The Loosely Coupled podcast, hosted by PHP community members Jeff Carouth and Matt Frost, has posted their latest episode - Episode 18: Best Practices. In it they talk about "best practices" as it relates to teams and working with other developers.

In this episode Jeff and Matt will talk about their experiences of getting teams moving on good practices. They will cover times when it has been challenging to convince higher-ups the value of doing certain things, all the way to how to go about changing teams by example. This episode is sponsored by our friend, Coderabbi, who is currently on the Wisdom as a Service World Tour 2015.

You can listen to this latest episode either through the in-page audio player or by downloading the mp3. If you enjoy the show, be sure to check out previous episodes and subscribe to their feed.

In part four of his "Becoming a PHP Professional" post series Bruno Skvorc looks at the topic of "professional teamwork" , more so as it relates to a bit more practical things.

Last time, we discussed social aspects of teamwork, and how working in a team can both benefit and harm you. There's loads to take into consideration when working with other people, and lots to be gained. This time, let's talk about practical aspects of teamwork, particularly virtual teams or, in other words, teams with remote members.

He covers a three main topics (several that only relate to non-colocated teams):

• Time Zone Difference and Broken Bottleneck in Teamwork
• Organic Solutions (the importance of a technical lead and filter)
• Inorganic solutions (technology to make life easier and remote workers more productive)

Bruno Skvorc has posted his latest article in his "Becoming a PHP Professional" series to the SitePoint PHP blog today. This time he talks about the social aspects of teamwork, a look at three things to consider to make working on a team easier regardless of the size.

This article will focus on social aspects of teamwork and initiative, and will serve as an introduction into a more concrete and practical teamwork based article coming soon. t's important to note that when I say teamwork, I don't only mean teams while working for a larger entity – a corporation or company in which you're a minor sub-group. A team is also a group of freelancers working together on a project – either close by, or remotely. Whenever you work with someone in any capacity whatsoever – that's a team. A loose team, but a team nonetheless.

He makes three suggestions that can help you figure out how to interact with people both in your immediate team and those outside of it:

• Knowing your role
• Giving respect to superiors (to a degree)
• Don't be afraid to leave

What I'd like you to take away from this part is – don't be a slave of circumstance. Be courteous, professional and honest, but don't be afraid to leave a poisonous environment – it harms you, the people who love and support you, and finally, the project you're working on.