Heather Wilde on Managing Remote Teams - Episode 81

Joining Jeffrey Palermo today is the CTO of ROCeteer, Heather Wilde — who is also known as the “Unicorn Whisperer” due to her special focus on entrepreneurs. She is also a personal and professional Growth Expert, Executive Coach, Non-profit Director, author, and speaker.   Heather has an impressive laundry list of qualifications and experience in various fields! She is affiliated with three entrepreneurial accelerators, has worked with governments on economic development projects for over 20 years, is a Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering Advisory Board Chair, and has worked with the U.S. Navy, NASA, and both state and local governments around the world. She was also an early employee of Spirit Airlines, a founding member of Evernote, and was one of the only women to have programmed, produced, and published a game at THQ. She has received many awards for serving as a mentor, coach, executive, entrepreneur, writer, business role model, and many, many more.   In this episode, Jeffrey and Heather are diving into the topic of managing remote teams! Throughout her career, Heather has had a ton of experience managing remote teams. She shares her personal experiences, some of the ins and outs she learned along the way, tips and tricks, her go-to resources and tools for remote working, and shares some lessons and stories from her career!   Topics of Discussion: [:38] Be sure to visit AzureDevOps.Show for past episodes and show notes. [:45] About Jeffrey’s upcoming .NET DevOps Bootcamp in Austin, Texas on April 30th and his free 30-point DevOps inspection. [1:34] About today’s episode and guest. [3:05] Jeffrey welcomes Heather to the show! [3:47] Heather speaks about her fascinating background and early career. [6:45] Heather shares some more of her background and career milestones that really shaped her into the person that she is today. [8:55] When did Heather shift from being a programmer and writing code all day to managing and leading other programmers and teams? [11:29] Heather tells the interesting story of how she came to be a founding member of Evernote! [15:53] A word from Azure DevOps Podcast’s sponsor: Clear Measure. [16:20] Jeffrey gives some quick announcements. [18:10] When Heather first joined Evernote, how did she set up her workstation while living on a boat? [20:02] Did Heather have to build her team at Evernote or did she inherit a team? [21:11] Living in Mexico at the time, how was Heather hiring employees location-wise? And how was she getting them all set up? [22:46] Heather shares some of the tips and tricks she has learned about working remotely. [26:37] Did some of the remote employees require assistance when it came to setting up their at-home workstation? [27:52] Fast-forward to today’s infrastructure and tools, what are Heather’s go-to selections? [33:35] Heather recommends some resources to check out regarding remote working. [34:24] Jeffrey thanks Heather for joining the podcast!   Mentioned in this Episode: Azure DevOps Clear Measure (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! bit.ly/dotnetdevopsebook — Click here to download the .NET DevOps for Azure ebook! bit.ly/dotnetdevopsbookforcommunity — Visit to get your hands on two free books to give away at conferences or events! Jeffrey Palermo’s Youtube Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! [email protected] — Email Jeffrey for a free 30-point DevOps inspection (regularly priced at $5000!) — Spaces are limited! ROCeteerEvernote THQ Zoom Slack Heather Wilde’s Articles in Inc. Magazine   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.