Managing remote teams may seem easy. However, that is not the case at all. Managing a team that is not together in person is a tedious task and requires a lot more strategy and energy. At least in the beginning, after adapting to the remote mode of work.
Remote work means no geographical boundaries. It means giving your employees a green signal to work from anywhere in the world, which means different time zones. It isn’t easy to bridge the distance between all the employees, keeping them connected, satisfied, productive, and connected.
All these problems/queries related to managing remote teams are exactly why you are here reading this article in the first place. And you are in luck, too, as this article is exclusively about guiding you on how to manage distributed engineering teams. Furthermore, the right management strategies make monitoring the performances of each employee way easier. In addition to that, it is necessary for the employees to understand the concept of remote work and be well prepared for the time zone differences, and to steer clear from confusion as well.
Before getting to the Tips and tricks, let’s brief you guys on why remote teams are gaining popularity?
WHY ARE REMOTE TEAMS GAINING POPULARITY?
Recently, remote work has gained a lot of popularity because many companies were forced to go remote due to the pandemic. However, remote work was in existence way before the pandemic. Many companies have been remote since their existence. A few examples may be freelancing websites such as Fiverr, Toptal, and Upwork, etc who connect employers and employees. Another example is Gaper This particular company employs the top one percent of software engineers and further connects them with companies that require software engineers for short or long-term projects.
Additionally, the oldest example that has existed way before the era of the internet is the scientists. All the prestigious scientists have stayed connected through the concept of remote communication. All the existing scientific discoveries were made the remote way by communicating with the most talented on different continents.
Discoveries show that people work best when in small groups and when in an environment where they have the flexibility of moving. Remote work provides one with the opportunity of staying close with their family while they work. Moreover, no hassle of changing into work clothes every morning. Furthermore, it saves the employees the time and money of going to and from the office. As for the employers, the only pro point was the cot cut-back. But now productivity of the employees is an added advantage.
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Work In The Golden Hours If The Teams Are In Other Parts Of The World
The best way of getting the most out of your employees is to understand their time limits. Different time zones are a problem, but it is completely doable. Hence, the golden hour idea. Golden hour is when the employees’ work hours overlap at some point of the day. Since everything is online these days, companies aim to target audiences all around the world. Therefore, idle workflow is not a good idea, and employees in two different time zones are beneficial for your company. In short, different time zones will assure that the company won’t stay idle, not even for a minute, guaranteeing consistent workflow.
Hold Regular Team Meetings
Schedule regular team meetings. Choose a time feasible for all your employees. Regular team meetings will keep you in the loop of the happenings and will give you and your employee a better chance of understanding. Furthermore, the frequent meetings will also ensure discipline and productivity. Additionally, meetings will also ensure that the employees don’t get off-track. In addition to that, Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft teams are the best tools available to conduct team meetings.
Make A Properly Defined Work Procedure
Set out clear-cut rules and deadlines to guarantee no delays. Make sure that the employees get their work done on time and that too before the deadlines. Defined rules and procedures promote time management and push the employees to be more productive.
Choose The Right Collaboration Tools
The Right Tools for your teams mean a higher productivity level and consistent workflow. With the right tools, the quality of work will improve; moreover, all the employees will stay on the same page as well. Some of the good tools that we know of are:
- Slack for team collaboration
- Zoom for video conferencing
- InVision for design and prototyping
- GitHub for software development
- Trello for project management
- Google Drive for documents and spreadsheet collaboration
Concluding Words
It doesn’t matter what project it is; choosing the right individuals for your remote team can be a daunting and overwhelming task, especially if a company/employer is doing it for the first time. However, if you choose the right strategies and management, you can easily ace it. Choosing the correct hiring process is highly important and plays a vital role in deciding the future of your company.
