Adapting Agile Ceremonies to Remote Teams: How do you keep your team connected?

2 Kanban Meetings

Kanban is an agile framework that focuses on visualizing, limiting, and optimizing the flow of work. It uses a board with columns and cards to represent the work items and their status. To ensure successful coordination, prioritization, and improvement of work, Kanban teams usually have two types of meetings: daily stand-up and replenishment meeting. When adapting these meetings to remote teams, you need to consider the virtual kanban board: it should be clear, simple, and updated regularly; colors, labels, icons, or filters can be used to highlight important information or issues. Additionally, video conferencing or chat should be used for the daily stand-up and the replenishment meeting. These meetings should be kept short, focused, and relevant; a timer or a facilitator should moderate them to avoid digressions or interruptions. Lastly, use the meetings as an opportunity to identify and discuss any bottlenecks, blockers, or risks that affect the flow of work; data, metrics, or feedback can be used to measure and improve the team's performance and efficiency.

3 Other Agile Ceremonies

Besides scrum and kanban, there are other agile ceremonies that can help remote teams improve their collaboration, alignment, and learning. For example, a sprint demo is a session where the team showcases their work to stakeholders and collects feedback. Video conferencing, screen sharing, or recording tools can be used to present the work and demonstrate its value and functionality. Chat, polls, surveys, or feedback forms can be used to collect and analyze the feedback. A retrospective is a session where the team reflects on their work process and identifies what went well, what didn't, and what can be improved. Video conferencing, chat, or online tools allow the team to share their thoughts, feelings, and suggestions anonymously or openly. Voting, grouping, or prioritizing techniques can be used to agree on the most important action items and assign responsibilities and deadlines. Team building is a session where the team engages in social or fun activities to strengthen their relationships and trust. Video conferencing, chat, or online tools offer games, challenges, or exercises that the team can do together. Icebreakers, trivia, quizzes, or stories can be used to get to know each other better and have some fun.

4 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?