Information Technology Services

A Kanban board depicts work at various stages of a process using cards to represent work items and columns to represent stages (e.g., To Do, In Progress, Done). It is a great way to make work visible. 

Tools:

• Trello 
  • CAE presentation on using Trello, see contact information below 
  • FAQ about Trello not being FERPA/COPPA compliant so no FERPA data should be stored in Trello
• Use a Google Doc or Spreadsheet 
• Jira Core 
  • A tool that ITS and some distributed IT units use, see contact information below
  • Requires licenses  

Planning

Meeting 

Start with a prioritized list of the known work that needs to be done (i.e., the project backlog - what needs to be done to complete the project?). Tip:  If you don't have a project backlog,  set up a Team Planning session to create one. 

During the meeting, the team and leadership:

1. discuss the highest priority work for mutual understanding of what needs to be done,
2. chose the highest priority work can be accomplished in a short period (e.g., a 2 week sprint), 
3. agree to focus on that highest priority work during the agreed upon period.  

Daily 

Check-In 

In a daily 15 minute meeting, each member answers the following questions: 

1. What did you do yesterday?
2. What will you do today?
3. What is blocking your progress?  and/or What did you learn?

Review

Meeting

 After completing a cycle of work (or a sprint), meet to review and share the team's finished work. 

If anything is unfinished or not "done", add it back to the project backlog. 

If its done, mark it complete and celebrate!

Retrospective 

Meeting

Check In and Evaluate:   Reflect on work completed together and answer the following: 

1. What went well?
2. What didn’t go so well?
3. What have I learned?
4. What still puzzles me?

With information shared, make adaptations and/or remove obstacles to improve the team's work

University Tips

Tips from Others

• University HR Guidance for Managers of Virtual Teams 
• Knowledge Base with Telework resources
• ITS Keep Working FAQ
• The University's Agile Community of Practice

• Scrum: The 4 Scrum Ceremonies Made Simple: A Quick Guide to Scrum Meetings 
• Summary Making Work Visible by Dominica DeGrandis
• Pluralsight Tips, Hacks and Tools for Making the Most of Work from Home
• Focus on Work for short periods of time - Pomodoro Techniques - https://blog.trello.com/how-to-pomodoro-your-way-to-productivity
• https://www.taskbullet.com/5-steps-to-success-in-virtual-project-management/
• https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/leading-virtual-project-teams-10190
• The 4 Questions of a Retrospective and Why They Work (DZone)