Here’s the insights:

Employ processes that work for you. Everything will work a lot better if everyone is on the same page – with the same expectations. Having solid processes (be it ‘agile’ or whatever works best for your team) can be a lifesaver, especially around stressful times like releases when you don’t want to be thinking about how to administer the project, you just want to be thinking about all the individual tasks that need to be finalised!

Get into a routine and stick to it. If it doesn’t work, make small changes every few days/weeks until you get it right. Making radical process changes can be very confusing, so take baby steps and get everyone’s input and agreement before implementing the changes.

Use your tools effectively. There’s loads of ways to communicate with your remote teams without investing in huge overheads. I find that (like with processes) it’s best to stick to a few tools and use them effectively.

My favourites are:

• Skype – This is the best replacement for face to face that I’ve found. I use this for our daily scrums/huddles or any other chit-chat that would usually occur F2F. Call costs are cheap, though we stick mostly with chat (so we have records of our conversations).
• Jira – Issue management tools are a must! It forces you to put in place a workflow – just make sure everyone is aware of the process (ie. who to assign tasks to, what is a bug versus an improvement etc). Jira starer licenses are only $10 so it’s worth a try! If you’re into agile, it’s worthwhile checking out Greenhopper while you’re there.
• Confluence – This is like a wiki, and it’s handy for text/documents. For me, it’s where documents go to die, but it’s useful for record keeping. For example, we put all our test cases there  so it’s easy for everyone to access (and yes, we could use google docs or similar, but I found it too confusing – it was better to have a dedicate space). Starter licenses are also available for $10.
• Email – This is really one of the last resorts for communication. It’s too clumsy and things get lost. Plus, a lot of people don’t effectively manage their Inbox (eg. ‘Inbox Zero‘), so it can just turn into a hairy mess! That said, it is of course an essential communication tool – but just make sure everyone uses it in the same way (eg. if you’re using a bug tracking tool, make sure you don’t report bugs via email – it confuses everyone and it’s just likely that the issue will not get fixed!).
• Phone - What else are you meant to do when skype fails?
  
• Text – Have a text policy (or at least acknowledge an agreed protocol). Use text sparingly for blockers only eg. the site is down. Reserve it for the really important issues and you’ll find you get a much better response!

Embrace the cultural. Often working with an outsourced team means working with another culture – one which may or may not be similar to your own. Without harping on about it too much (I’m a student of sociology, so I could rattle on about this forever… buy me a drink and I’ll talk your ear off about this topic!), there are a few basic things to watch for:

• Respect the local age/gender roles – some countries have very strict rules about this and it can impact the structure of your team
• Be mindful of the local festivals and holidays and try not to schedule your major releases around these times if at all possible
• Be aware of the politeness rules that many cultures adopt (eg. always saying ‘yes’ to a superior)
• Be aware of the company’s hierarchy when dealing with conflict resolution / HR issues

Play nice. Without having ever met face to face, and with only a handful of skype calls each week, it’s easy to forget that it’s real people, not magical freaking pixies, who are completing tasks. Treat outsourced developers as you would your in-house developers, invest some time in small talk, say ‘hi’ once in a while and (without being too naff) make sure they know ‘you’ are a real person’. It makes late night releases and problem solving a whole lot easier if you understand the personalities you’re working with!

Tip: Fusion food is tricky and knowing which spices work well together is an art. Does szechuan and fennel work together? How about turmeric and oregano? It’s worth a try, but always be sure to taste it before you serve it to your loved ones.

The reciprocity diagram works for existing social interaction within society, but shifts when you apply it to social media. What we are willing to exchange with our ‘home’ is the same/similar to what we are willing to exchange with our ‘village’ and even the ‘inter-tribal’ sector.

How it used to be.

In traditional village societies, it was easier to decipher… there was generalised, balanced and negative reciprocity.

Generalised = sharing/giving when nothing is expected in return (reciprication here is an emotion – how you feel when you share or do a good deed), maximum trust and minimum social distance (typically within general societies, usually reserved for close friends and family), eg. Making chicken soup for a sick friend.

Negative = barter, where goods of equal value are traded, with minimum trust and maximum social distance, eg. I’ll swap you my cow for 3 sheep.

Balanced = someone gives something to someone else but expects they will be ‘compensated’ at a future date, with moderate trust and moderate social distance, eg. you give your neighbour a cup of sugar but you expect that you can then borrow their lawnmower.

The problem here is that this type of reciprocity does not fit with social networking (online). Think of youtube for instance. What do you expect to receive when you post a video? Is it solely satisfaction or an expectation that you will be ‘repaid’ in future with something of equal value? Reciprocity on all levels can be played out across all social circles, which changes the value of what we exchange.

To use family portraits as an example… in the 1800’s well to do families would have their portrait painted, and they would share it with anyone who entered their home. With the arrival of photography and the printing press, images could be ’snapped’ rather quickly and distributed to those in your community. Enter digital cameras and online social networks and your family snaps are available to everyone, everywhere. The perceived value of your images may (or may not) be of more value to your inner circle than your outer circle… but the exchange occurs simultaneously with your friends, family, your home, community…. and with the global community (should you decide to post your images on a public network).

How it is now.

So, what exactly does reciprocity mean for netizen and how would the circles of reciprocity be redrawn for social media? Would it look something like this….

Balanced and Generalised forms of reciprocity are compressed and altered. The exchange offers maximum trust (ie. that unkown users aren’t going to use the information/material in an untoward way), but also allows for maximum social distance through the global network. Youtube is a good example of this. Some users post videos expecting nothing in return, they do it because they know the community will appreciate it. Others share their videos, but expect that one day they will be ‘compensated’ ie. someone will post an equally valuable video at some stage in the future.

Negative is reserved primarily for ecommerce sites, be it Amazon or Ebay, and is largely unchanged.

Web2.0 technologies not only change the way we view exchanges within our community, but change the frequency, type and access to different forms of reciprocity.

Through social networking, we can exchange information with those in our outer circles, and in doing so, expand ourselves as we eliminiate the divisive social circles through online exchange.

What do you think?