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Martin Fowler geographies of remote teams:
single-site team:
multi-site team:
satellite workers:
remote-first team:
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Remote = "everything outside of this floor", doesn’t matter if India or coffee shop around the corner - "out is out"
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not just local changes, also temporal changes, for example opposite of "9 to 5" = "My company gets the premium 8 hours of my day where I can focus the most."
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"The future is already here - it’s just not evenly distributed" (William Gibson) - what we’re talking about here is the present. Don’t let anybody tell you "maybe in the future".
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Companies with remote workers: ebay, IBM, Accenture (see "Remote" p. 80)
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However: some important tech companies prefer co-located work: Yahoo, Google, Netflix.
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There’s no works-for-all solution, applying working remotely depends on circumstances.
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only applies to knowledge workers with creative and thoughtful work
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offices = invention from the 18th and 19th century
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nowadays, at least for knowledge workers, office = perceived as interruption factory
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"real work" is done alone in the quite / in coffee shops
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400h commute time per year = time to develop "basecamp" (https://launchpad.37signals.com/basecamp)
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relatively new concept because technology only available since a couple of years: internet, cheap fast portable computers, webcams, headsets, …
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provoking thought: "As a good developer, these days you have to be able to work remotely"
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new possibility of distributed work doesn’t mean that every team should be remote!
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distributed work != faster / better than co-located work
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in many cases: gather developers around one desk = maximum performance because of quick communication paths + no technical and organizational overhead
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also: remote working may make only sense with developers, not management or assistance (although there are digital assistants …)
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doesn’t work with every customer, every team member etc.
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high level of self discipline necessary, high level of seniority, high level of self-organization: "What is the next thing I have to do to be successful?"
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experience from senior colleague: "You cannot work remotely in the first years of your career". Best thing: work co-located, then remote.
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also holds true for remote teams: Start working co-located in one room for a while, only after that separate and work remotely.
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"Everything that can go wrong in co-located mode can go REALLY REALLY wrong in remote-mode" (Martin Scholz)
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remote working is learnable and has to be learned
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focus of this workshop: cases, where distributed working is reality.
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employees: Wanna have!
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employers: (often) no-go
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"good ideas only when you are all in one room" - compare to several (american) films where crisis squads lock themselves into a room and force a solution
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also: people search romantic partners via online partnership - that’s the most personal thing to do and it’s done online. Why sitting in an office for work then?
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big topic: trust. Employer "How can I trust them to work?" - Why would you want to work for a boss that doesn’t trust you? Why would he want to hire people he can’t trust? Real fear: Loss of control, power, influence, right of existence of some managers
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security: What is more valuable: An encrypted laptop or a demotivated employer? Knowledge is in the heads, not the hardware. However, "safe" VPN and infrastructure is necessary. security checklist of 37signals:
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all computers drive encryption
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disable automatic login + logout after 10 minutes
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encryption for every site visited (TLS)
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all smart phones and laptops have lock codes and can be whipped remotely
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only use generated passwords that are managed via password safe
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two factor authentication (additional dongle or app for pin)
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Change of mindset: working remotely != "cheaper", but "We as tech-leaders need the best workers from around the world!" - that’s an additional dimension to "think remote"
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extreme form: digital nomads
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employer:
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only gets the most productive hours
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in comparison to 9 to 5: employer pays for sitting on chair in a specific time slot
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gets the best of the best - worldwide ⇒ opposite of "Let’s do remote, it’s cheaper!" because great software craftsmen will cost money, regardless of where they are.
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("Remote" p. 31) "Working outside the Box", IBM white paper, 2009: 1,9 billion $ from selling office space + > 1 billion $ less leasing per year
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chance to keep employees who move due to family reasons
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access experts in whole company, not just on-site.
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employee:
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choosing when to "work": only invoice most productive hours, sleep / play / go shopping in the meantime
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"new luxury": go surfing everyday while working for a company in Norway instead of the nice loft in the city of your employer.
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("Remote" p. 32) telecommuter 10.000$ per year less costs for commuting
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employee invoices his long lunch breaks and idle time
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think: What would an employer most likely notice: the third consecutive missed deadline because of laziness or a friendly, ever-present employee who doesn’t do anything?
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remote working focuses on the work done, not how you can sell yourself with chitchat in the office.
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remote work != another country / continent. Imagine just working part time and not driving to work for just 3 hours.
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working from onsite (location of customer) = working from inside the office = working from home
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⇒ remote = state of mind. Enable it and see what happens!
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more and more need for nearshore (for example Romania) or offshore (for example China or India) in Germany
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reason: cost reduction from german industry
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consequence in German IT: customer contact, analysis and creation of requirements furthermore in Germany, also decision-making about architectures and technologies. Implementation however more and more offsite.
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⇒ more need for coordination and communication in management
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more need for understanding business logic for every consultant in Germany
