Wide Teams

Episode #43: Greg Bell of Reverb Software

Listen Later

In this episode, Greg Bell, of Reverb Software, talks about mistakes he made during the early stages of managing a distributed team and what he’s done to combat those mistakes, and the ideal people that make up a widely distributed team.

Show Notes:

Twitter: @gregbell

REVERB Software
Greg Bell Design + Development
github/gregbell
Ruby Open Source Challenge

00:44 – Greg Bell Introduction and Background

[unordered_list style=”bullet”]

  • Based in Vancouver, Canada
  • Reverb has 6 staff members distributed around the world: France and Vancouver
  • Shared office space that can be utilized

    • [/unordered_list]

    02:05 – Type of software worked on

    [unordered_list style=”bullet”]

    • Rails applications in medical and pharmaceutical enterprise spaces

      [/unordered_list]

      03:00 – History with distributed teams

      [unordered_list style=”bullet”]

      • First experiences werenâ€t so good
      • Inherited distributed developers

        • [/unordered_list]

        05:20 – What went wrong at first?

        [unordered_list style=”bullet”]

        • Good technology wasnâ€t in place to allowl continuous communication
        • No IRC or Hip Chat
        • No daily standups
        • Language barrier
        • Time zone alignment

          • [/unordered_list]

          08:30 – Plans to avoid future mistakes while managing a distributed team

          [unordered_list style=”bullet”]

          • Try to get people in the same room as much as possible
          • Face time
          • Keep the team connected
          • Having the right people

            • [/unordered_list]

            09:45 – Ideal people

            [unordered_list style=”bullet”]

            • Enjoy writing down what they are doing
            • Documenting thoughts
            • Making it obvious what they are up to
            • Detail tickets

              • [/unordered_list]

              11:20 – A day in the life

              [unordered_list style=”bullet”]

              • Daily standup over Google Hangouts
              • Additional conversations between teams
              • HipChat all day

                • [/unordered_list]

                13:14 – HipChat

                [unordered_list style=”bullet”]

                • Easy to use
                • Integrated one-on-one video chat
                • More private than Skype

                  • [/unordered_list]

                  15:10 – Division of work between people in Vancouver and people in France

                  [unordered_list style=”bullet”]

                  • Everyone works on projects together
                  • Meeting with clients is harder for those located in France
                  • Iteration planning

                    • [/unordered_list]

                    18:42 – Being stalled during work due to others being unavailable

                    [unordered_list style=”bullet”]

                    • Always have multiple independent tasks you could be working on
                    • Changing how you orient standups

                      • [/unordered_list]

                      23:00 – Connecting with clients

                      [unordered_list style=”bullet”]

                      • Tracking conversations
                      • Taking meeting notes
                      • Side conversations with clients can give a lot of context

                        • [/unordered_list]

                        25:08 – Dealing with young members of teams

                        [unordered_list style=”bullet”]

                        • Training/programs for young developers out of college
                        • Remote pair programming

                          • [/unordered_list]

                          29:05 – Number one piece of advice for someone getting into distributed work

                          [unordered_list style=”bullet”]

                          • Show progress

                            • [/unordered_list]

                            ...more
                            View all episodesView all episodes
                            Download on the App Store
                            Wide TeamsBy Avdi Grimm
                            • 4.6
                            • 4.6
                            • 4.6
                            • 4.6
                            • 4.6

                            4.6

                            10 ratings