The document discusses the challenges of distributed teams, including Conway's Law where organizational structures are copied in system designs, Amdahl's Law where performance is limited by the slowest part, and lack of empathy and communication. It provides solutions such as designing organizations around system architectures, using full-stack teams to avoid bottlenecks, including remote individuals, having leaders travel to different locations, and improving documentation. While distributed teams create challenges, the document argues these challenges can be overcome.

1. DISTRIBUTED TEAMS
KEVIN GOLDSMITH

2. @KevinGoldsmith
ONFIDO

3. @KevinGoldsmith
WHAT MAKES DISTRIBUTED
TEAMS CHALLENGING?

4. CONWAY’S LAW
CHALLENGES

5. AMDAHL’S LAW
CHALLENGES

6. EMPATHY
CHALLENGES

7. COMMUNICATION
CHALLENGES

8. @KevinGoldsmith
CONWAY’S LAW

9. @KevinGoldsmith
CONWAY’S LAW
DATAMATION
APRIL, 1968

10. @KevinGoldsmith
ORGANIZATIONS WHICH DESIGN SYSTEMS...
ARE CONSTRAINED TO PRODUCE DESIGNS
WHICH ARE COPIES OF THE COMMUNICATION
STRUCTURES OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS.
Melvin Conway
CONWAY’S LAW

11. @KevinGoldsmith
IT EASIER TO WORK WITH
CONWAY’S LAW THAN TO FIGHT IT

12. @KevinGoldsmith
BE DELIBERATE.

13. @KevinGoldsmith
FIND COMMUNICATION BOTTLENECKS
THAT CONFLICT WITH ARCHITECTURE
AND ELIMINATE THEM.

14. @KevinGoldsmith
DESIGN THE ORGANIZATION TO
DESIGN THE ARCHITECTURE.

15. @KevinGoldsmith
THE REVERSE CONWAY
MANEUVER

16. @KevinGoldsmith
NETFLIX LEARNED FROM THIS [AMAZON] EXAMPLE,
AND ENSURED THAT FROM THE BEGINNING IT
STRUCTURED ITSELF AROUND SMALL, INDEPENDENT
TEAMS, SO THAT THE SERVICES THEY CREATED WOULD
ALSO BE INDEPENDENT FROM EACH OTHER. THIS
ENSURED THAT THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE SYSTEM
WAS OPTIMIZED FOR SPEED OF CHANGE. EFFECTIVELY,
NETFLIX DESIGNED THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
FOR THE SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE IT WANTED.
Sam Newman, Building Microservices
BY MICHAEL J. BENNETT [CC BY-SA 3.0 (HTTPS://
CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY-SA/3.0)], FROM
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

17. @KevinGoldsmith
AMDAHL’S LAW

18. THE PERFORMANCE OF THE WHOLE IS ONLY AS
FAST AS IT’S SLOWEST PART
AMDAHL’S LAW (PARAPHRASED)

19. @KevinGoldsmith
AMDAHL’S LAW
SERVER
CORE LIBRARY
IOS / MAC ANDROID WEB
INFRASTRUCTURE

20. @KevinGoldsmith
AMDAHL’S LAW
SERVER
CORE LIBRARY
CLIENT
INFRASTRUCTURE

21. @KevinGoldsmith
AMDAHL’S LAW
SERVER
CORE LIBRARY
CLIENT
INFRASTRUCTURE

22. @KevinGoldsmith
SPEED UP THE SLOWEST ELEMENT?

23. @KevinGoldsmith
NO

24. @KevinGoldsmith
RETHINK THE WHOLE SYSTEM!

25. @KevinGoldsmith
WHERE ARE THE BOTTLENECKS?

26. FULL-STACK TEAMS
SOLUTIONS

27. @KevinGoldsmith
AMDAHL’S LAW
SERVER
CORE LIBRARY
CLIENT
INFRASTRUCTURE

28. @KevinGoldsmith
AMDAHL’S LAW
CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAM

29. @KevinGoldsmith
EMPATHY

30. @KevinGoldsmith
FAMILIARITY BREEDS TRUST

31. @KevinGoldsmith
EMPATHY

32. @KevinGoldsmith
IS NOT THE SAME AS

33. @KevinGoldsmith
EMPATHY
Image by Andreas Fischler

34. LEVEL THE FIELD
SOLUTIONS

35. @KevinGoldsmith
EMPATHY

36. RECOGNIZE WARNING SIGNS
SOLUTIONS

37. @KevinGoldsmith
WELL THAT IS FINE FOR YOU PEOPLE AT
CORPORATE…
Someone who has forgotten that the people they work with are
actual humans
EMPATHY WARNING SIGNS

38. GET TOGETHER REGULARLY
SOLUTIONS

39. @KevinGoldsmith
EMPATHY

40. LEADERS TRAVEL
SOLUTIONS

41. @KevinGoldsmith
LEADERS TRAVEL

42. @KevinGoldsmith
LEADERS TRAVEL

43. @KevinGoldsmith
LEADERS TRAVEL

44. HUMANIZE
SOLUTIONS

45. @KevinGoldsmith
EMPATHY

46. INCLUDE REMOTE INDIVIDUALS
SOLUTIONS

47. @KevinGoldsmith
EMPATHY

48. @KevinGoldsmith
COMMUNICATION

49. @KevinGoldsmith
DISTRIBUTED TEAMS

50. @KevinGoldsmith
DISTRIBUTED TEAMS

51. @KevinGoldsmith
DISTRIBUTED TEAMS

52. FEWER CHANNELS
SOLUTIONS

53. @KevinGoldsmith
COMMUNICATION

54. DOCUMENT CLEARLY
SOLUTIONS

55. @KevinGoldsmith
COMMUNICATION

56. @KevinGoldsmith
IN CONCLUSION

57. @KevinGoldsmith
DISTRIBUTED TEAMS CREATE
CHALLENGES

58. @KevinGoldsmith
THE CHALLENGES CAN BE
OVERCOME

59. DISTRIBUTED TEAMS
KEVIN GOLDSMITH
@KEVINGOLDSMITH
HTTPS://WWW.KEVINGOLDSMITH.COM