Building Distributed Systems in Distributed Teams

Building DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS in DISTRIBUTED TEAMS Philipp Krenn @xeraa

Who is working from HOME?

Who is working from a COWORKING SPACE?

Who is working from an OFFICE?

Who can work from home for 1 DAY / WEEK?

DEVELOPER

VORONOI DIAGRAM & CLUSTER

UNSTRUCTURED, DISTRIBUTED, DIVERSE

1,100 ELASTICIANS +

Elasticats Elastronauts ELKompadres Elastics Elastigons Elasticers ElastiCoolians Homo Elasticus Elasticitizens {elastician} Elasticodians The Elasticrew Elasticons Elastonians from Elastonia Elastic Dudes / Elastic Dudettes

37+ COUNTRIES 30+ LANGUAGES 19+ TIME ZONES 16 OFFICES

Distributed By Design

DISTRIBUTED NOT REMOTE

X-SCHOOL

ALWAYS ON

(CROSS) TEAM TIME BUGPOOL, FIXITFRIDAY, OFFICE HOURS,...

RELEASE PARTY

PROCESS PER TEAM

ENGINEERING ALL HANDS SALES KICKOFF

Values

ELASTICSEARCH TEAM DEVELOPMENT CONSTITUTION https://github.com/elastic/engineering/blob/master/development_constitution.md

TECH PROGRESS OVER PERFECTION

TECH DESIGN FOR TODAY! USE ABSTRACTIONS WITH CARE

TECH BUILD FEATURES IN ISOLATION

TECH REMOVE FIRST, FIX LATER

TECH ONLY ACCEPT FEATURES THAT SCALE

TECH BE FAST BY DEFAULT; SLOW IS OPTIONAL

PEOPLE BE KIND

PEOPLE EMPATHY FOR PASSION

PEOPLE REPORT ABUSIVE COMMENTS

Source Code HTTPS://WWW.ELASTIC.CO/ABOUT/OUR-SOURCE-CODE

Whatever you’re hustling for, take note: most people/companies are shut down until ‘18. That means you get 2 extra weeks to outwork your competition.

That’s 3.8% more time. For perspective: Usain Bolt won his gold medals running 1.2% faster. These 2 weeks are a gift. Get to work. — https://twitter.com/NathanCHubbard/status/ 942882853494202369

If I read this madness I want all my engineers to take 2 extra weeks off to make sure we are 6% behind but healthy! That would be a massive win! — https://twitter.com/s1m0nw/status/943021874086383616

Elastic will be providing 16 weeks of 100% paid parental leave during the first year following the birth or adoption of a child — whether you are a mom or a dad

MY EXPERIENCE

ELASTICIANS ARE TRUSTED

DO THE RIGHT THING

YOU VOLUNTEER

SOMETIMES YOU ARE VOLUNTOLD

COMMUNICATION IS OPEN & PUBLIC

NEW PRODUCTS JOIN THE FAMILY

Downsides

SHARE THE PAIN OF TIMEZONES

COMMUNICATION CAN FAIL

CULTURES ARE DIFFERENT

DECISIONS CAN DRAG

Day

CRAZY

FLEXIBLE

TRADITIONAL

Tools

SYNC

ASYNC

TEAM & TECH & PM LEAD PER PROJECT

STACK LEAD

VP OF ENGINEERING

CTO ▶ CEO

Hiring

OH: It's not "hard" skills vs "soft" skills - its "technical" vs "professional" skills. — https://twitter.com/freakboy3742/status/907032201497255942

AGE, GENDER, LOCATION, RACE,... IS JUST AN ATTRIBUTE

1,000+ CV PER WEEK

NO BULLSHIT INTERVIEWS

500 TO 600: 5M 600 TO 700: 3M 700 TO 800: 2M

Numbers

INDICATOR ARRIVALS: 130 DEPARTURES: 9

Conclusion

Vianney Chevalier, https://twitter.com/vianneytwins/status/997125952835653633

Who wants to work from AN OFFICE?

Who wants to work from HOME?

NO GOING BACK

https://www.elastic.co/about/careers

QUESTIONS? Philipp Krenn @xeraa