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Lecture 5 Distance and time

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacetime

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A current story

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Is telecommuting a good thing? An Experiment Ctrip Chinese company on Nasdaq with 17000 employees 249 participants half were offered possibility to work at home 13% higher productivity But can we generalize this? Chinese work ethic? Work was under surveilance by managers Simple routine task without collaborative element

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Distance matters The Allen Curve Distance between engineers offices affects the frequency of technical communication between them

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Proximity promotes Coordination through informal chat Availability bias we think more about people and things that are on the top of our minds Social capital through networking opportuities Serendipity - chance encounters that let us discover new insights

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Distance is a centrifugal force Distance Commu- nication CoordinationControlCohesionCulture

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Communication breakdown Delays (need to clarify) Rework (we need to do a task over again because it was misunderstood) Conflict (delays and rework creates tension and a blame game that leads to the erosion of social capital)

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Coordination breakdown Small adjustments become hard A question A request for clarification A suggestion for an improvement An ad hoc solution Solution to an issue Bug fixing Leads to delay or lower quality

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Control breakdown Management By Walking Around becomes impossible which leads to Difficulty getting a feel for what is happening Low enforcement of decisions Attention to those near by Symptoms are Wasteful duplication Discovering problems late Need for rework

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Cohesion barriers Group cohesion depends on trust Trust is defined thus: assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something(Merriam-Webster) Usually divided into two types: Thick trust which is acquired through strong, frequent personal relations correlates with direct reciprocity Thin trust is generalized trust also to people whom we dont know. High trust minimizes coordination costs

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Culture clash Differences in culture may be caused by mis- communication

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Eight principles for overcoming distance FormalismsCreate a rhythm of interaction Iterate for synchronization Standardize communication protocols Build an awareness infrastructure Create protocols for acknowledgments and urgency InformalismsCreate a cohesive team culture Foster interaction via-real time interaction Put warmth into cold emails

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Create a rhythm of interaction Difficult to secure communication between team members Forget or too lazy to ask Solutions: Status meetings Retreats Scheduled visits

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Iterate for synchronization Frequent synchronisation or small batch approach Addresses coordination problems Catches problems earlier Solutions: Kanban board Sprints in Scrum Continuous delivery

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Standardize communication protocols Emails lead to information overload IM is not stored Decide on common terminology Build repository to track communication and changes Solutions: PM tools like: Jira/Confluence, Basecamp, redmine

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Build an awareness infrastructure Activity awareness Whos working on what task Process awareness What to do next? Availability awareness Whos here to answer that question? Environmental awareness Is it dark in London now?

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Create protocols for acknowledgment and urgency Is anyone working on my problem? Is the problem important or cosmetic? How do I escalate the problem Solutions: Escalation procedures Service Level Agreement

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Create a cohesive team culture Distance decreases cohesion Trust doesnt come out of thin air Solutions: Eating and/or drinking together An event Experiencing something together

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Encourage interaction via real-time communication Distance makes communication more difficult we dont naturally coordinate when not together Solution: Instant messaging: skype, Messenger, Lync, google chat Enterprise social networks: Yammer, Jam, chatter, tibr

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Put warmth into cold e-mail Working together at a distance may become too impersonal No lunch time discussions or coffee chatter to break the ice Solution: Politeness Smileys Or

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Time Time zones Work hours Breaks Weekends Holidays

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Managing timezone differences

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Collaborative technology Asynchronous techologiesSynchronous technologies E-mailTelephony Voicemail/VideomailAudio conferencing Online discussion groupsVideo conferencing (meeting room) Collaborative authoring and commentingVideo conferencing (desktop) Project managementWeb audio hybrid meetings Productivity softwareInstant messaging Screensharing

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Organizational design By expertise work that requires similar functional expertise is in the same place By product Each site works out all the details of the components they create from star to finish By phase entire process in one place. Eg. Design, code or test Satelite customization one site owns the core code while satelites customize the code

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Why distance matters Research question: Does the amount of distance matter with computer mediated interaction? Effect of distance on: Cooperation Persuasion Deception

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Operationalization Deception - Paulhus Deception test Persuasion - Dessert survival Collaboration - Prisoners dilemma Problems?

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The experimental setup Irvine Boston Instant Messaging Video Paulhus Deception Task Dessert Survival Prisoners Dilemma Independent variableDependent variable

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Execution Confederate imagined to be in either same city (Irvine) or distant city (Boston) Video or instant messaging Problems?

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Results Paulhus deception More self deceptive if far removed Dessert survival Persuasion is higher the closer the person is Prisoners dilemma Initial apprehension for distant city, but trust developed Problems?

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Validity Does the experiment measure what it claims? Can we generalize the results?