Teams already operating remotely before the crisis are less likely to struggle, given their ability to handle ambiguity without losing focus and to concentrate on outcomes over processes. Teams working from their living rooms or their dining-room tables are often sharing that space with children or other family members also working remotely. And these challenges are complicated by the unique circumstances of the current health crisis. It also takes more purposeful effort to create a unified one-team experience, encourage bonding among existing team members, or onboard new ones, or even to track and develop the very spontaneous ideas and innovation that makes agile so powerful to begin with. Without the seamless access to colleagues afforded by frequent, in-person team events, meals, and coffee chats, it can be harder to sustain the kind of camaraderie, community, and trust that comes more easily to co-located teams. Remote work for agile teams requires a considerable shift in work culture.

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2ĭaniel Brosseau, Sherina Ebrahim, Chistopher Handscomb, and Shail Thaker, “ The journey to an agile organization,” May 2019.Īnd while we know from experience that agile teams that have worked remotely from the start can be as effective, the sudden transition of co-located teams to a fully remote approach can reduce cohesion and increase inefficiency (Exhibit 1).

Co-location allows frequent in-person contact, quickly builds trust, simplifies problem solving, encourages instant communication, and enables fast-paced decision making. Traditionally, such teams thrive when team members are co-located, with close-knit groups all working in the same place.

Small, independent, multidisciplinary organizational units focused on agile, high-value, project-based work.Īre typically well suited to periods of disruption, given their ability to adapt to fast-changing business priorities, disruptive technology, and digitization.īut the abrupt shift to remote working in response to the coronavirus has challenged the typical approach to managing agile teams. As organizations adapt to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, their agile teams can be a real source of competitive advantage.

Scrum team