater understanding among team members.The knowledge base should be accessible online in real
time by all locations◦ Wiki◦ Shared mailing list and folder◦ Online project management tools
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Practice #5: Remote pairingPair with another remote team member which can lead
to great knowledge transfer.The understanding was much deeper and an immediate
bond was created between the two who paired
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Practice #6: Engineering best practicesEstablish a set of common best practices across all
remote teams.Scrum Master must facilitate and ensure agreement
from all remote teams.Reinforce the trust and shared values between team
members.
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Practice #7: No class systemNo distinction should be made between team members
at different locations.With a class system, it will lower the trust relationship
between teams.The ‘lower’ class will always feel that they are left out.
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Practice #8: Individual sprint retrospectivesConduct individual sprint retrospectives at the end of
each sprint at each location and then will conduct a joint retrospective
Members at each location looks individually at what needs to be improved and how, by who.
In the joint retrospective, only focus on those things that are of interest for the whole team.
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Q&A
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ContactSkype: nbthang_bkLinkedin: https://vn.linkedin.com/in/bathangnguyenEmail: [email protected]
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