Mark Kilby
Member for
7 years 6 monthsWith over two decades of experience in agile principles and practices, Mark Kilby has cultivated more distributed and dispersed teams than collocated teams. He has consulted with organizations across many industries. Mark also co-founded a number of professional learning organizations such as Agile Orlando, Agile Florida, Virtual Team Talk, and the Agile Alliance Community Group Support Initiative among others. His easy-going style helps teams learn to collaborate and discover their path to success and sustainability. Mark shares his insights on distributed and agile teams in his book with Johanna Rothman, From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams: Collaborate to Deliver, as well as in dozens of articles in multiple publications. Most of his latest ideas and developments can be found on www.markkilby.com
All Articles by Mark Kilby
All Stories by Mark Kilby
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A ScrumMaster's Superpower of Observation in Virtual Teams ScrumMasters rely on observational skills, but does that mean we only use vision? What happens when we are all remote? Can we leverage other senses to “observe” how teams are surviving (or thriving)? We may not be able to sit together with our team for a long time, and it may never be the same due to the long-term effects of the coronavirus. What skills might we adapt or create for virtual teams? And, how can we still reflect back on the observations so the team can decide how to improve? |
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Creating Time for Collaboration with Distributed Teams and Agile ApproachesMany of us have horrible experiences with distributed teams where we can find no possibility of collaboration, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Even if a team is distributed, those team members need collaborative opportunities and space. What’s important is the team’s time for collaboration, not time zones. Here are some ways you can visualize when your team works and create more quality collaboration time. |
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Distributed Agile Approaches Optimize for the Team over IndividualsConsider how your team currently organizes: for resource efficiency, optimizing for the individual; or for flow efficiency, optimizing for the team? Successful agile teams—distributed or not—should collaborate to optimize the flow of work through the team. This approach lets you understand your capacity, learn together, and deliver more effectively. |
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For Distributed Agile Teams, It’s Not All about the ToolsMany managers and distributed team members think that if they just had the right tools, they could make some agile approach work. Maybe, but tools only enhance the work of a collaborative agile team. Before you select tools, make sure you have people who can work together and have enough skills and capabilities for your distributed team. Tools do not make the team; they support the team. |
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Practice Soft Skills through Collaboration to Become Truly AgileAt the core of agile is the need to effectively communicate and interact with your team members, so it's important for all roles to practice soft skills. However, there is nothing soft about them. Soft skills are probably the most challenging thing you can focus on in your technical career. Rather than struggle to improve by yourself, develop these skills through collaboration. |
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Move Past Your Comfort Zone: Use Imposter Syndrome to Your Advantage When you're speaking, teaching, or coaching, do you ever suddenly feel like you're in way over your head? That there must've been a big mistake, because you're not qualified? Instead of letting this imposter's syndrome paralyze you, there are ways to embrace being outside your comfort zone and turn your self-doubt into a chance to thrive. |