摘要：一份提供给Scrum Master的实践指南，可以为分布式团队改善工作过程提供一些必要的参考。
原文标题：Supporting Distributed Scrum Teams
原文地址：https://www.scrumalliance.org/community/articles/2015/november/supporting-distributed-scrum-teams
分布式Scrum，从来都不简单。
Distributed Scrum is never going to be easy.
Scrum的基石——透明性、开放性、自组织——在分布式Scrum团队的环境下的实践难度均有着不同程度的提高，沟通协作障碍重重、团队建设难上加难。但与此同时，受成本节约的影响，很多公司又认为分布式Scrum是大势所趋。
The very cornerstones of Scrum — transparency, openness,self-organization — are all more difficult for a distributed team to practice.Communication and collaboration will not be organic, and team-building will beharder. Still, the cost-saving implications for many companies mean thatdistributed Scrum looks likely to stay.
与上述争议无关，本文只是一份提供给Scrum Master的实践指南，可以为分布式团队改善工作过程提供一些必要的参考。
By disregarding the arguments for and against, thisarticle is a practical guide that you can follow as a Scrum Master of adistributed team to make the process work as best it can.
适用于分布式Scrum团队的5项最佳实践（5 best practices for distributed Scrum teams）
1、做团队成员的同地汇聚，频率越高越好、时间越早越好（Make an effort to colocate as often and as early as possible）
你可能面临着场地租用和成本削减的争议，尽管它们是采用分布式Scrum的幕后推手，但对某些产品开发过程而言，整个团队同地办公的重要性却是无论怎么强调都不过分的。
Despite the arguments you may face about colocation, andeven if cost reduction is the driving force behind using distributed Scrum, theimportance of the whole team being together for some parts of the productdevelopment process cannot be stressed enough.
即使是在产品开发的初期，或者是产品主框架的首次构建期，在工作启动时把整个Scrum团队（没错，产品负责人要包含在内）汇聚在一起，对于促进透明性、团队协作和团队精神都是至关重要的。
Even if it's just at product kickoff or when theframework is first implemented, getting the entire Scrum team together (andyes, this includes the product owner!) is imperative to foster transparency,collaboration, and teamwork from the start.
把大家聚集在一起能够为整个团队创建一个绝佳的交流时机，较为正式的文化交流可以有，团队聚餐、咖啡茶歇等业余团队活动也可以有，千万不要低估会谈和闲聊对于打造强大团队的重要性。
Being together in person gives the team a chance to formproperly and also to have an invaluable cultural exchange and out-of-workbonding through events such as team meals and coffees. Don’t underestimate theimportance of organic conversation and small talk in forming a strong team.
如果有可能，针对一些较为正式仪式，最好是Sprint的结束和启动，整个团队应该尽可能地汇聚在一起。在我们的分布式团队中，成员同地汇聚的频率是每月1次，每次1周。当然，可能很多团队无法做到，但是每个季度来一次成员同地汇聚对团队的积极意义也是较为可观的。
If possible, the whole team should make an effort tocolocate on regular occasions, preferably at sprint end and start, when theceremonies take place. On our distributed team, we make an effort to colocateon average once a month, when we spend a week together. Of course, this may notbe possible for many teams, but even a trip to get together once per quarterwill make a positive impact on the team.
2.建立非正式的交流渠道（Have an informal communication stream）
会谈是高效团队的重要组成部分之一，具体来说，就是在工作地点选一个合适的地方，大家坐在一起谈谈昨晚的电视节目，或者共进午餐。但在分布式团队中，这种自然闲适的交流往往是极度缺乏的。
Organic conversation is a vital component of ahigh-performing team. In a colocated office, you sit near colleagues, chatabout the TV show you watched last night, or eat lunch together. In distributedteams, this natural communication is often lacking.
在我们的开发团队中，我们给自己的小组起了名字，还利用WhatsApp搭建了专用的讨论组，有些时候，我们用它来传递工作信息（可以让大家及时了解到某人快迟到了或者生病了）；但更多的时候，我们把它当作一个灌水乐园，大家聊体育，聊伦敦的或是布加勒斯特演唱会上的那些照片。尽管我们的办公地点分布在多处，这个非正式的、简单的、无所不包的聊天渠道却将我们大家时时刻刻联系在了一起，让我们可以随时捕获日常工作中那些违背敏捷理念的点点滴滴，从中发掘出无穷的乐趣。
Within our development team, we gave ourselves a groupname and set up our own WhatsApp messenger group. We sometimes use if for work stuff(normally a quick way to let everyone know when someone’s running late or isill), but more often than not it is the home of our group banter — sports talk,photos of days out in London, or pictures from concerts in Bucharest. Thisinformal, easy, and inclusive chat stream allows us to keep in touch with eachother even when we can’t be colocated. We can have those fun catch-ups overwhat people are doing when they’re not being Agile!
3.引入工具（Invest in tooling）
敏捷宣言的原则之一是“个人和互动高于流程和工具”，这里的关键之处在于“我们认为左项的价值大于右项”，而不是否定右项的价值，对分布式团队也同样如此，好的工具必然能够促进团队的交流和协作。
One of the tenets of the Agile Manifesto is valuing"people and interactions over process and tools." The key point hereis that we value the items on the left over the items on the right, not at the expenseof them. For distributed teams, this message is still the same; however, goodtooling is vital to enable communication and collaboration and to empower theteam.
利用增强音频手段进行面对面的交流是分布式团队不可或缺的组成部分，要做到这一点，就意味着团队成员都需要配备相应的硬件和软件：合适的耳机和网络摄像头，移动电话，诸如Skype之类的通讯程序。
Face-to-face communication with strong audio is anintegral component for distributed teams. That means the team members allhaving access to the hardware and software they need to make this happen:decent headsets and webcams, mobile work phones, and access to programs such asSkype for Business.
针对Sprint计划会议，我们引入了估算扑克应用软件；针对Spring回顾会议，我们发现基于白板的涂鸦是提升实时交流会议效果的绝佳手段（MURAL，官方网站https://mural.ly/）。现实中存在很多种工具，就分布式团队而言，针对工作小组探索并引入优质的工具能够有效地促进团队交流和讨论。
For sprint planning, we use a Pointing Poker application,and for our retrospectives we find MURAL a fantastic way to enable people tocontribute in real time to a collaborative board, thus fostering conversation.There are numerous tools out there, and for a distributed team, experimentationand investment in the tools best for the group will enable you to encouragecollaboration and discussion.
4.提高推动工作的能力（Develop your facilitation skills）
在任意情景下推动工作是Scrum Master的关键能力之一，这是任何团队都迫切需要的。这项能力让我们能在最佳时机做出最佳举措，通常是极难掌握的，在分布式团队环境下难度还要更大一点。你必须掌握团队成员的性格特点，哪些人内向，哪些人外向，谁愿意闷头干活而疏于分享，谁又乐意滔滔不绝地描述个人观点，如何有效发掘内向型团队成员个人观点中的价值点，同时又不抑制外向型团队成员的表现欲，是一门微妙的艺术。在推动工作时你必须充分参与进去，这样才能够识别“何时引导大家进入讨论”，“何时结束当前的主题”，以及“何时解决冲突”。
One of the key skills a Scrum Master on any team needs isthe ability to facilitate in all situations. This is a difficult skill to dowell at the best of times; on a distributed team, it is much harder. You needto be aware of the personalities on your team, of the extroverts and theintroverts, of who will be doing their thinking internally and be less likelyto share, and who will be quick to verbally intervene with their ideas. It is adelicate art to bring out the valuable thoughts and ideas of quieter teammembers while not suppressing the more outgoing ones. You need to be fullyengaged while facilitating so that you can recognize when to bring people intothe discussion, when to move the topics forward, and when to resolve conflict.
要时刻温习这些宝贵的技能。作为一个分布式团队的Scrum Master，你要持续不断地阅读和学习，以掌握积极倾听和团队动力学理念；要积极地与其他Scrum Master进行知识分享，以丰富你的技巧和技术储备。
Make sure that you brush up on these invaluable skills.As a Scrum Master for a distributed team, you should be constantly reading andlearning about ideas such as active listening, team dynamics, and adding gamesand techniques to your arsenal through knowledge sharing with other Scrum Masters.
5.时刻莫忘说“谢谢”（Don’t forget to say thank you）
无论是分布式团队还是常规团队，时刻不忘说“谢谢”都是至关重要的。
This is equally important for distributed and colocatedteams: Make sure you say thank you!
由于深刻地认识到了团队成功、贡献、知识分享、应对新挑战的重要性，很多公司配备了诸如电子卡片、公共论坛之类的内部表彰系统，这可是表达谢意的好东西，对分布式团队尤为如此。在完成了某项伟大的工作之后，如果有机会凑在一起，你主动为大家买上一些饮料（啤酒、咖啡请随意）来表达谢意也是一个好主意。
Recognizing team successes, contributions, knowledgesharing, and the taking on of new challenges is important. Many companies haveinternal recognition systems such as e-cards or public forums, which are agreat way to say thanks, especially on the distributed team. If you have theopportunity to occasionally colocate, then buying a round of drinks (beer orcoffees!) is also a nice way to thank teams for having done a great job.
在我们的Sprint回顾会议上，我们定期设置了一个“鸣谢”环节，每个人都可以采用“把便签纸贴到白板上”的形式对团队中的某个人表示感谢，时间限制在当前Sprint之内，缘由不限。这是一个让我们自由传递感激之情的好方法，也是在Scrum团队中凸显团队协作和团队精神重要性的好方法。
In our sprint retrospectives, we regularly include a slotfor "Appreciations," in which everyone is free to add a sticky noteon our board to show appreciation for someone, for any reason, during a sprint.This has been a great way for us to show our gratitude to one another and tostress the importance of collaboration and teamwork within the Scrum team.
结束语（Conclusion）
在分布式团队的大环境下，追求成功乃是整个Scrum团队的奋斗目标，利用上述思路你可以构建适合于自己的最佳实践，让你的开发团队尽可能地提前武装起来去克服分布式团队所面临的各项挑战。
Achieving success in a distributed team is something that the wholeScrum team needs to work on. By using the ideas above and building your ownbest practices, you can ensure that your development team is as well equippedas possible to be prepared for and to overcome the common challenges facingdistributed teams.
