Cutting the Cord: Letting Your Remote Team Run Free

Extreme Blue is IBM’s elite internship program. I was recently lucky enough to have my project proposal selected from hundreds of submissions to participate in the program. There was just one catch: my local Extreme Blue program had filled up and my project would be run out of the RTP lab, while I would be in Austin. The development cycle for the entire project is only 12 weeks long, consisting of on-boarding, five 2-week sprints, and a week for final presentations and transition. While I am no stranger to working with remote teams, doing so on such an expedited project was going to be a challenge, especially with 4 new interns unfamiliar with the project or the organization. Using a mix of Agile, Design Thinking, XP, and Scrum, I was able to cut the cord and allow my team to run free with the project.

Speaker

Tommy Adams


I’ve been in IBM Systems Assurance for over 16 years now, specifically in the Power Hardware Systems Test area. I’ve held multiple roles in the organization, from test engineer to team lead to release ...