How do grassroots efforts drive big changes in the world of remote work?

In this episode of the Distributed podcast, Jack Hannah sits down with Mike Bland, Developer Experience Platform Architect at EngFlow, to discuss his journey from Google and Apple to leading remote teams. Mike shares insights from his time running Testing Grouplet at Google, starting the Quality Culture Initiative at Apple, and how those experiences shape his approach to building effective remote teams today.

From fostering grassroots initiatives to using intentional communication to build trust, Mike highlights the tools and strategies that enable distributed teams to thrive.

Highlights:

• Lessons from Google’s Testing Grouplet and Apple’s Quality Culture Initiative
• The importance of intentional communication in remote work
• Using forums, training, and shared goals to align distributed teams



In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) – Kicking Things Off with Mike Bland

(02:30) – What Is Testing Grouplet? A Story of Change at Google

(08:55) – Lessons Learned from Apple’s Quality Culture Initiative

(16:43) – Building Grassroots Communities to Drive Cultural Change

(17:54) – Key Challenges for Scaling Communication at EngFlow

(22:36) – Creating Effective Synchronous and Asynchronous Touchpoints

(30:52) – Using Code Reviews to Build Trust in Distributed Teams

(37:11) – Balancing Autonomy and Collaboration for Engineers

(45:19) – Final Takeaway: Communication and Remote Work

Resources:

The Rainbow of Death: https://mike-bland.com/the-rainbow-of-death

Essentialism by Greg McKeown: https://gregmckeown.com/books/essentialism/

Grouplets: https://mike-bland.com/2011/09/20/grouplets.html

Where to connect further:

Connect with Mike Bland on LinkedIn and his website

More about EngFlow

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Connect with Jack Hannah