By Derek Neighbors, Published on September 4, 2013
Seeking Presence
Trying to do Agile practices on teams with remote team members is always a challenge. Especially when there is only one person on the team that this not physically co-located with the rest of the team. It is easy to feel disconnected from the rest of the team and even simple interactions feel painful. When you are the person left on the end of the phone after everyone else has left the room, asking if anyone is there, it is hard to feel valued. Digital tools for process management and video conference rooms are a good step, but they still leave a lot to be desired.
Finding Face to Face
If we look at the Agile Manifesto’s principles we find:
“The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.”
So how can we do that on a team with a single member that works remotely?
One solution I have seen that works very nicely is an iPad Mini plus a Nootle iPad Mini Flex Stand. This allows the team to pipe in the remote person to the iPad mini and have as close to face to face communication as possibly with out being physically present, with them all the time. The brilliance is that it is completely mobile. If the team goes to stand up they simply pick up the iPad and walk with the person to the standup. They can pass the person around as the token or prop them on the wall or a shoulder. When going into a meeting room for something like planning or retrospectives they simply put the iPad on the chair and the virtual member sits like everyone else. If they decide to take a team lunch no worries they just take the team member with them.
Recently, I caught a team using this solution trying to feed their virtual team member some home baked cookies that someone brought in to share with the team. As you can see it doesn’t solve all problems, but it sure helps some with presence. You may miss freshly baked cookies, but at least you will still feel like part of the team.