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Rachael Ellen
Rachael Ellen

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Personal reflections: how release planning can bring remote teams together

When the pandemic hit in 2020, our office closed and we began developing from home. Nearly 3 years on, we're starting to get back to the office! But, as creatures of habit, it can be hard to leave our now routine structure of working from home for a long commute, different desk, etc etc. I've found that any small reason for going into the office will usually lose against all the reasons to stay at home - unless there is a shiny carrot of a reason to get into the office beyond those reasons I set myself!

To help us get a reason that might battle those stay at home anchors, we, the ArcGIS Maps SDK for Java team, decided to make a standard Agile meeting an opportunity and motivation reason to get colleagues together in the one space. So we hosted an in person release planning session as a reason to get folks back in the office: and it was lovely.

In my dev journal style story map blog below, I share my personal reflections on shifting to working from home during the pandemic. I also share how finding any opportunity (release planning!) to get the team together in person can be a real boost for individuals and the team as a whole.

How release planning can bring remote teams together

Reflections on how in-person release planning can be a great opportunity to bring colleagues together and boost team morale.

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