It’s not easy to manage a development team that is remote and spread across time zones. However, leaders that are adept at leading remote teams see increased engagement, efficiency, and outcomes.
While it’s easy to think that you can simply give your developers tasks and expect good results, the reality is that it’s much more effective to consider your remote developers as part of your team and, as such, to be thoughtful about managing them.
Here are some things that the best tech leaders do to effectively manage remote development teams, getting the most out of their employees.
Share Your Company Vision and Goals
Rather than just finding good developers and sending them tasks, the best managers take time to share the full vision of their company with all of the dev team. Not only will this lead to increased investment and a more cohesive team, but it will also lead to better outcomes.
As developers make decisions throughout their work and deal with obstacles that arise, the better understanding they have of your company, its vision, and customers’ needs, the better the final product will be.
Have Overlapping Work Times
A big challenge for most remote development teams in differing time zones. While hiring globally can lead to a team with top talent, it’s necessary to have some time every day where schedules overlap. This will lead to increased collaboration, less wasted time due to questions or miscommunication, fewer workflow holdups, and more efficient communication.
Consider having a few hours every day where all of your team is working and available. The rest of the day can be flexible hours, with teams determining when they work. However, having 3–4 hours every day where the entire team is accessible will lead to better results.
Schedule Video Calls
During those overlapping times, make sure to schedule regular video calls. With so many different communication channels available — from emails to Slack to tracking tools and management boards — it’s easy to think that facetime meetings are unnecessary.
Yet, having regular facetime helps to build better relationships and improve communication. It’s also another good opportunity to share the company’s vision, ensuring that the development team understands the driving focus of all projects. You don’t have to overdo it with video calls, but make sure they’re a regular part of your development team’s routine.
Have Clear Short and Long-Term Goals
One key to managing development teams is tracking progress, performance, and results. This can be particularly difficult with remote teams, so it’s essential for leaders to be proactive about systems for measuring and tracking progress.
Good tracking tools are vital to helping both managers and teams. And, when using these tools, it’s necessary to ensure that every team member understands all goals and their responsibilities to help meet those goals.
Clearly setting, sharing, and monitoring goals is vital for ensuring that remote development teams are on track and meeting project objectives.
Build a Relationship With Each Team Member
Some leaders communicate only with a project manager and then let that manager communicate with the rest of the development team. While this might seem like an efficient way to handle remote development teams, it’s not ideal.
Instead, take the time to know and build a relationship with each team member. This will lead to better communication, increased investment, and a shared understanding of projects and goals. Regularly check in with each employee, let them know that you appreciate their work, and give them a chance to ask questions or share any concerns.
Be Open and Transparent
In addition to building relationships with each team member, leaders should be open and transparent with the dev team as a whole. If there are changes in organizational goals, big decisions made by company leadership, or strategy changes, share those with your development team.
Doing so will build trust and help your team better understand the company, its objectives, and any challenges the organization faces. This information will enable your dev team to better understand their role and projects, leading to a high-quality finished product.
Working With a Great Remote Development Team
One of the keys to effectively managing a remote development team is first hiring a team of talented developers with the right skills for your organization. This can be time-consuming and difficult to do. However, at Upstack, we’ve already done all of the work for you, having a pool of vetted developers for organizations to hire.
Visit Upstack to start hiring your team and to take a crucial first step towards effectively managing a remote development team.
Upstack gives you the ability to search the perfect software dev for your project by skill, location, experience level and more. Contact us!
Originally published at Upstack.co on Jan 30, 2022, by Charlie Harper.