This document discusses distributed teams and systems. It notes that Bridget Kromhout lives in Minneapolis and works for Pivotal, organizing devopsdays conferences. It then discusses that distributed systems are complex and explores how Bridget works in a distributed manner across coworking spaces, cafes, and remotely. It emphasizes communicating clearly with distributed teams through over-communication and setting expectations about availability.

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distributed:
of systems and teams
Bridget Kromhout

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Bridget Kromhout
lives: Minneapolis
works: Pivotal
podcasts: Arrested DevOps
organizes: devopsdays
was: ops @ DramaFever, 8thBridge

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distributed systems free-association game
aphyr.com/tags/Jepsen

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CA
CP AP
AvailabilityConsistency
Partition Tolerance

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tl;dr:
distributed systems are complex

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tl;dr:
distributed systems are complex
let’s talk distributed teams

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I live over 3,000 kilometers from the Pivotal San Francisco office.
(It’s probably definitely fine.)

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…especially as the whole team is distributed.

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distributed != remote

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So, where do
I work?
I have a co-
working space
membership…

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… I’m a regular at my favorite café…

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…or airplanes…

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…and I sometimes even work at home.

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people > tools

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xkcd.com/1254/

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xkcd.com/1254/

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synchronous

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asynchronous

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“Durable communication exhibits the same
characteristics as accidental, convenient communication
in a co-located space. The powerful difference is how
inclusive, transparent, and reliable it is.”
caseywest.com/durable-communication/
Casey West

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Group chat: we use Slack
But anything you like works
If you all use it.
a slack haiku

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some meetings aren’t meant to be
synchronous
^

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Lower-bandwidth communication…
…needs more handshaking.

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Set clear expectations.

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Let the team know when you’ll be unavailable…

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…even though WFH can usually be inferred.

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Tell the team what you’re doing.

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Tell the team what you’re doing.
(Nobody can see you’re working on slides.)

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Tell the team what you’re doing.
(Nobody can see you’re working on slides.)
(Again.)

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Tell the team what you’re doing.
(Nobody can see you’re working on slides.)
(Again.)
(Still.)

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Misunderstandings happen.
Over-communicate.
It’s better than being hurt or angry for no reason.

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be explicit
about
decisions
you’re
making

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be explicit
about
decisions
you’re
making
ask for help

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Screencapping PDFs is the new emailing PDFs.

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Common Ground and Coordination in Joint Activity
Klein, Feltovich, Bradshaw, Woods (2004)

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distribute decision-making

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distribute decision-making
(over)-communicate

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distribute decision-making
(over)-communicate
resolve conflicts as they arise

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“The game has changed.”
Andrew Clay Shafer

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“The game has changed.”
Andrew Clay Shafer
what if distributed teams are a competitive advantage?

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Thank you.