Distributed Scrum is a hot topic in the today’s agenda. Agile has become a de facto industry standard and proclaims face-to-face communication to be superior. Some authors are as bold as saying that the best way to do offshore development is “don’t”. Companies transform their offices and org structures to get people radically collocated.

But, as usual, reality is not black and white and many people have valid reasons to go distributed. And those are different from the classic cost-cutting. Lack of talent in a local market and lack of necessary expertise in a company are among the top. With the progress of technology life-style becomes a powerful driver for remote work. There are more and more companies that don’t even have a physical office and it’s in their values. So, is it really such an impossible task to do distributed Scrum?

In this meetup we’ll discuss in engaging and entertaining manner what are common pitfalls of distributed Agile development, what limitations it forces upon a team, and what are the ways to mitigate them. We’ll talk about practices and techniques that can bring a distributed team’s performance to a level comparable to a truly collocated team. And we’ll take a look at the tools that help in this task.

Kiryl is an Agile Coach at ING and a member of an international network of Agile Coaches and trainers AgileLAB. He has more than 10 years of experience in Software Development in different roles, last 6 of them working as a Scrum Master and Agile Coach. What makes his experience unique, is that he had a chance to work in all kind of remote setups, including distributed and dispersed, off-shore and near-shore, off-site and on-site, even virtual organizations with no physical office. Based on his experience, Kiryl has created Kiryl's Facilitation Toolkit—an extensive set of templates for online facilitation based on Google Drawings canvases. He is also a blog author, a husband and a father, and an avid freeride skier.

## Program

- 18:00 Welcome with dinner and refreshments
- 18:45 The Presentation/Workshop
- 20:15 Conversation with snacks and refreshments
- 21:00 Goodbye

## Parking

You can use the Q-Park Centrum Oost (Wibautstraat 3). Parking fee is charged (4 euro per hour with a maximum of 30 Euros per day).

It is a 12-minute walk from the Q-Park to the Wibautveste. You can also take metro 51, 53 and 54 from Metrostation Weesperplein to Metro station Wibautstraat.

You can also park on the streets surrounding the office which is 3 or 4 euro per hour.

## Public Transport

Opposite the Wibautveste you will find various metro stations, tram and bus stop, for example:
- From Amsterdam Central Station: metro 51, 53 and 54.
- From RAI Congress Centre: bus 65, or take tram 4 transfer to metro 51.
- From WTC: metro 51. Take exit Gijsbrecht van Aemstelstraat.