Virtual teams face many challenges in collaborating, communicating, and coordinating across different time zones, cultures, and technologies. How can they learn from their experiences and improve their performance and satisfaction? In this article, we will explore some strategies and tools for facilitating virtual team problem solving and learning.
One of the key ways to learn from your experiences as a virtual team is to reflect on how you work together. Reflection is a process of examining and evaluating your team's actions, interactions, and outcomes, and identifying what worked well, what didn't, and why. You can use various methods to facilitate reflection, such as after-action reviews, debriefs, feedback sessions, or surveys. The goal is to create a safe and open space for your team members to share their perspectives, insights, and suggestions, and to learn from each other.
ScrumMasters do double-duty as process managers, facilitating team review of processes, discussion of good/bad aspects, and mediating conversations around how best to improve them. Simply having someone whose job it is to ensure processes are addressed helps ensure that it becomes part of the continuous feedback loop. How heavy- or light-handed that help needs to be will depend a lot on the maturity of the team, how experienced they are with Scrum/Agile techniques, and how long they have worked together. Other factors can complicate or simplify these reviews, so having a ScrumMaster who can step in our out as needed so that the team has increasing ownership over their processes is vital.
Reflection is not enough if you don't apply what you learned to improve your team's processes and results. You need to translate your insights into actionable steps that your team can implement and monitor. You can use tools such as action plans, SMART goals, checklists, or dashboards to document and track your team's progress and performance. You can also use tools such as experiments, prototypes, or pilots to test and validate your ideas before scaling them up. The goal is to create a culture of continuous improvement and innovation in your team.
The best teams aren't afraid to fail, and I encourage experimentation when there is an opportunity for improvement. If the team identify an issue but aren't sure how best to address, encourage some experimentation and ensure the results are reviewed at the next Retrospective. Timeboxed experiments are best, otherwise there can be a tendency to overengineer the solution. ScrumMasters should be aware of these tendencies and can help keep the team on-track with gentle challenging and facilitation. When certain areas are "untouchable" (changes to Jira workflows or similar company standards), encourage the team to get creative with workarounds or other solutions. It's important they feel as empowered as possible to solve their own issues.
Technology is a crucial enabler for virtual team learning and problem solving. You need to use appropriate and reliable technologies that support your team's communication, collaboration, and coordination needs. You can use tools such as video conferencing, instant messaging, shared documents, or project management platforms to facilitate your team's interaction and information sharing. You can also use tools such as brainstorming, voting, or decision-making software to facilitate your team's creativity and consensus. The goal is to use technology to enhance, not replace, your team's human connection and engagement.
Trust and rapport are essential for virtual team learning and problem solving. Trust is the confidence that your team members are competent, reliable, honest, and supportive. Rapport is the sense of connection and mutual understanding that your team members have. You can build trust and rapport by establishing clear and consistent expectations, roles, and norms for your team. You can also build trust and rapport by creating opportunities for your team members to get to know each other personally and professionally, such as icebreakers, team-building activities, or informal chats. The goal is to create a positive and supportive team climate that fosters learning and problem solving.
Another way to learn from your experiences as a virtual team is to seek external input from other sources. External input can provide you with fresh perspectives, insights, and feedback that can help you improve your team's processes and outcomes. You can seek external input from various sources, such as customers, stakeholders, experts, mentors, or peers. You can use methods such as interviews, focus groups, surveys, or benchmarking to collect and analyze external input. The goal is to leverage the wisdom and experience of others to enhance your team's learning and problem solving.
When I'm asked to consult as an Agile coach, I like to ensure the team is aware of sources of input they can use to feed the continuous improvement loop. Some common ones are: * The Jira Control Chart is great for identifying areas of code that might have been trickier than expected, giving the development team a chance to discuss. * The Jira Cycle Time chart is great for identifying bottlenecks in the overall development process that can be discussed with the team. * Sprint Retrospectives: Conducting these remotely can be a challenge, but one workaround is using a tool to gather "thoughts" throughout the Sprint. Slack offers tools enabling "on the spot" capture of discussion topics helps ensure they aren't forgotten.
Finally, you can learn from your experiences as a virtual team by celebrating your successes and failures. Celebrating successes and failures can help you recognize and appreciate your team's achievements and efforts, and motivate and inspire your team members to keep learning and improving. You can celebrate successes and failures by acknowledging and rewarding your team's accomplishments and contributions, and by sharing and learning from your team's mistakes and challenges. You can also celebrate successes and failures by creating and sharing stories, testimonials, or case studies that showcase your team's learning and problem solving journey. The goal is to create a sense of pride and joy in your team's work and learning.