What will Agile teams look like post-lockdown?

AND Digital enables ambitious companies to accelerate their digital delivery. We help clients build both better products and stronger teams - however, in the current climate, many people are wondering what teams will look like post-lockdown?

Rather than being truly remote, we believe there will be a move towards having distributed or dispersed Agile teams. In this article, we’ll break down the challenges these types of teams raise and share advice on how to overcome them.

What challenges will we face working in a distributed or dispersed team?

Both teams are completely cross-functional, however, distributed team members all work in different locations, whereas dispersed teams are a mixture of individuals working remotely and co-located. Both have similar issues, including:

1. Teams working in micro silos, so not efficiently sharing knowledge.
2. Maintaining a collaborative way for whole team decision-making.
3. An imbalance between synchronous work and asynchronous work.
4. An Us V.s Them mentality, leading to friction and lack of rapport.
5. Timezone and cultural challenges, e.g. delayed decision-making.
6. Not having the same people working in the same locations every day.

How do we overcome these challenges?

Starting with a remote-first culture can help:

• Think remote - design specifically for the nature of remote working, rather than trying to replicate an office environment remotely.
• One remote, all remote - if it’s feasible for everyone to dial in, this should be the default option. Remote team members can feel left out due to poor audio and wifi, and a single camera covering a room.
• Give everyone a voice - alternate between remote and co-located members of the team to keep everyone engaged.

You should also think about these three key topics:

1. Culture - create and maintain a team charter, so you can set clear expectations and support one another.
2. Socialising - teams work better after spending time together, so ensure you’re checking in on each other and have virtual happy hours or ‘Show and Share’ sessions.
3. Structure - to ensure efficiency, commit to an agenda and expected outcomes are shared before meetings.

Further resources:

The team at AND Digital have created an open library of assets we already use, that have helped us at AND Digital adapt quickly and successfully to remote working, while keeping our team spirit alive. We have made these openly available for any company who may find them valuable right now. Take a look to see if there’s anything that can help improve your ways of working.

Alternatively get in touch with a member of the team at hello@and.digital

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AND Digital have offices across the UK. The Reading office covers the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire and The Thames Valley.