DEVOPSdigest

Real digital transformation is built on a foundation of adaptability and the ability to embrace change. As we all face new challenges, I am offering some tips as a way to look deeply at your distributed work that is occurring and evaluate where and how it might be improved.

Distributed work can help us to create more resilient teams and help mitigate the impact of substantial upheavals whether they are market-driven or the result of events that happen in the outside world (geo-political unrest, war, disease, etc), or a combination.

A major part of this potential resilience is effective distributed development teams and taking advantage of the core business value of distributing to multiple locations/geographies. Here are those key benefits of distributed development teams:

1. Availability of Deeper Skills

Effective use of distributed teams gives you access to a significantly increased talent pool. You can take advantage of developers in one geography and AI specialists in another. If there is a geographic pool of talent, effective geographic distribution allows you to tie into the talent without fear of loss of productivity.

2. Increased Velocity

By using developers across multiple time zones you can increase the daily velocity of a team and deliver more value sooner. Effective team distribution also allows you to fill gaps more quickly, use on demand resources better, and leverage team members who may wish to work from home regularly or for a specific period.

3. Lower Development Costs

By finding the right partner in the right places you can build up your team with high value resources at lower prices, thereby delivering more and better customer value at the same price tag.

4. Protect Against Disruption

Having team members in distributed locations, and with the ability to work from other remote locations (home or office) allows you the greatest team elasticity and keeps people working and productive.

It is worth noting that all distributed development teams are not created equal. Teams that have a high degree of density in remote locations may not fare as well when put under stress.

Go to Building Resilience in Geographically Distributed Teams - Part 2