Wide Teams

By Avdi Grimm

The blog for geographically dispersed organizations... more

4.6

1010 ratings

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FAQs about Wide Teams:

How many episodes does Wide Teams have?

The podcast currently has 100 episodes available.

Wide Teams episodes:

December 19, 2012Episode #63: Ryan King of Sharpsaw
In this episode, Ryan King of Sharpsaw, talks about some cool tools and tricks of the trade for remote pairing, security measures to take, and overcoming resistance to the practice.
Ryan King (twitter github rking on Freenode)
Sharpsaw
Sharpsaw on Github
00:59 – Ryan King Background & History
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Started development in 1999
Took a break to serve in the Army
Off and on remote development for commercial and open-source projects
Works for a company located in Kansas
[/unordered_list]
02:16 – Pairing Remotely
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One of the best, short tmux intros
Trouble-free VNC on OS X
Mosh, the Mobile Shell
[/unordered_list]
04:18 – tmux
Command to run a shared tmux (replaces the `weemux` program, which is
overcomplicated, in my opinion):
Start with:
tmux -S /tmp/pair
chmod 777 /tmp/pair # only needed the first time
Pair does:
tmux -S /tmp/pair a
08:05 – Mosh, the Mobile Shell
11:52 – Open-Source Pairing
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Ekiga
VoIP
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15:31 – Pair Programming
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Resistance
Feedback
Yak shaving period
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19:22 – Pairing Security
20:52 – Yak Shaving
22:12 – Benefits of Pairing
...more
26min
December 12, 2012Episode #62: K3 Integrations with Gary Benton, James Pellow, Dallas Reedy and John Ash
In this episode, Gary Benton, James Pellow, Dallas Reedy, and John Ash, of K3 Integrations, talk about experiences working outside the country, communication tools, and keys to getting hired if you want to work remotely.
Show Notes:
Gary Benton
James Pellow
Dallas Reedy
John Ash
K3 Integrations
00:47 – James Pellow Introduction
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President of K3 Integrations
Consulting for 12 years Started K3 about 4-5 years ago
Walla Walla, Washington
[/unordered_list]
01:42 – John Ash Introduction
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With K3 about 5 years
Project Management and Development
[/unordered_list]
02:56 – Dallas Reedy Introduction
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With K3 about 9 months
Started career as a graphic designer
[/unordered_list]
03:35 – Gary Benton Introduction
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Background in electronics technology and engineering technology
Project Management, Customer Support and Recruiting
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04:20 – K3 Integrations
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Primarily focused on Rails web development
Works with nonprofit organizations
[/unordered_list]
05:05 – Location
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Walla Walla, Washington
Fallbrook, California
Boise, Idaho
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05:33 – Becoming a distributed team
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Office experiment
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07:41 – Company size
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6 individuals
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08:21 – Company Individual Interaction
09:25 – Gary working outside the country
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5 months in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama
[/unordered_list]
10:56 – Communication Tools
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Skype
Google Hangouts
GoToMeeting
Google Docs
[/unordered_list]
13:47 – Daily team interaction
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Pairing
[/unordered_list]
15:37 – Intentional Communication
20:00 – Freedom and Flexibility
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John worked from Hong Kong
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21:14Â – Overcoming Distractions
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Setting boundaries
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24:50 – Recruiting New Hires
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LinkedIn
Google Keyword Search
Github
Working With Rails
37Signals
[/unordered_list]
25:48 – Getting Hired to Work Remotely
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Effort
Offer good code
Thank You Emails
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...more
31min
December 05, 2012Episode #61: Tom Santero and Reid Draper of Basho
In this episode, Tom Santero and Reid Draper of Basho, talk about hiring where the talent is, doing what you think is best for the company, andÂ the wonderful benefits of having work flexibility.
Show Notes:
Tom Santero (twitter github)
Reid Draper (twitter github blog)
Basho (twitter site)
Riak (github)
00:53 – Background & Introduction
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Basho: commercial backers of an open-source distributed database called Riak
Cambridge, Massachusettes
100 employees strong
5 offices worldwide
Riak CS
Engineering team is completely distributed
[/unordered_list]
02:50 – Employee distribution
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Hire where the talent is
[/unordered_list]
03:44 – Looking for and hiring developers
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Open-source contributors
Meetup groups
Conference circuit
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05:08 – Strategy to grow a distributed team
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Organic
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06:35 – Organization appearance
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Valve model: Valve Handbook For New Employees
Do what you think is best for the company
Teams of 1-4 or 5
[/unordered_list]
08:09 – Team interaction
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HipChat
Github
Yammer
Twitter
IRC
Mumble
Skype
[/unordered_list]
12:26 – Remote pair programming
14:21 – Standups and phone Q&As
15:51 – Distributed team challenges
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Growing pains
Onboarding
[/unordered_list]
18:31 – Personalities best suited for remote working
19:34 – Flexibility
22:13 – Advice for dispersed teams
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Hiring the right people is crucial
Have an open mind
[/unordered_list]
...more
25min
November 28, 2012Episode #60: Derek Haynes and Andre Lewis of Scout App
In this episode, Derek Haynes and Andre Lewis of Scout, talk about meeting and getting to know each other before working together, coworking spaces, and distributed teams unique to big companies versus small companies.
ShowÂ Notes:
Scout
00:59 – Derek Haynes
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Met Andre at a Ruby Group in San Francisco in 2006
Lives in Fort Collins, CO
[/unordered_list]
01:51 – Andre Lewis
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Still lives in San Francisco
Working with Ruby since 2005
[/unordered_list]
02:36 – Scout
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Server and application monitoring â€œsimplifiedâ€
Built for developers by developers
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03:25 – Working apart remotely
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Building habits and trust
Miscommunication
Google Voice Chat
Campfire
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09:33 – Work environments
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Coworking spaces
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12:08 – Previous experience working remotely
13:53 – Mistakes people make with remote work
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Big company vs small company
Knowing people before you start working with them
Personality overlap
[/unordered_list]
16:08 – Advice for remote workers
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Having a prior relationship
Weekly voice chats
In-person visits
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17:38 – Distributing work
...more
22min
November 21, 2012Episode #59: Daniel Yoon of Sleepy Giant
In this episode, Daniel Yoon of Sleepy Giant, talks about his experience as being “the new guy” on a team located on the other side of the world, knowingÂ whether you’re responsibleÂ enough toÂ effectively hold a remote position, andÂ shares a resourceful list of companies who are known to hire remote workers.
Show Notes:
Daniel Yoon (twitter / github)
Sleepy Giant
01:00 – Introduction & Background
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.NET background
Currently works in Ruby
Located in Beijing, China
[/unordered_list]
01:40 – Working for a U.S. company while located in China
04:01 – Identifying companies that allow you to work remotely
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Stack Overflow
RubyFlow
Ruby WeeklyÂ (invite only)
GitHub Jobs
37 Signals Job BoardÂ Â Â
The Sourcery
[/unordered_list]
05:43 – Interview Process
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Skype
Dressing up
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07:29 – Headsets
09:50 – Interview Process (contâ€d)
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Programming Quizzes
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10:53 – Advantages of working remotely
13:58 – Home office connection
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Security concerns
HipChat
Time zone overlap
JIRA
[/unordered_list]
17:36 – Getting introduced/introducing yourself as a new team member
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Whoâ€s that guy?
Getting lost in translation
Feeling anonymous
[/unordered_list]
31:12 – Advice for remote reworkers
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Can you handle it?
Responsibility
Have a backup source of Internet
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...more
36min
November 14, 2012Episode #58: Bob McWhirter of Red Hat
In this episode, Bob McWrirter of Red Hat, talks about communication as in artifacts created by tooling, remote workers as black sheep, and gaining notoriety via open-source.
Show Notes:
Bob McWhirter (twitter / blog / Red Hat / Project Odd)
00:47- Introduction & Background
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Has worked at Red Hat for the past 6 years
Has been in the remote industry for 15
Lives in rural Virginia
[/unordered_list]
01:40 – History with remote work
02:46 – Red Hat
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JBoss
Codehaus
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03:58 – Daily life
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IRC
Jira
Google Hangouts
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05:13 – Open-source experience & team management
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Communication: artifacts created by tooling
Team memory
[/unordered_list]
07:58 – Commit messages
09:26 – Email/mailing lists
10:04 – Dividing work
11:48 – Poor remote work experiences
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Remote Worker, Distributed Team: Bob McWhirter
Remote workers = black sheep
[/unordered_list]
15:21 – Reasons to work remotely
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Flexibility
Hours
Measuring production
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17:42 – Building notoriety via open-source
...more
22min
November 07, 2012Episode #57: Ezekiel Templin of Paper Cavalier
In this episode, Ezekiel Templin, of Paper Cavalier, talks about schedule stretching to accomodate time zones, choosing where you work from,Â and the importance of hanging out and meeting with co-workers to achieve the best remote working experiences possible.
Show Notes:
Ezekiel Templin (twitter / github)
Paper Cavalier
papercavalier/dotfiles
00:52 – Ezekielâ€s background and introduction
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Located in Meadville, PA
Works on large-scale Ruby Projects that interact with all forms of APIs that have to do with dealing books online
Paper Cavalier has offices in Brooklyn, NY and London
[/unordered_list]
02:02 – Traveled as a new employee to offices to meet people in person
02:26 – Tools
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Google+ Hangouts
Campfire
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03:55 – Pairing
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Ubuntu
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04:34 – Working remotely
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Previously worked remotely minus pairing
VIM
TMUX
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05:27 – Corsair Vengeance 2000 Wireless 7.1 Gaming Headset
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Long-term use
USB extender
Charge while you use
[/unordered_list]
10:56 – Google+ Hangouts
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Phenomenal free service
Use on phone
Presentations over screensharing
[/unordered_list]
13:40 – Schedule stretching to accommodate time zones
16:08 – Choosing where you work from
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Cost of living
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17:42 – Paper Cavalier
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faraday
Hakan Ensari
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19:01 – Getting hired
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Get involved in open-source projects
Have an active Github account
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20:35 – Advice for remote workers
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Patience with technology
Patience with the people you work with
Get enough sleep
Hang out with co-workers in real life if possible
Make eye contact
[/unordered_list]
...more
26min
October 31, 2012Episode #56: Evan Light
In this episode, Evan Light, a freelance software developer and mentor, talks about working with an apprentice, remote mentoring, and the power of reflection and education through suffering.
Show Notes:
Evan Light (twitter / blogÂ / Ruby DCampÂ / Triple Dog Dare)
Â 00:52 – Evan Light Introduction
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Freelance Software Developer
Developer Mentor
[/unordered_list]
01:03 – History with remote work
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Wifeâ€s health
Frustration Driven Development: Evanâ€s WindyCityRails Talk 2012
Former government contractor
[/unordered_list]
02:36 – Adjusting to working from home
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Allowed him to focus more
Easy at first, but harder the longer he has been doing it
Needy cats
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06:28 – Day to day work process
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Maintain 2 clients at a time
Remote pairing
[/unordered_list]
07:32 – Pairing with clients
08:20 – Working with an apprentice
[unordered_list style=”bullet”]
Working in person
Pairing locally
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10:07 – Remote mentoring
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Startups whose code is a mess
People who want to learn techniques or learn from a problem
[/unordered_list]
12:40 – Pomodoroing
13:54 – Working with larger distributed teams
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The people who perform well arenâ€t the people you expect to perform well and vice versa
Work ethic tends to be different in the office than for people who work at home
[/unordered_list]
17:09 – Regular Agile Retrospectives
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Defining iteration length
Describing what things went well and what made people happy and what didnâ€t work well and made people unhappy
[/unordered_list]
20:54 – Reflection
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Education through suffering
Frustration Driven Development
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective people by Stephen R. Covey
[/unordered_list]
28:00 – Do what you love and share it with other people and it pays you back
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The Passionate Programmer by Chad Fowler
Linchpin by Seth Godin
RubyFreelancers Podcast
[/unordered_list]
...more
37min
October 24, 2012Episode #55: Troy Davis and Eric Lindvall of Papertrail
In this episode, Troy Davis and Eric Lindvall, of Papertrail, talk about seeking out and choosing the right teammates, team overlap, and organic growth.
Show Notes
Troy Davis (twitter / github / blog)
Eric Lindvall (twitter / github / blog)
Papertrail (website / twitter)
00:57 – How their distributed team evolved
01:43 – Finding the right teammate(s)
04:10 – Living situations
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Eric: Stays just North of Seattle, WA
Troy: Travels: Seattle to Portland to Sol,South Korea to Bangkok to San Francisco to NYC
[/unordered_list]
04:48 – Airbnb
05:42 – Troyâ€s travelling
07:02 – Team interaction and dividing work
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Based on customer feedback
Campfire
Github issues tracking system
[/unordered_list]
08:42 – Avoiding using predictions and promises
10:18 – Work tactics
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Rare standups
Dealing with timezones
[/unordered_list]
11:15 – Team overlap
[unordered_list style=”bullet”]
You are responsible for how you should spend your own time
[/unordered_list]
13:27 – Maintaining continuity & company values
[unordered_list style=”bullet”]
Growing organically
Github as an example
[/unordered_list]
15:54 – Advice for distributed teams
[unordered_list style=”bullet”]
There are no shortcuts
Transparency
[/unordered_list]
17:26 – Arguing
20:43 – Papertrail: Hosted log management by and for engineers
...more
24min
October 17, 2012Episode #54: Steven R. Baker
In this episode, Steven R. Baker, shares his experiences facilitating a remote team in Canada, his philosophies that led to working remotely,
Show Notes:
Steven R. Baker (twitter / blog)
01:10 – Steven Introduction & Background
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Writing software between 10-20 years
Focus on testing and developing high quality software
For the last 8-10 years, working from home
[/unordered_list]
02:01 – Working from the road
03:07 – VersaPay: Bank transfers in Canada
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5 developers and a designer
Coordinate work with office in Toronto
Donâ€t know where team members are working from on a given day and donâ€t care
[/unordered_list]
05:16 – Coordinating
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Optional daily standup
HipChat
Mailing lists
[/unordered_list]
06:34 – Managing the distribution of work
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Pivotal Tracker
Take the next story at the top of the backlog
Rotate through the team every two weeks to have a new Q&A/support person
[/unordered_list]
08:03 – Avoiding knowledge silos
10:15 – Looping others into a project
11:33 – Philosophy that led to working remotely
15:04 – Finding business
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Twitter
Conferences
Develop personal connections
[/unordered_list]
17:23 – Facilitating/encouraging a remote team
[unordered_list style=”bullet”]
Maintain a culture of openness and trust
Standup format: â€œWhat are you working on right now?â€
Utilizing tools
[/unordered_list]
25:41 – Team building offsite days
...more
28min

FAQs about Wide Teams:

How many episodes does Wide Teams have?

The podcast currently has 100 episodes available.