Video and slides synchronized, mp3 and slide download available at URL https://bit.ly/2RkhYPo. Ranganathan Balashanmugam talks about how one distributed organization (with bases in India and Australia) has applied distributed systems patterns to scaling distributed teams' processes and further improved them. He shares examples of what went right, what went wrong, what they've learned as they've built a network of effective distributed teams across multiple countries, in multiple timezones. Filmed at qconlondon.com. Ranganathan Balashanmugam has worked with globally distributed teams for the last fourteen years, and was recently named as one of the top 10 CTOs in India. He is currently CTO of EverestEngineering, which he scaled to 70+ people in the last one year, in three different regions. He is passionate about scaling and leading distributed teams.

1. Ranganathan Balashanmugam
Scaling Distributed
Teams Around The Globe

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scaling-worldwide-distributed-teams/
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4. Scaling Distributed
Teams Around The Globe
By Applying Learnings From
Distributed Systems
Ranganathan Balashanmugam

5. G'day mate, I’m Craig

6. “Its funny”

10. *Continuously improve through continuous feedback.
Improve at macro and micro levels

11. Hi, I am Ranganathan
Balashanmugam

12. Hi, I am Ranganathan
Balashanmugam
Ran-ga-na-WHAT???

13. Hi, I am Ranganathan
Balashanmugam
People butcher
my name

14. ‘Ranganathan Balashanmugam’
makes for strong passwords

15. ‘Ranganathan$Balashanmugam’
makes for strong passwords

16. Call me R A N G A

17. My journey so far has been interesting.
Head of India,
Aconex
Named as one of
the top10 CTOs
in India by CEO
Insights Mag
Software engineer for ~12 years
Work with remote teams for 15 years
2016 Nov 2018
Founder and CTO,
EverestEngineering
Dec 2019

18. If you could all stand up and….

23. “A distributed system is a
collection of autonomous computing elements
that appears to its users as a single coherent system.”
- Distributed Systems: Principles and Paradigms
Book by Andrew S. Tanenbaum

24. “A distributed system is a
collection of autonomous computing elements
that appears to its users as a single coherent system.”
- Distributed Systems: Principles and Paradigms
Book by Andrew S. Tanenbaum
teams
team

25. Characteristics of distributed systems
They operate concurrently
They fail independently
They do not share a global clock

26. Characteristics of distributed systems
teams
They operate concurrently
They fail independently
They do not share a global clock

27. <— Image source: https://www.holacracy.org/

28. “Fundamentals”

29. Why do you want to go distributed?

30. Why do you want to go distributed?
It’s cheap
Hiring limits Remote potential markets
Outsource dirty work

31. Where to go?

32. Where do you want to go?
Same city, same country, other country (limited by
timezones)
Availability of developers (competitive hiring)
Language
Agency vs own teams
Cost of developers
Trusted network for advice
Ease of travel
23 million developers

33. Where to go?
Number of software developers in the world
Content source: https://www.daxx.com/blog/development-trends/number-software-developers-world

34. Number of software
developers in the Europe
Content source: https://www.daxx.com/blog/development-trends/number-software-developers-world

35. People who speak English
Content source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-speaking_world#/media/File:Anglospeak.png

36. We vs They
Us

37. Hiring, firing, retaining
“Don’t hire the best.”

38. Hiring, firing, retaining
“Don’t hire the best. Hire the
right fit.”

39. Hiring, firing, retaining

40. Hiring, firing, retaining
“Coach, Grow, Give Autonomy”

41. Virtual Distance
“It is a sense of psychological distance from others that
affects collaboration performance”
The term Virtual Distance is coined by Karen Sobel Lojeski

42. Virtual Distance = Physical Distance
+ Operational Distance
+ Affinity Distance
Content source:https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/HICSS.2006.484 Karen Sobel Lojeski
“It is a sense of psychological distance from others that
affects collaboration performance”

43. Virtual Distance = Physical Distance
+ Operational Distance
+ Affinity Distance
Geography, time zones, and
organizational affiliation.
The term Virtual Distance is coined by Karen Sobel Lojeski

44. Virtual Distance = Physical Distance
+ Operational Distance
+ Affinity Distance
The “noise” in the system.
The term Virtual Distance is coined by Karen Sobel Lojeski

45. Virtual Distance = Physical Distance
+ Operational Distance
+ Affinity Distance
The barriers to form deep,
meaningful relationships.
The term Virtual Distance is coined by Karen Sobel Lojeski

46. How might we reduce this virtual distance?

47. 7 key takeaways for scaling distributed teams
Communication is the foundation.
Model your framework - roles, responsibilities, decision
making.
Choose right tools - software and hardware.
Plan for collaboration and concentration time.
Local first.
Find the local leader.
Promote open online chit-chats.

48. 7 key takeaways for scaling distributed teams
Communication is the foundation.
Model your framework - roles, responsibilities, decision
making.
Choose right tools - software and hardware.
Plan for collaboration and concentration time.
Local first.
Find the local leader.
Promote open online chit-chats.
*Continuously improve through continuous feedback.

49. Communication is the foundation
Handwriting images source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/PSM_V34_D861_Espy_letter.png, https://
surgeryattiffanys.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/doctors-handwriting.jpg, https://www.quora.com/Why-do-doctors-write-
prescriptions-in-an-illegible-manner, https://www.bankslane-jun.stockport.sch.uk/assets/Uploads/Handwriting-Policy-and-
Guidelines4.pdf

50. Communication is the foundation
My current thoughts.This talk is boring and I feel like sleeping. I feel full
after the lunch. The conference has good lunch. Do I have any notifications
on slack? If I am reading this, I am smiling.
Handwriting images source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/PSM_V34_D861_Espy_letter.png, https://
surgeryattiffanys.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/doctors-handwriting.jpg, https://www.quora.com/Why-do-doctors-write-
prescriptions-in-an-illegible-manner, https://www.bankslane-jun.stockport.sch.uk/assets/Uploads/Handwriting-Policy-and-
Guidelines4.pdf

51. Communication is the foundation

52. Communication is the foundation

53. Communication is the foundation

54. Communication is the foundation

55. Model your framework - roles, responsibilities, decision making.

56. Choose right tools - hardware and software
Activity time

57. Choose right tools - hardware and software

58. Choose right tools - hardware and software

59. Plan for collaboration and concentration time

60. Local first
Story and image source: https://worksthatwork.com/2/a-hole-in-the-darkness

61. Find the local leader

62. Promote open online chit-chats

63. Promote open online chit-chats

64. *Continuously improve through continuous feedback.
Improve at macro and micro levels

65. Summary
Understand why?
Set We vs Us.
Where do you want to go?
Hiring, firing, retention
Virtual distance = physical + operational + affinity distance.
How do we reduce virtual distance?

66. 7 key takeaways for scaling distributed teams
Communication is the foundation.
Model your framework - roles, responsibilities, decision
making.
Choose right tools - software and hardware.
Plan for collaboration and concentration time.
Local first.
Find the local leader.
Promote open online chit-chats.
*Continuously improve through continuous feedback.

68. Questions?
“It depends” is his
standard answer
https://medium.com/@ran_than
https://twitter.com/ran_than
https://in.linkedin.com/in/ranganathanb

69. Watch the video with slide
synchronization on InfoQ.com!
https://www.infoq.com/presentations/
scaling-worldwide-distributed-teams/