Using Experimental Backlogs to Transition to Remote Work

EDITOR'S NOTE: When this article was originally written and published little did we know what was right around the corner for us. But the ideas of experimental backlogs hold true.

For the longest time, I have struggled to figure out why the concept of remote work is so difficult, even for many of us who are remote work evangelists. After all, I have spent most of my career working remotely with some part or other of the teams under my purview. 

There is skepticism that remote teams can work just as well, or even better than, co-located teams.

I have worked across twelve time zones at one time, in an era when we didn’t have the vast array of remote tools that we have in 2020. I have asked this question over and over again in groups of supposed like-minded individuals, and I’m always surprised at the amount of opposition or misunderstanding. 

It baffled me so much that I have put together several workshops to help companies transition to remote work, in a very deliberate and intentional way. I have written blog after blog about remote work. I have given speeches on the topic. And I can guarantee - every time, there is skepticism that remote teams can work just as well, or even better than, co-located teams.

MOVING FORWARD WITH REMOTE WORK

So why, in 2020, are we still stuck? And how do we continue to move the bar forward with remote work? What happens if companies don’t?

Well, let’s work in reverse order. The companies that don’t have flex-schedules and remote opportunities will figure out that they have to have them and take steps in that direction. If they don’t, they will become the dinosaurs in their industry. They won’t be able to attract the talent that other more nimble organisations can. It will be a definite path to decline.

Why not try experiments?

And how do we move the bar forward with remote work? If your company is still having angst at the highest levels over the concept of remote workers being productive members of the workforce, then why not try experiments? This approach will allow your company to evaluate theories and hypotheses, and provide a safe place to land when things don’t quite work out as expected. 

EXPERIMENTAL BACKLOGS

Experimental backlogs are a great, safe way to work on this hypothesis testing stage. They are excellent for when you want to try different ideas before deciding on the final implementation. Experimental backlogs are not only a good way to test different ways of working, but can also be applied to any work that involves testing different hypotheses or solutions.

Using an experimental backlog also allows the company to work out the problems within a smaller circle of people, before launching it across the whole organisation. And, most importantly, this approach allows failing to be OK.

How does an experimental backlog work?

• Make a list of hypotheses that you want to examine. Yes, it is an experiment that’s no different than the ones you did in science class. You are trying to prove your hypotheses.

• Create experiments for the hypotheses. You may have more than one experiment, to try out different concepts and see which one works best.

• Determine the cycle time. How long will you conduct the experiments before evaluating the results?

• Discuss the results.

• Approve or reject the experiments based on their own merits.

Ok - so we did the experiments. Now what? It’s time to implement the experiments that were proven. Slowly introduce the cultural change into the organisation. By doing this, you have given solutions to the different pain points a chance to succeed or fail on their own, without implementing sweeping changes across the whole organisation. 

You have allowed failure to be an option before it fully impacts the bottom line. You have involved the right people in the decision making.You can feel confident in the decisions that have been made, because you have research behind you. Does that mean everything is going to be picture perfect when implemented? No, but you have given it a really good chance.

Learn more about the work that we do and the programs that we offer. Set up a call to start planning how you want to change the culture of your organization.

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About the Author:

INDRA A. BOOKS

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