Despite the fact that the datarockets web and mobile development team works remotely from 9 countries in 5 different time zones and up to 7 hours difference, we still don’t have any problems in team collaboration and efficiency. In fact, we always receive wonderful feedback about our work style and processes. Since 2014, we have been experimenting with different processes, tools, rules, traditions, and styles for continuous improvements. It has resulted in a system that we want to share with our readers. Next, we shared 8 remote work rules that the datarockets team follows:
- Proactive communication
We achieve it by sharing intermediate results in chats and comments under tasks. Apart from this, we also share our thoughts and decisions we make. This helps us stay on one page with our teammates and clients, who also work in different time zones and can easily review our updates at their most convenience. - Public chats
We use public channels on Slack, instead of private or direct messages. We never discuss work-related questions in direct messages and don’t hide anything. - Post call summary
If it’s necessary to have a verbal discussion, then a summary of the conversation is required to be updated in the chat. - Weekly project updates
Such updates allow team members to know more about the projects our company works on, our recent achievements, and indicate if someone needs help. - Non-work stuff channels
Non-work stuff channels have helped us strengthen the culture within our remote team. We believe it is crucial enough and recommend having them to make the remote work more engaging and enjoyable. - Company weekly check-in
Check-in is a 1-hour meeting within the teammates where we discuss personal updates and talk about non-work stuff like books, films, kids, hobbies, cooking, etc. It has helped us get to know each other better and turned our work team into a close-knit family. - “Good morning” rule
As we work in different time zones, it’s hard to tell when others are available. Our solution is to send a greeting message on Slack whenever we start a workday. A‘’good night’’ message could be a good add-on to let the team know when your day has ended. - Metrics evaluation
Team performance and personal metrics work as a reflection tool and help us monitor the company “health”.
Remote work brings a lot of advantages and satisfaction as long as the processes are well defined. The rules we have described above work perfectly for our team size and transparent development values. However, there are other ways of how remote work processes can be implemented. We suggest you experiment with different solutions and tools, discuss it with your team, and allow them to participate in setting up the process since they will be required to follow it after all.
However, project planning and executing is often a considerable challenge.
Stakeholders are often the key visionaries, and there is a significant risk to build a product that will miss it’s market fit because there is a lack of stakeholder engagement in the project.
It’s often one of the major challenges for a project manager to establish effective communication between the multidisciplinary team and stakeholders.Communication in a multidisciplinary teamWhen it comes to leading a multidisciplinary team where everyone is working remotely — communication challenges are the toughest ones.
There are many examples of failed projects caused by either miscommunication or lack of communication.
Unfortunately, German and Spanish Airbus facilities used an outdated version of the computer-aided design software (CAD), while British and French sites migrated to a newer version.
Moreover, the production costs increased by billions of dollars.When team members make assumptions by themselves instead of synchronizing tasks and goals with everyone in the company, it often leads to unrealistic deadlines and building products that are useless and not providing any value to the customers.Build up a culture of public communicationRemote team management is another big challenge for modern project managers, and more companies nowadays follow the “Office not required” approach.
With 35% of US workforce now classified as freelancers, businesses are adapting to the challenges of managing remote workers.
Collaborating with remote workers and building a unified team is difficult, but can be extremely rewarding and cost effective. You need to use the right tools and processes to maintain high productivity, morale, and creativity levels.
Communication and productivity tools are important for managing remote employees because they enable you to better organize the team and keep everyone on the same page. They also help employees to execute without you having to look over their shoulders all the time.
In fact, in 2021, many individuals started their own remote businesses trying to take advantage of the work-from-home atmosphere and availability of remote working tools and technology.
With the right tools and team and clear goals, your business can take flight even with employees distributed across various regions.
Start by creating a website and creating a Google My Business account.
Then, create accounts on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and so on, and link them to your website.
Next, consider social and paid ads to get the word around.
Some other ways to increase your digital presence include:Writing valuable and informative content on your website and sharing it on social platforms.Sending out emails to people who sign up for your newsletter and your services.Participating in marketplaces, seminars, webinars, and industry conferences.However, merely having an online presence is not enough.
Macronimous is in the web development business and has been, since its inception, in the remote working space.
By default, as with most businesses like ours, client-centric communication is our key strength – the ability to communicate well and transform client visions into Internet reality.We have certain standard tools evaluate over a period for effective communication with international web development clients.This blog is to share what we use internally.
You may like to evaluate one or more of them.
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