the story of sitting together by nirmal merchant and zainab alikhan

Zainab Alikhan Nirmal Merchant

▪ Global management consulting firm, App Dev department▪ Adopted Agile 5+ years ago▪ 300 technologists …and growing by the day▪ Our people are in New York, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Atlanta, Waltham, Austin, Dusseldorf, Cairo, Bangalore, Chennai…

▪What is “Sitting Together”▪Why should we Sit Together?▪Why we DON’T Sit Together.. the barriers▪How WE made it happen.. and how YOU can▪What about distributed teams?

Today we’re going to talk about..

▪What is “Sitting Together”▪Why should we Sit Together?▪Why we DON’T Sit Together.. the barriers▪How WE did it.. and how YOU can▪What about distributed teams?

Today we’re going to talk about..

What is Sitting Together?

▪ XP (Extreme Programming) concept▪ The whole team sits together in the same physical space

Support the Agile Manifesto:▪ Individuals and interactions over processes and tools▪ Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

PRODUCTIVITY = ~2X!!!

The Art of Agile Development, James Shore

How Does Radical Collocation Help a Team Succeed? Teasley, Covey, Krishnan & Olson

▪What is “Sitting Together”▪Why should we Sit Together?▪Why we DON’T Sit Together.. the barriers▪How WE did it.. and how YOU can▪What about distributed teams?

Today we’re going to talk about..

▪What is “Sitting Together”▪Why should we Sit Together?▪Why we DON’T Sit Together.. the barriers▪How WE did it.. and how YOU can▪What about distributed teams?

Today we’re going to talk about..

▪What is “Sitting Together”▪Why should we Sit Together?▪Why we DON’T Sit Together.. the barriers▪How WE did it.. and how YOU can▪What about distributed teams?

Today we’re going to talk about..

What we looked like before

What we look like now

AloneTime

Alone

Time

Alone

Time

Alone

Time

Alone

Time

AloneTime

“Work gets done quicker…I save about an hour a day in a team room” -- Developer

“It’s about the people…sharing and growing is what makes it awesome” -- UX Designer

“Energy and creativity much higher…team rooms like a place where there is action” -- Management

“I walk into a team room & everyone needed to answer a question is there.. issues resolved much quicker” -- Architect

“It’s funny…privacy just seems less of an issue now. I can have most personal conversations in front of my team members, they know me better and I trust them.” -- Developer

What our department has to say..

Start small

Make it fun

Let the “users” design their space

Let the “users” design their space

▪What is “Sitting Together”▪Why should we Sit Together?▪Why we DON’T Sit Together.. the barriers▪How WE did it.. and how YOU can▪What about distributed teams?

Today we’re going to talk about..

Smart staffing, smart travel

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Leverage technology to enrich communication

▪…shortens the feedback loop▪…reduces the cost of asking questions▪…enables “osmotic communication”▪…creates focus▪…promotes innovation ▪…builds relationships and trust

Sitting Together…

▪…start small▪…make it fun▪…let “users” collaboratively design space▪…be conscious of adoption curve▪…create a multi-dimensional solution▪…lead by example

To do it…