Re: Agile challenges

Hi Buddha,

On Fri, May 6, 2011 at 22:42, Buddha Buck <blaisepascal <at> gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, May 6, 2011 at 2:27 PM, Kim Gräsman <kim.grasman <at> gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> For team meetings, I think there's value in everybody being on the
>> lowest common denominator as far as communication medium, e.g. if one
>> team member can only attend the daily stand-up on Skype, then do it
>> over skype for everybody, always.
>
>> This sounds counter-intuitive, but I think it's good for two reasons;
>>
>> 1) Everybody needs to make an effort to be understood over the
>> low-bandwidth medium. There's no "cheating", where local team members
>> pick things up from body language, but remotes don't get the joke
>> 2) It's a sign of respect for the remote team member(s) -- they're on
>> the team, and they're not punished because they happen to be remote.
>>
>
> Hmmm, we have 5 guys in Ithaca, working in an open-plan office, and 1 guy in
> Philly.  Hows that gonna work?
>
> When we had 4 guys and one moved to Portland, everyone skyping in required
> headsets to prevent horrible feedback and echo.  Even with the headsets we
> could hear the local people both directly and over skype.

Yeah, I think headsets are a must.

I suppose it feels a bit forced, but I'd try focusing what I'm saying
and hearing through the headset, and avoid the benefits of local
presence, *for the duration of the meeting*. For day-to-day pair work,
I'd use whatever-bandwidth communication is most useful for the
constellation.

Or just do whatever works 

- Kim