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olocation out.  Social distancing in.  Every Scrum team is now a virtual team.  There will be no training and no prep time–just Zoom.   So pronounced the pandemic. 

Scrum teams can take this time to level up their virtual Scrum skills so that they maintain delivery and ultimately emerge stronger than ever.   The following five techniques practiced by professional YouTube vloggers  improve team communication and connectedness.  

Basic YouTuber Setup

1.

   Control Composition

Composition includes what is in your WebCam shot and how it is framed.  Follow the photographer’s Rule of Thirds, a guideline which says the most important thing in the shot, which is you, should be the main focus and take up most of the frame. 

Place your eye-level one third of the way down from the top of the screen.  Positioning your your webcam on top of your monitor or on a small tripod should do the trick.  To command more attention, place yourself dead center and look straight on.  For relaxed participation, you can move your nose to one third from the left and turn your head thirty degrees back to the right with two thirds of the frame in front of you.  Either way, keep your shoulders on camera.

Once set, double check for facial distortion caused by the wide angle lens on your webcam.   If you need to move further from the computer, remember to reposition your eyes one third of the way down.  Throughout the meeting try not to negate your perfect rule-of-thirds framing by rocking to and fro or leaning away from the camera.  

Good, Bad and Ugly WebCam Photo Examples

Expert Tip:  Dock the Zoom images of the meeting participants near your webcam so that you can make eye contact looking at them and the camera simultaneously.

Frame yourself well in front of a neutral but not sterile background, e.g. in front of a bookcase.  Angle the camera to avoid odd looks such as a ceiling fan in your ear.

Clear all the clutter around you and don’t stop after clearing breakfast burritos, and bobbleheads.  The only things on camera should be things intentionally placed there.  Don’t let a pillow from the bed behind you rise into view.

Pick a “broadcast studio” location which minimizes the number of unintentional disruptions from family, pets, and noises.   If your webcam films the route to the bathroom or the kitchen, don’t be surprised to see your kid running behind you with no shirt on.  Also pick a spot which does not need setup or cleanup to live broadcast when you get a surprise Zoom request from your Scrum Master.

2.

   Control Sound Quality

Microphone Comparison

External Microphone vs. Computer Microphone

Sound canceling headphones are a great addition to your home office.  Never again will you need to ask your Product Owner to repeat themselves because your spouse’s loud Zoom session in the home office next door.  Consider Sony MDR-7506 headphones which do the home office job without the music aficionado price tag.

Most people are unaware that their computer’s microphone makes them sound like a tin can and picks up ambient noise pollution  To fix it, get yourself the highest quality condenser microphone that you can afford.  It’s also great to add a shock mount accessory to prevent vibrations from traveling up the microphone diaphragm.  The Blue Yeticaster fits the bill.

Expert Tip:  Rather than talking into the microphone, point the microphone at your chest to get the deep voice of a radio disc jockey.

Avoid empty apartment sound by broadcasting from a place with sound deadening material such as curtains or a comforter.

3.

   Use Proper Exposure

First and foremost, get a top quality webcam like the Logitech Brio.  The camera on your laptop is low quality video and looks up at your double chin and nostrils.  

Ideally, face a window while the natural light illuminates your face.  Whether using natural light or lamp light, avoid back lighting and reserve bottom lighting for horror movies.  

After shining light on the front of your face, you can improve your exposure by going for three, four, or even five point lighting.  In my setup, I sit with a huge window on my right, twoLume Cube  LED lights stuck to the far corners of my monitor, a light directly overhead and track lighting in the background.

Expert Tip:  Control your Lume Cubes with the Lume-X phone app for precise dimming capability and to avoid colleagues looking down your shirt as you adjust lighting during a weather changes.    Do be aware that the Lume-X app will detect and control your spouse’s Lume Cube in the home office next to you.  I once turned my wife’s light on and off while she Zoomed her manager.

Let us conclude this exposure discussion by stating what should be obvious–don’t  turn off your video for long stretches.   People will think you are either anti-social or you have no clothes on.  If you need to do something personal for a moment, people will appreciate momentary darkness. 

4.

   Color Grade

To look sharp, consider wearing a single color top for a business meeting.  Reserve wild plaids and printed T-shirts for virtual happy hour.  Avoid hot colors like orange and red as well as colors which blend in with your background.   Finally, where nice pants or skirt which match your top so you are free to stand up.

Expert Tip:  Use an app like iGlasses on the Mac to control control the color saturation and white balance of your webcam.

Try to avoid Zoom’s artificial background especially if you wear glasses or headphones because Zoom’s silhouette algorithm can give you a bad haircut or electric glasses.  

5.

  Be Ergonomic

Virtual work is now more prevalent and long-term than simply checking emails on sick days.  To perform your best, don’t accept hunching over a laptop squinting.  Invest in a good monitor, desk, and chair.  

Give yourself freedom to move by getting a solid wood desk so bumps don’t jiggle your audio and video equipment.  The desk should be at least two feet deep to put proper space between you and your monitor.  The desk should also be wide enough to move your arms and to place multiple monitors.

Avoid constraining short and tangled wires by ordering long wires and plugging them into a USB hub.   Use wireless mice and look for a boom arm for your microphone which has wire housing.  You may even want to order a desk with built in USB ports for your Lume Cubes.   

Many people overlook lighting when considering ergonomics. Always remember to adjust your monitor brightness to account for changing light conditions.  Also if your room is very dark after hours, backlighting your monitor reduces both eyestrain and associated back and neck strain.

Expert Tip: Gaming chairs aka racing chairs are worth looking at for their athletic aesthetics alone but the also offer excellent ergonomics.  They stabilize your mousing arm and support long gaming sessions in comfort.

Conclusion

Strive to build up to practicing all five YouTuber techniques but most importantly, get started with one of them and go from there.  Overcome all impediments like a Scrum Master.  Have fun and go forth and conquer virtual Scrum communication.

Citations:  All photos by James Massa except the featured Scrum team photo by Elijah O’Donnell and the remote worker photo by Djordje Petrovic, both from Pexels.  Microphone audio by comparison by James Masssa.  Embeded promotional videos and product links for Blue Microphones, Lume-Cubes, and Sony headphones were developed by said companies which did not compensate me for their use.