Leading a Remote EPMO in Challenging Times

By Cheryl McIntyre-Hall

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It was mid-March when we all had to pivot our physical and mental states to start working from home (WFH). Many questions and thoughts swirled in our minds: 

• “How am I to navigate being on a video call when the children are asking for assistance with online classes, especially the ones in kindergarten?” 
• “I do not have a private space, where I can lock myself off without disturbance.” 
• “How can we continue to practice Scrum when we are no longer co-located?” 
• “Can my team meet the deadlines for value deliveries in the middle of protecting themselves and their families from COVID-19?” 

It was an uncertain time for us. We were about to embark on uncharted territory with the onset of a global pandemic affecting how our businesses operate. 

We previously had only one Project Manager leading a virtual project team, with 98% of the team located in another country. Fast forward to the start of June, the team of over 30+ Scrum Masters, Project Managers and Project Administrators are working remotely with a rhythm that says “WE CAN DO THIS” and “WE ARE DOING IT WELL…ALWAYS IMPROVING.”  

The benefit of creating the agile mindset within our team was evident. Within the first two weeks, all teams had demonstrated flexibility and adaptability; establishing a working approach that showed no signs, to persons outside of the teams, that they were not still physically co-located.  

But this remote working rhythm did not materialize without putting workable structures in place; a structure which a subset of the team has since documented in our Remote Work Playbook.  I will share some tactics on how we got this going, and hopefully it will inspire sharing of similar experiences within the community. In doing so, we can learn from each other and refine our WFH approaches, given many of us will have no choice but to get comfortable with this new paradigm.

TOOLS

Armed with the realization that a lock-down was inevitable, the more tech savvy among us started looking for online collaboration tools, where we could avail of interactive features, such as whiteboards. This was to supplement our existing tools - WebEx Teams, JIRA, Confluence, Trello, just to name a few.

We ensured that all team members had:

1. An encrypted laptop, with secure VPN access enabled  
2. Access to a soft-phone, i.e. being able to make calls from their laptops, and   
3. Assistance to fast track pending applications to internet providers, for those without service at home. 

TRACKING WORK

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By day three  of remote working, the Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO’s) Leadership team met and determined that we needed to have reasonable visibility that teams were settling in. And so, for the first two weeks, each project team reported via a daily digest on Team health; Major releases/Implementations; Progress on key deliverables and Challenges.  This was less of a change for the Scrum teams, as being 100% agile, they were already having daily stand-ups and other events which gave transparency into what was being done . The few traditional teams were not to be outdone as they also transitioned immediately.  A consolidated daily digest was shared with Executive Management responsible for the EPMO. 

By the end of March, we had a 'good rhythm' and reduced the reporting cadence to bi-weekly digests and a weekly consolidated report. We made a deliberate effort to always be mindful that as leaders and Agile coaches, we had  a responsibility to ensure that  the  Agile principle of 'trusting self-organizing teams to get work done' was upheld.

TEAM HEALTH

Keeping our teams mentally healthy is of utmost importance, so our first monthly remote team meeting at the end of March, focused primarily on confirming from team members, how they were adapting to remote work. Questions posed included how were they practicing social distancing; how were their children coping with online learning; how did they navigate the space with all family members at home; how were they managing their work schedule regarding breaks, and lunchtime in particular.

The team appreciated this focus as we learnt from each other’s experiences; from getting up and dressing like we are going to the office; to the ergonomics of desks and chairs versus using the dining table or the kitchen counter and finding time for physical exercise. We had parents who created Kanban boards to make visible the progress of their children’s school assignments! Talk about transitioning agility to the household!

Of course many of us indicated that we were so comfortable that we forgot that we normally take lunch time or that works end at 5p.m.  We were all working longer hours without consciously realizing it. It is therefore important to strike that balance to prevent burn out and developing a routine of daily exercise, meditation, regular breaks during the work day, actually ending work activities and leaving time to focus on families and friends. 

Team leads still utilizing traditional or hybrid execution approaches, expressed that they felt more productive and closer to their teams, given the more frequent check-ins and reporting. We also became more innovative in finding online team building activities to keep teams at all levels engaged. New agile teams were created remotely and new members added to the EPMO, all remotely integrated.

WFH - Our New Norm

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Interestingly, in the first week of remote work, I asked my EPMO leadership team, “How would they feel if they were told to come into the physical office only 2 or 3 days per week? The response was an overwhelming, “We would love that.” Well, fast forward to June 1 when the WFH mandates ceased, many of us have no need to face that daily traffic jam, as the new norm is occasional presence in the physical work space.

The journey continues as there are still aspects of remote working to be refined. Many organizations are still reviewing areas relating to:

• Team health, where some employees depend on seeing their colleagues as social/psychological therapy and 
• Employee benefits tied to being in a physical space, such as uniform and travel allowances. How will these be treated in the new way of working? 

Some persons have expressed that this push for remote working to be the norm for some organizations is temporary, and in two years, when hopefully there is a vaccine for COVID-19 and economies start booming again, remote working will lose its focus and gradually teams will move back into their physical spaces. I guess we’ll see.

For now, we know that the change to remote work has occurred and adapting to change (any change) calls for agility. This EPMO team has embraced the change and has proven that pivoting to a remote working approach, guiding teams to deliver the same values as when physically co-located, is indeed possible!