Building and Managing High-Performance Distributed Teams : Navigating the Future of Work

The age of the distributed team is upon us. Teams can now operate and collaborate from locations other than a central office, and events surrounding the 2020 COVID pandemic have thrown its practicality into sharp relief. Managing a team whose members are distributed across several locations requires a different mindset and will remain a must-have for all areas of business from this point forward. Building and Managing High-Performance Distributed Teams explains what the distributed teams concept means to the future of your company. Author Alberto S. Silveira Jr. leverages his industry knowledge to explore why the high-performance distributed team model is vital to the future of business, and explains how to build and maintain one through times of change. You will learn to differentiate between distributed teams, remote work, offshoring, and what each means in a modern context. Silveira also weaves in stories from his other life as a boater and sailor, using analogies and lessons gained from humankind’s thousands of years of maritime adventure to illustrate the value of well-managed teams, and to also convey the importance of life-work balance in today’s working world. The book analyzes team management strategies from some of the great successes and failures in recent years so that you can learn from the experiences of others. Building and Managing High-Performance Distributed Teams is your definitive guide for building a dynamic distributed team, using collaboration technology to attract and engage the most important element of any business―your people. Whether you are a department head, a business owner, or a team leader, this book presents the no-nonsense knowledge you need now to chart your course for success. What You Will Learn Understand what the new era of connected business means, and the role distributed teams will play. Differentiate between distributed teams, remote work, nearshore, and offshoring, and what each means to modern business. Discover the true heart of a high-performance distributed team (hint: it’s not the technology). Find out what the era of distributed teams means to existing infrastructure. Uncover what we can learn about team management from some of the great successes and failures of recent years. Appreciate the techniques honed by seafarers, pilots, and software designers combined to create a successful project plan for team management and company navigation. Comprehend the effective simplicity of the “power of three” in building successful teams. Apply proven techniques of measurement and metrics without leaving the human factor behind to improve team morale and productivity. Who This Book Is For Team leaders or officers of small-ish companies, with populations in the tens through to the mid-hundreds. It’s also for managers of somewhat autonomous departments within larger companies, and for everyone else in the boat because everyone in a company ultimately needs to know what being in a distributed team is all about. Contents About the Author Acknowledgments Foreword: Following My Own Personal True North Introduction Part I: The Passion for the Voyage Chapter 1: The Voyage Heading Out from the Harbor What Is a Distributed Team and Why Is It So Important Right Now? Why You Need to Read This Book Key Takeaways Chapter 2: My Own Voyage Across the Equator Connecting the Dots and the Stars One Team, One Heart Driven Home Through Lockdown How Unicorns Lose Their Magic Going Distributed Is Not What You Think Key Takeaways Chapter 3: Offshore, Inshore, Nearshore, Remote, and Distributed Offshore The Hidden Costs of Offshoring The Offshoring Disconnect Inshore Nearshore Offshore, Inshore, and Nearshore, and Their Relationship to Remote and Distributed Remote The Distributed Teams Model Can the Distributed Teams Model Apply to Offshoring, Inshoring, and Nearshoring? Should Everyone Vacate the Office and Go Distributed? What About Freelancers and Contractors? Summarizing the Distributed Teams Concept Key Takeaways Chapter 4: Seeking the North Star The North Star in Business Why Is It Important to Have a North Star in Business? Connecting the North Star to Distributed Teams Apple: “It Just Works” From Sea to Space Business Is Much Like a Regatta The Three Pillars of a North Star The Trust Mindset and the North Star How to Build Trust and Rapport The Power of Empowerment The “What Were You Thinking” Paradox One Last, Great Thing About a North Star, Especially for Distributed Teams Key Takeaways Chapter 5: Finding Balance Through the Rule of Three The Triangle of Project Management The Golden Triangle The Triangle of My World: The Iron Triangle Product Management Product Design (User Experience) Engineering The Dialog Box Conundrum The Iron Triangle and Distributed Teams Triangles Inside and Triangles Outside Marketing Sales Driving the Iron Triangle Mindset in Distributed Teams The Rule of Thirds The Rule of Thirds for Boating The Iron Triangle and Leadership in Perspective Key Takeaways Part II: Setting Sail Chapter 6: Building a Distributed Team Organization Building a Cohesive Organizational Structure The Delivery Team The Squad The Two-Pizza Team Brooks’s Law Security Theater: Looking Behind the Curtain Applying These Concepts to the Distributed Team Key Takeaways Chapter 7: The Importance of Measurement and Metrics Measuring Speed in Knots Project Management, Kanban, and Six Sigma Project Management Kanban and DevOps Six Sigma Other Methods Spinning Around in a Kayak The Difference Between Monitoring and Observing Observation Must Lead to Action and Improvement Growth During Crisis Guidelines and Processes in a Rescue Situation Observability and Metrics During the 2020 Pandemic Redefining Urgency Key Takeaways Chapter 8: Streamlining the Collaboration Process Streamlining: The Triangle of the Three Ms Streamlining Communication: The Origins of Seaspeak Streamlining Processes Does Not Always Mean Minimizing Them Case Study: We Need More Memory The Three Strategies for Streamlined Communication Strategy No. 1: Documentation Strategy No. 2: Communication Strategy No. 3: Meetings Going Synchronous or Asynchronous The Hidden Cost of Synchronous Meetings How to Streamline the Collaboration Process Workflow: The Benefits of Streamlined Time Focus Time Collaboration Time Catch-up Time The Power of Three: Focus, Collaboration, and Catch-up Key Takeaways Chapter 9: Empowering Team Members to Seek the North Star The Power of Empowerment: Toyota, Amazon, and...the NYC Subway? Team Alignment Is Key: Across Departments Too Sometimes It’s OK to Turn the Devices Off Thinking in Dotted Lines Remembering That North Star Case Study: Netflix Key Takeaways Chapter 10: Opening the Net: Building a Distributed Team Hiring the Best People and Making Efficient Decisions One of My Own Fail Fast Examples The Right People Aboard We Don’t Need to Scale Up to the Enterprise Mindset Freelancers and the Gig Economy One Team Distributed Teams Operate on Trust and Outcomes Determining Results in a Distributed Team Turning the Career Ladder into the Career Vine Key Takeaways Part III: Staying Shipshape Chapter 11: The Importance of Tracking Mood Why Mood Is More Powerful Than Intellect Reading the Mood Reading Flags at Sea Reading Silence in the Workplace Balloons and Gravity How to Read and Balance Moods in a Distributed Teams Scenario Remove the Formality Observing Observability The Company That Helps People Quit At the End of the Day, It’s Not Just About the Technology Key Takeaways Chapter 12: Your Choice of Words Matters Maybe We Should Focus on Life, Not Death Baby Steps Elephant Carpaccio The Deming Cycle and Continuous Improvement The Need to Write It All Down and Synthesize Policies, Guidelines, and Rules! Oh My! Rules Policies Guidelines Procedures Standards Setting Clear Expectations: The Career Ladder Key Takeaways Chapter 13: The Power of Repetition Repetition Is Key to Learning 1. Long-term memory: How to learn more effectively 2. Short-term memory: How to think creatively 3. Muscle memory: How to act efficiently 4. Team memory: How to grow collectively Milestones Missing Milestones at Sea: Two Tragedies a Century Apart Milestones on a Shared Screen Knots! Overcommunication Is Actually Good Overcommunication Helps in Calendaring Too Key Takeaways Chapter 14: Developing a Continuous Mindset Moving from Continuous Improvement to a Continuous Mindset Becoming Continuous Breaking the A-to-Z Constraint with Smartboards Building Continuous Knowledge Through the Wikipedia Model Continuous Learning: Promoting Lifelong Learning Opportunities Microlearning Through Twitter Hands-On Learning Career Ladder Learning Education as a Service Flipped Learning Key Takeaways Chapter 15: Learning from Mistakes Mistakes Are Part of Continuous Progress Mistakes Usually Have Deeper Roots Giving “Five-Why” the Continuous Edge A Mistake Done by One Should Be Shared by All The InnoCentive Model A Big Mistake/Learning Opportunity: The Twitter Hack Avoiding Mistakes by Slowing to Optimum Operational Speed Taking the Time to Read, Think, and Write Taking the Time to Lead The Time Hunter-Gatherer Key Takeaways Chapter 16: Setting Sail: Outfitting for Distributed Teams Distributed Does Not Mean Disconnected Physical Setup Creating the Connected Culture Tribal Togetherness Online Work Is Different The 80/20 Rule Seeking Purpose Key Takeaways Index