We have 30 people across 9 countries and several teams who have very limited real time cross over.
We don't send internal emails.
We use:
Slack for asynchronous discussion. If someone posts something in Slack they should expect a response within 1-2 days.
Salesforce chatter for operational discussion. Comments on here should get answered within 1 work day.
Skype chat for real time chat. This should get answered asap (let's say 15 minutes).
Zoom for all meetings.
Ask HN: As managers, how do you make sure your distributed team is aligned?
71–75 of 75 posts
Re: Ask HN: As managers, how do you make sure your distributed team is aligned?
#72We use [V2MOMs][1] for every team, created by said teams. Then, daily and weekly calls. Whatever we do is more or less connected to goals in V2MOM. It helps from being distracted. [1]: https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-v2mom-process-201...
I find that MBO/OKRs drucker-style is lighter weight than V2MOM as the method is left to the person doing the work. Is there an advantage to documenting and setting methods in stone ahead of time? Curious about your experiences with it.
Well, they are not written in stone. We have quarterly V2MOMS and we change their content during given quarter if that's better for the team.
Re: Ask HN: As managers, how do you make sure your distributed team is aligned?
#73> We use Slack for internal comms, but it's used mostly for chit-chat conversations and real-time issues. Is there a product for slow-thinking updates where I can share teams news and align my +40 people team? With distributed teams, I don't think communicating big vision ideas are all that difficult. They can usually be solved with a monthly all-hands. The problem with distributed teams is the lack of informal inter…
I'm not convinced that an idea (or a seed thereof) that is not formed well enough to be written down is ready for discussion with another person. An idea that has navigated through the internal dialogue I have to engage in to put it to paper is much less a waste of your time. And, if you want me to provide well thought-out feedback on your idea, don't ask me to respond to it in real time or in the timeframe of a meet…
> I'm not convinced that an idea (or a seed thereof) that is not formed well enough to be written down is ready for discussion with another person. ... Write down whatever you can about your problem ... then send it to me, saying "what do you think?". I will read it at the time when I am most able to give it my full attention ...
Unfortunately, that delay imposes pretty serious transaction costs on innovation. Because most ideas are not worthwhile, it's often more productive to discard them quickly and move on to the next idea than to dwell on them for longer periods of time.
Put analytically, assume there are 2 developers at a company each with plenty of ideas, but 9 out of 10 of them are garbage. Further assume that determining a bad idea is actually a bad idea with another person takes 0.5 hours, but doing it on your own takes 1.5 hours. The two devs will generate far more good ideas (those 1 out of 10), if they talk to each other than if they dwell on them without speaking to each other.
Re: Ask HN: As managers, how do you make sure your distributed team is aligned?
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find that MBO/OKRs drucker-style is lighter weight than V2MOM as the method is left to the person doing the work. Is there an advantage to documenting and setting methods in stone ahead of time? Curious about your experiences with it.
Well, they are not written in stone. We have quarterly V2MOMS and we change their content during given quarter if that's better for the team.
Sure - nothing is written in stone?
Have you found it effective to discuss the actual method of how you'll accomplish something months before you're working on it?
It seems like it would almost always change for development - maybe in other areas it's more useful.
Re: Ask HN: As managers, how do you make sure your distributed team is aligned?
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, they are not written in stone. We have quarterly V2MOMS and we change their content during given quarter if that's better for the team.
Sure - nothing is written in stone? Have you found it effective to discuss the actual method of how you'll accomplish something months before you're working on it? It seems like it would almost always change for development - maybe in other areas it's more useful.
We do V2MOMs not earlier than 2 weeks in advance. Usually we just write down things we already decided to do.