This is an intervention. Have you been facilitating proper communication between your team and project stakeholders? Chances are, as a new project manager, you are not quite there yet, but you are not the only one. A common misconception is that communication is natural and simple. All we need to do is talk to each other, right?
Communication should be easy in theory, but effective communication requires effort. The most basic aspects of this revolve around people’s varying abilities to comprehend an idea, as well as how they best receive information. First, consider the difficulties you may encounter when explaining a technical solution to a non-technical person. Now imagine that you are doing exactly that over the phone or on a video call.
Yep. You may be in tech support, or you have been explaining how to set up a printer to your grandma who also happens to live 200 miles away. Either way, your discussion should be conducted in such a way to allow the non-technical person to provide you with useful feedback, so that you will successfully lead them to their expected solution. We know this is easier said than done. But how do we reach the point of doing it? [1, pp. 429-431]
Keep our “tech support” scenario in mind as this week, as we focus on communication within Agile teams that work remotely. A popular Agile framework, Scrum, is widely adopted by software development teams to provide a coordinated structure for collaboration [2]. Because of this, we will explore how Scrum helps alleviate common communication problems faced by project managers in remote teams.
Challenges of Managing Remote Communication
Graphic: Allison Dunny | Reference: [3] | Created using Adobe Illustrator
Working remotely is more prevalent now than it has ever been, but it also removes a major component encouraged by the Agile Manifesto, “the most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.” The world has changed a great deal since the Agile Manifesto was written in 2001, but it doesn’t just say that because it sounds good. For one, it prevents wasting time due to miscommunication or lack of communication [2]. There are inherent difficulties that come from not having your team in one place physically working together.
These difficulties include: [3]
Time Zone or Schedule Differences: Virtual meetings must be coordinated around convenient times that work for all members within a team. This may be more of a struggle at times depending on the location or schedules of each member.
Differences in Project Knowledge: It is more difficult to coordinate meetings and share information verbally with each other, therefore the team may not always be on the same page as to the status of the project or what the next steps are.
Less Impromptu Conversation: The team has even less opportunity to interact without the facilitation of in-person impromptu chats or meetings, therefore over-communicating is encouraged on video calls.
Lack of Team Unity: Team members may feel isolated if they are not given an opportunity to develop a sense of camaraderie. This may cause low productivity, low quality of work, and lack of accountability to the team if not careful.
Make Your Agile Team a Scrum Team
Image: ThisIsEngineering | Reference: [5]
Scrum is an Agile framework, and it is based around Agile philosophy. You may have heard “scrum” used as a term in rugby, and the Scrum framework approaches projects much like rugby players preparing for the next play. Long story short: Scrum involves the creation of acceptable values, expectations, and methods for a project management team to use as its foundation for management. It provides a format to organize key players in our Agile project and acknowledges that the team will undergo an evolution throughout the process [2][3].
In applying what we know about Scrum to remote project management teams, we form what are known as “distributed scrum teams.” These distributed scrum teams are either completely or mostly remote, and they incorporate typical Scrum elements in a way that only deviates slightly from the norm. You will still find sprints, ceremonies, standups, and retrospectives. Also, the traditional roles of product owner, Scrum master, and development team members will be established [2][3].
Communication in Distributed Scrum Teams
Graphic: Allison Dunny | Reference: [4] | Created using LucidChart
Plan Communication in Sprint 0
A remote scrum team benefits from ensuring each member understands how they will collectively communicate up front, not down the line after a few failures. The first task of the team is to create a communication plan. This is completed in what is sometimes referred to as “Sprint 0,” and it works out details such as: [3]
A social contract, or an agreement about team guidelines surrounding remote work.
A contact method agreed upon by all members for informal questions.
A format for each meeting.
A schedule indicating everyone’s availability.
What tools will be used for collaborating on the project.
Tools for Collaboration
There are many tools available for remote teams to adapt and use for communication. Rarely are you going to find a complete solution in one program, so your team will have to discuss what works best from their experience, as well as what the project itself will require. It does help to look for programs that are integrated with each other, as this streamlines the connection of information [3].
When choosing tools, they should follow simple criteria where all team members can:
Easily use and access.
Can collaborate simultaneously.
Share data and notify each other instantly.
Provide and refer to a collection of insightful information.
Examples of useful remote team software includes Zoom (virtual video meetings), Slack (informal conversation), Jira (support ticket tracking), Confluence (team collaboration), and Trello (track progress) [3].
It’s Not Always About Business
Your team is encouraged to get to know each other, as it builds a sense of camaraderie and trust. A project manager should provide ways of communicating all types of information. In video calls, there are various icebreaker games that can help each member feel included and comfortable speaking. Slack, for example, allows various topic channels to be created, so that different types of discussions can take place as needed [1, p. 445][3].
The Daily Scrum Meeting
Daily scrum meetings are essential for distributed scrum teams. They are short, but these meetings keep everyone on track. If the team is unable to meet via conference call, a modified version of the daily scrum can be done via the team’s preferred communication tool [3].
A few questions the team should cover daily are: [3]
What have I worked on?
What am I working on?
What issues am I having?
If anything needs to be addressed by the team, the daily scrum meeting is a great opportunity to get it out in the open. The team will then determine the next course of action to ensure problems are resolved [3].
Final Thoughts
Remote Agile teams are in a unique position to collaborate from anywhere in the world, thus creating opportunities for projects that otherwise would not exist.
As Agile project managers, we can implement the Scrum framework as a perfect complement to the strengths of Agile. It provides a structured, inclusive experience for most personality types, while remaining fluid toward improvement. Scrum boasts communication as one of its main priorities, and then everything else within the project springboards off these discussions [2][3].
As our “tech support” scenario illustrated, not everyone thinks about or connects with information the same way. These challenges are compounded when you are not in the same room as the person you are speaking with. However, if you stay intentional about communication and create a solid communication plan, managing a distributed scrum team can ultimately become your project’s biggest strength [1, pp. 429-431][3].
References
[1] K. Schwalbe, et al, Information Technology Project Management, 9th ed., Boston, MA, USA: Cengage, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/b2aef31a-bf2f-4c23-a0fa-63a64a662287/page/758a39896cdf87baf7a6aadddffd418f (Accessed March 20, 2024).
[2] C. Drumond. “What is scrum and how to get started.” Atlassian. https://www.atlassian.com/agile/scrum (Accessed March 23, 2024).
[3] C. Harris. “Distributed scrum: how to manage scrum remote teams.” Atlassian. https://www.atlassian.com/agile/scrum/distributed-scrum (Accessed March 23, 2024).
[4] V. Gopal. “Mastering Effective Communication in Agile Sprints: Boosting Collaboration and Productivity.” DevRev. October 23, 2023. https://devrev.ai/blog/agile-sprint-collaboration (Accessed March 24, 2024).
[5] ThisIsEngineering. Image provided by Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-using-gray-laptop-3861964/
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