Encourage Lateral Communication
On a typical project using a sequential development process, most communication between subteams in different sites occurs through a designated team leader. On a Scrum project we want to avoid this and encourage lateral communication—anyone in one city can speak with anyone in another city. This isn’t just allowed; it is encouraged. As Ade Miller of Microsoft points out, “A coach should help the team remember the value of intensive communication even when distribution makes this harder” (2008, 13).
One significant benefit of lateral communication is that it helps counter the “mum effect” (Ramingwong and Sajeev 2007). The mum effect occurs when a project participant fails to share bad news with others. By failing ...
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