I read Should Your Organization Be Co-Located, Fully Remote, or Hybrid from Scrum Inc. It’s nice to see the agile community starting to accept that co-location isn’t necessary to be an agile team. (I’ve been on a team for many years with people in multiple locations and it never stopped us from doing Scrum. We even figured out how to make in person agile games remote. A few takeaways/responding
Feedback
I really like this quote
Uncollected feedback is perishable; the longer you wait the less reliable it is
Many years ago (even before doing Scrum or remote.), I noticed that people had trouble recollecting what they wanted to contribute to the retrospective. They were quiet at meetings and didn’t remember problems not fresh on the mind.
I solved this by putting a shoebox and post its in a common location. This let the team put in their thoughts right as they happened.We had someone organize the post its by topic and used the retrospective time to discuss them.
Over time, that shoebox became electronic. But the benefits still stand. Real time opportunities to record those thoughts. I really like the perishable quote and am sharing it with my current team at our next retrospective!
Purpose of an office
The article lists the following benefits of an office. It was interesting reflect on how much of this applies to me and my troubles over the last 15 months. The table shows my thoughts on them both for work and the high school robotics team I mentor
| Item from article | Work | Robotics | |||
| Collaboration, communication, and the sense of belonging that comes with colocation | I’m not sure. It’s definitely good seeing people, but my team has been distributed for years. So a lot of my connections were with people not on my team anyway. | Definitely. The kids noticed how much they feel not being able to hang out, have team dinners, bond over dodgeball, etc | |||
| A place to work away from the distractions of home | Yes! This is one of the problems I’m having. (I put not having a good physical work space in this area. A subpar work environment is certainly distracting.) | Some of the students share rooms or have distractions on calls. | |||
| Creation of physical products and use of specialized tools | n/a – our tools are computers | Definitely. Not having access to the lab, tools, robot greatly limits what can be done. | |||
| Space for gatherings and training | While I don’t need to see my teammates every day/week, we do all meet in person on occasion. | In person meetings allow for more flexibility and cross training | |||
| A need to directly interact with customers | n/a | n/a | |||
| A place to focus | Another one for me. I only have so much energy to focus at home. It’s less than 8 hours worth which isn’t even enough for a day let alone fun things after work. I also notice, I can’t carry as many thoughts in my head at home. | Not sure. | |||
| The status and stability a physical location conveys | n/a | n/a |
Sustainablility
Another quote I found interesting:
Working more hours to get less done is not a recipe for success.
For most of the weeks of the pandemic, I refused to work more hours. (I made an exception for the a month and there was a high cost. I’m still recovering to get myself to the point I was at the week before I made that exception.) I got less done but it wasn’t from more hours.
Most of my colleagues get the same or more done at home. They should be able to to telecommute forever! I am not one of those people. At the office, I have a desk so I can see more stuff at once. I have two monitors so I can work faster. I can hold more thoughts in my head
And also
There will be times when after-hours work will be needed. These need to be the exception – not the rule.
I agree with this. And I made that monthlong exception intentionally. Also my employer passed the “test” of it being important. I worked one weekend day in exchange for a comp day. So at least it was my employer’s time too, not just mine.
I hear a lot of people say “since I’m not commuting, I can work more.” I strongly disagree with this. I used my commute time productively. I read the news in the morning and a computer book on the way home. (My computer book reading is also down because my at home energy isn’t available when I have time to read now.) Commuting time belongs to me, not my employer. It being gone isn’t a reason to work more hours.
Hybrid workspace ideas
The article also lists some ideas for hybrid work. My thoughts on those
| Idea | Response |
| Have designated team days for in-person work | We did that when we were a colocated team with telecommuters. (Monday was the day nobody could telecommute.) I consider this a crutch that we long moved past. Luckily we became a multi-city/time zone team after I no longer needed that crutch! |
| Institute policies to fight ‘Zoom Fatigue’ and burnout | The article suggests holding 10 minute breaks between meetings. I’ve had meetings 9:05-9:55 for as long as I can remember. So meetings i control do come with those breaks. |
| Always hold team events in virtual conference space | This one we didn’t quite do. We did have people at the same site connect from the same room rather than everyone being at their desk. But everyone did contribute equally. It wasn’t most people in one room and a handful alone at home. |
| Publish all meeting notes in a visible space which can be accessed remotely | Everything is electronic. While we do publish notes, we aren’t an async team though. |
| Only use virtual whiteboards | Definitely! The only time we used physical whiteboards was for pairing when the two people involved happened to be in the same location. |