How to work with Remote DevTeams

The current COVID-19 situation has changed the world in many aspects, being the way we work one of the most impacted. We need to adapt and learn how to build, grow and manage multidisciplinary remote teams in order to succeed. Moving fast, adapting to new technologies and improving our communication skills are key now more than ever.

There are several aspects we need to have in mind in order to succeed on working remotely with our team, no matter if it is a development or marketing team, these advices apply to all. But first, we should define what remote work is: working remotely means basically out of the office, a different location than the one provided by your company, usually your home. This said, we can go beyond: members of the team could be in the same city or not, on a different state, country or even continent. The team could be working on the same or in a different time zone, be an in-house employee or a contractor. Team could also be cultural diverse. Things can get complicated if we have all these differences involved while working. So keep in mind the following points before starting remotely.

First the Dont's 👎🏽

Definitely DON'T do the following points, your team will really appreciate it, also you won't be seen as a crazy micromanager out of control.

• Exclude others
• Assume others know the same context as you do
• Micromanage
• Expect people to be online 24/7
• Work all day
• Skip weekly meetings or social calls

Now the DO's 🤟🏽

• Make sure everyone knows the processes and system
• Create company wide information spaces
• Focus on efficiency vs hours
• Trust people
• Set clear expectations
• Track and measure productivity
• Create fast feedback loop

Communications DO's 📞

• Be open and prepare for ASYNC communication
• Create and follow communication protocols and rituals
• Set a consistent meeting schedule (Weekly, daily, etc)
• Create meeting notes and share them with the whole team
• Take extra time to be specific, context wins!
• Video over mediums, but keep written track of tasks and agreements

Want to know more? Take a look to our video

Marco Rivadeneyra (Our CTO), talking about remote work