I worked on one for nearly 2 years. We were distributed, but across the same time zone.
Every day for standup we would skype into a standup call. After the meeting we would all leave the call open but put out mics on mute. If I needed someone all I had to do was unmute and say their name.
It gave the benefit of working remote, but being able to communicate like we were working next to each other. It also let us have an "open environment" where I can listen on any conversation but also turn my volume down if it was distracting.
There was also an added benefit that if part of the team was doing a screen share (trying to fix a bug, or go over UX) anyone was able to watch if they were interested.
We two rules and they worked well.
1. If you were going to turn your volume off or leave the call you had to leave a message so the team knew. If someone needed you they could call you directly.
2. Be considerate of chatter. If a conversation or screen share was going to exceed 30 minutes, take it to a private call and leave an open invitation to others. This was so a single conversation couldn't dominate the main call
It was the most effective and performant team I have ever worked on
Every day for standup we would skype into a standup call. After the meeting we would all leave the call open but put out mics on mute. If I needed someone all I had to do was unmute and say their name.
It gave the benefit of working remote, but being able to communicate like we were working next to each other. It also let us have an "open environment" where I can listen on any conversation but also turn my volume down if it was distracting.
There was also an added benefit that if part of the team was doing a screen share (trying to fix a bug, or go over UX) anyone was able to watch if they were interested.
We two rules and they worked well.
1. If you were going to turn your volume off or leave the call you had to leave a message so the team knew. If someone needed you they could call you directly. 2. Be considerate of chatter. If a conversation or screen share was going to exceed 30 minutes, take it to a private call and leave an open invitation to others. This was so a single conversation couldn't dominate the main call
It was the most effective and performant team I have ever worked on