Distributed by Design -or- How to work with a team in 12 timezones
A presentation at Abstractions II in in Pittsburgh, PA, USA by Fen Aldrich
Distributed By Design Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Distributed, Unstructured, Diverse Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Why Distributed Systems? Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Why Distributed Systems? In pioneer days they used oxen for heavy pulling, and when one ox couldn’t budge a log, they didn’t try to grow a larger ox — Grace Hopper Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Why Distributed Systems? Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Distributed Systems Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Distributed Teams Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Computers are easy, People are difficult Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Computers are easy, People are difficult Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Massively scalable, fault-tolerant, distributed systems require a significant engineering effort to build and operate; complex socio-technical systems are even more challenging — Bridget Kromhout Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Hi, Abstractions! !
! $ ” : theelasticast.com : @CrayZeigh : aaron.aldrich@elastic.co : noti.st/crayzeigh
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
1500 Elasticians * 41 Countries * All Numbers Approximate Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Who do we hire first? Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Latency Reduction is not compelling Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Distributed Remote Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
How do you know people are working? Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
How do you know people are working? The work gets done Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
If you love somebody, set † them free † elastic.co/blog/if-you-love-somebody-set-them-free Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
By-Team Organization Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Challenges · Communication · Time Zones · Decision Making · Different Cultures Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Communication Tools Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
synchronous Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
async Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
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Communications Processes Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Default Open Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Default Distributed Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Company All-Hands Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
1:1 Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Time Zones Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
23 People 14 Countries 12 timezones Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
UTC-8 → UTC+10 Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Decisions Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Different Cultures Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Hiring carefully Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Hire slow, Fire seldom. Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
[These] are a set of ideas rather than a statement of values. Some are accurate to who we are while others are aspirational. They are reminders that keep us steadfast because we’re not perfect, we’re human. Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
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Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Spacetime Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
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Failure & Resilience Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
We all have an accent. Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Assume good intent Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Elastician Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Welcome to the company Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Elastic SWAG Day Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Dance together, stay together Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) –
Community Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
Aaron Aldrich (@CrayZeigh) #AbstractionsCon
At the company I work for, everything we build is distributed; our software and our company itself; my team alone is in 12 timezones. Building distributed systems is notoriously hard, but as they say, “humans are even more difficult.” As we’ve worked to build a purposely distributed team, we’ve faced specific challenges and worked to overcome them directly. We’ve treated our distributed nature as a boon to who we are and how we work, not just a challenging fact of life to be overcome, or a bug to be dealt with.
This talk dives into the details of how our company thrives on its distributed model:
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Why we say “distributed” instead of “remote” and how that language has been key from day one.
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How have shared values held us together as a group and how have they evolved as we scale from a handful to over 1000 employees?
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What challenges we face on a daily basis being distributed
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What tools and practices we use to over come them
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How we can possibly make it work with a truly global team.
Video
Resources
The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.
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Our Source Code
The published Source Code for Elastic. These are some of the values and ideals that hold us together as a company
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Blog: If you Love Somebody Set Them Free
Blog from Antonio about how our Distributed culture enabled him to fulfill a life-goal while still working at Elastic.
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Re-Deploy Conference
Resiliency engineering conference. Mentioned briefly in the talk, not in particularly related, but solid conference, check it out, yo.
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Spoon Theory
Concepts of Spoon Theory as a metaphor for how different folks have different levels of energy and how different activities take different amounts.
Buzz and feedback
Here’s what was said about this presentation on social media.
