Face-to-face communication in a team working on site
As a Scrum Master of a team where people work in the same office floor (with some remote possibilities) and do not physically meet during meetings or Scrum events (like Daily Scrum):
Should you promote a face-to-face communication in case of events/meetings occurrences?
If so, how would do so and trigger the above "change"?
Especially since the people on the team are located physically close to each other, two questions come to mind:
- Why do these people choose to not meet face-to-face?
- Are there any issues that you or others on the team believe may be caused by not meeting face-to-face?
...work in the same office floor (with some remote possibilities)...
When ever I see the "remote possibilities" I immediately consider everyone remote. That is because the remote people will not benefit the same as those that are co-located. I know this from many years of experience where I was remote to a team that was co-located. It is too easy for the co-located team to fall into the habit of having conversations with each other that the remote person is not capable of hearing. My recommendation is to always default to "remote" if there is at least 1 person that is full time remote.
I realize that the Manifesto for agile software delivery has this principle.
The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
When that was written, remote workers were not a very common thing. I feel it was meant to imply that being able to have a conversation was better than writing documents/emails. Face-to-face allows for the involved parties to discuss the topic so that questions can be asked and answered quickly. By doing it in documents, it takes longer and can lead to confusion because it is more difficult to clarify information. However, in today's world the ability to have discussions remotely has improved. Video conferencing, conference calling, even synchronous text chats are much more capable than they were when that principle was written.
I would not advocate physical face-to-face unless there is a problem to be solved. The team should be capable of communicating well, are able to clarify or get clarification of questions, are producing usable increments of valuable product, and are comfortable with the communication methods in use. Otherwise, trying to push them to physical face-to-face will just introduce other issues.
Another thing to remember is that most people in their 20s-30s have grown up with technology and are much more comfortable with the use. My kids would rather send me a text than talk to me on the phone.
Should you promote a face-to-face communication in case of events/meetings occurrences?
Never mind that. How effectively are they collaborating with each other throughout the rest of the working day? As long as they are doing so, it does not matter if they are face-to-face or remote, and the Scrum Events may reflect the practices they have chosen.