As I am sure everyone has noticed the world of software development has been largely remote for the last 12 months or so. In truth more and more people were working from home already but it turns out that there is nothing like a crisis to force change. Most of the change that people have experienced over the last 12 months has been dramatic and largely negative, a fact that we must not forget. However, the change to working patterns has had some outcomes that a large number of people hope to retain.
From individuals I have spoken to and reading various surveys it is clear that there are many for whom working from home is paying off (I would count myself as one of them!). Being freed from the commute every day is great. I am sure it will be even better to be rid of the daily trudge to the office when we can actually get back to pubs, gyms or whatever it is you like to do in the evening.
The art of creating software is a vocation that lends itself well to being carried out remotely. You can sit at a PC pretty much anywhere and still produce high quality code. There are, however, a few things that I have learned to consider over the last 12 months of having an agile team where everyone is remote.
Keeping in touch
There are many tools for keeping in touch, but it is how you use them that matters. Daily stand-ups can be done on Zoom, Teams or whatever. In fact all of the agile meetings can be carried out this way. I have found that the biggest challenge is being able to keep people engaged.
When you are face to face in the same room it is much easier to tell if someone’s mind is wandering, if you are boring them silly with your PowerPoint (hint, if you are using PowerPoint you probably are!) or if they are hanging on your every word.
It is more important to think about how to bring each member of the team into conversations. Call them out by name, come up with more interactive ways of getting to decisions or simply making sure you only have the relevant people in the meetings can all help engagement.
Collaboration
One of the things that I believe we have lost by having a remote team is that ability to see when someone is struggling. Noticing that a colleague may need bit of help, bumping into each other while getting a coffee and complaining about a particularly difficult problem or even the simple “hey, what do you think about doing this…” are all lost when working remotely.
It is one thing to be sat at your desk and casually ask someone for help, but it somehow feels more formal when you have to call each other. This needs careful consideration. A team that works well generally have this communication nailed when they are together. It is not formal, it just happens. When you are all remote though it is important to allow time to talk with your team mates about their problems and to talk through yours with them.
It is important to switch off
Remember to stop working at the end of the day! It is too easy to carry on working long after you should have stopped. Without the journey home to signal the end of the working day you need to find another way to switch off. For me it is the act of putting my work laptop away rather than leaving it on the desk that makes me feel like I am done for the day.
Breaks are also important. Get away from the screen regularly. Now meetings are in front of the PC as well it is possible to spend literally the entire day staring at your screen. Breaks are essential to maintaining productivity so make sure that your team take them and that, if you are the leader, you model this behaviour and take proper breaks yourself.
Remember these are not normal times
Working from home in a global pandemic is not the same as working from home during normal times. During the pandemic, and even now as lockdowns begin to ease here in the UK, it is important to keep in mind that your team may well have more on their minds than usual. Concern around the virus itself, loss of income and worry about loved ones are all too real in the current situation.
Right now it is not unreasonable to expect some of your colleagues to be off their A game, and supporting each other through this is the right and human thing to do.
So does being agile remotely work?
In my opinion the answer is certainly a yes. That does not mean that you don’t have to tailor your approach though. In future posts I will cover how I have run the agile meetings etc while not being in the office.
I do think that having an office space for use is a good thing. Some things are better done face to face, meeting new starters and getting them through the first few days with the company for example. Also working from home does not suit everyone, not everyone has a great space to work in, or quiet kids, or quiet neighbours. In fact there are a number of reasons that some people may prefer to be in the office.
However, one thing the last 12 months have proven to me is that with the right tools and processes it is perfectly possible to run an agile team remotely with no negative effect on output
Dan On Agile 
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