Over the last several weeks, I have supported a number of remote ceremonies and these are some helpful tips I am providing to Release Train Engineers, Scrum Masters and fellow coaches. They are also downloadable here.
Let me know what your tips are!
Some helpful reminders for remote PI Ceremonies: Note: Share these guidelines with your presenters and Scrum Masters and Product Management as well!
- Plan, plan a backup, practice.
- Have people designated to troubleshoot team issues in real time (make sure they either know the tools well, or have specializations)
- Have a backup for each tool you plan to use
- Practice sessions identify challenges, practice, it won’t make you perfect, it will make you better prepared to adjust on the fly
- Expect problems, have a plan
- Give preference to web-based products, define the best browsers for users
- Understand if people will be interacting on mobile platforms
- Understand that having users logged in/registered on multiple devices (call in on phone, logged in on web) provide guidance
- If people are using their own ‘zoom’, phone etc., creates complexity and security concerns, give guidance
- Try to use interactive engagement
- Communications at scale can be challenging. I was just in a session using zoom on a corporate laptop and remained maxxed on cpu, which destroyed the presentation)
- Give preference to internal tooling first, scale can create issues for ‘free tooling’ that is outside your organizational control
- Tools like mentimeter, kahoot etc. are engaging, but use them as needed, not as your platform, unless you are mixing interaction with presentation. Balance!
- Remember when engaging people in a large gathering conference call, use good etiquette AND smart speaking. Don’t ask, ‘Can you hear me?’, ask ‘Bob, is my audio clear?’ ‘I will pause for 1 minute for questions, before continuing’ vice, ‘Does anyone have questions”
- Use and promote chat sessions in conferencing tooling, have a designated support person monitoring chat.
- Have speakers show video when possible and not specifically presenting content but just talking
- If a large group, certainly try to avoid large introductions, or begin the meeting with a ‘coffee break’ (note: this helps mitigate late joiners as well)
- Remind people to ‘state their name’ when talking. Tip – Post etiquette rules in the chat session/background for presentation screen! (mute when not talking, state your name etc.)
- Give teams time beforehand to practice using new tools
- Create individual sessions for SM, PO’s and teams
- Create session for 1 tool per session
- Making them fun (using Mural in a virtual happy hour, using mentimeter for interactive trivia sessions etc.…) (see leadership check in notes)
- If in an increment, create your electronic boards in Mural/Miro etc now, and run your ART syncs using these tools for exposure and familiarity/awareness.
- Understand time boxes and prepare to adjust time boxes as necessary (it will probably take longer the first time; scale will increase the likelihood & impact of this)
- Remember ‘walk/bio breaks’
- Remember your audience is sitting and listening mostly, see interactive sessions
- Break the monotony when appropriate – quick tip- Have people vote by standing/sitting
- When your setup meetings, be aware that you might have time zone management (mornings/afternoon/lunches/breakfasts etc.)
- Whenever possible use ‘local’ monitors to give feedback and keep team health and temperature in mind
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools – We must focus on making tools the medium, not the focus! The more you can make this seamless for the teams, the better your chances of success!
- Be Great (Just like every other day)