The Secret Ingredients For An Organised and Productive Remote Team That Works
From Ancient Times to Digital Age
Today, everyone is talking about telecommuting and flexible work. However the history of remote work has deep roots traversing several generations. From hunter-gatherers to the first farmers, home was not only where the heart is — it was where the work was done too. People lived and worked in the same living space to improve their’s and lives of their tribe members.
While industries blossomed during the Industrial Revolution, it didn’t stop artisans from continuing to work from home. These people would create their goods and offer their services from shops that often served as both a store and, in the back or above the main floor, as a living space for their families.
In spite of the fact that the workplace has continually changed throughout the centuries, the digital age has ushered in drastic changes that were unthinkable just several decades ago. The main issues pushing this tsunami of change are flexible/smart working and increasing demand for work/life balance and job satisfaction.
Although some companies have been hesitant in hiring remote workers, others are enjoying the benefits and are openly singing the praises of flexible work (for both employer and employee).
It’s easy to agree that telecommuting and flexible work options are advantageous to all, also data suggests the benefits of having a remote workforce far outweigh the negatives.
How to make remote work, well, work?
Remote work is a working style that allows people to ditch the traditional brick-and-mortar job environment and work outside of a traditional office surrounding. It is based on the concept that work does not need to be done in a specific place to be executed successfully.
But it’s highly unlikely you could pluck any random set of people, at any random moment in history, dispersed around the globe, put them together, and expect them to build something amazing.
In order for this telecommuting to work well for your business, you need to ensure everyone is completing tasks, staying productive, and collaborating appropriately. The scope of walking up to someone’s desk to talk to them is zero. Hence, you need to incorporate some ingredients into your working system to effectively manage your “virtual office.”
Here are some suggestions you can consider to better organize the team and keep everyone on the same page in order to boost productivity.
Team
By far, the most important ingredient is the team. Managing a virtual team requires a substantial amount of time and energy.
If you choose to go down this road, you simply must have these processes in place because the success of your company depends on your ability to find the right talent, keep them motivated and hold them accountable for meeting your company goals.
Here’s is how to make the best remote workers for your businesses:
1. Recruit the right people
It is here that organisations must efficiently hire remote workers that fit not only logistical needs but the overall organisational vision. Therefore, it important to make sure that a candidate is ready for remote work.
He/she needs to be equipped with skill sets that include initiative, independence, flexibility, proactive communication and self-discipline.
Remote working is not only about creating a perfect lifestyle for an employee, but also the candidate’s interest in helping you to build better products and services.
2. Hire people you can trust and trust the people you hire
Remote work stops working when you can’t trust the person on the other end of the line. If project managers and business leaders spend more time worrying about what employees are doing than they spend focusing on vision implementation, the hiring battle has already been lost.
As a manager, you need to learn to manage expectations rather than by making sure you show trust in those you hire.
3. Hire people who can write
The main means of communication between remote team members and project managers will be via a wide variety of technological solutions — chats, emails, text messages, etc.
Efficient and professional communication is one of the most important parts of a remote team. Therefore, good writers are critical to a team’s success.
Software/Tools
As remote work grows in popularity, the need for remote work tools becomes more apparent. How can your team maintain communication, manage projects effectively and share work quickly when each staffer is located in a different timezone?
The answer is remote work tools.
Any time you have the right tools at your disposal, your productivity levels will go up.
All of the solutions listed below will help you get more done in less time. Some of them do this by giving you more convenient ways to converse with colleagues. Others do it by allowing you to easily share documents, images, and videos. This list includes communication apps, project management solutions, file sharing tools and more.
Communication
Successful remote teams know how to communicate effectively and frequently. The apps in this section will help you stay in touch with your colleagues and/or employees and converse much quicker and more conveniently than you ever have before.
1. Slack
Slack is an incredibly popular communication tool that combines text, audio, files and video chat features into one convenient package.
Conversations can be organised into channels based on team members, projects or anything else that’s pertinent to your organisation and team members can leave or join said channels at any time — unlike lengthy email chains.
Slack also has a searchable history feature that allows users to easily find past chats and shared information in less time. In addition to simple text messages, sharing files and documents is one of the basics of modern collaboration.
Slack enables you to share all types of files in your workspace, including Word Documents, Spreadsheets, PDFs, Images, Videos and Audio. Also, Slack integrates with Github, Google Drive, DropBox and other tools. These let you manage your entire workflow through one platform.
Whether you’re down the hall or halfway around the world, Slack is the clear frontrunner in real-time team chat.
2. Highfive
Whereas Slack has features that allow its users to communicate via video chat, Highfive was created, from the ground up, for this purpose.
Unlike other video conferencing tools, hosting meetings with Highfive is easy and enjoyable. You and your team will never have to use pins. Just click on your meeting and start participating. The app also won’t limit how many meetings you host or how long each one is.
Other tools to consider for internal communication are Microsoft Teams, Skype, Zoom and Google Hangouts.
Project Management
Managing projects isn’t easy. It’s important to have project management tool to track, coordinate, and collaborate on various tasks among members across different time zones and locations, at Ellipsis Digital we use following project management tools for collaboration during development processes;
3. Trello
Based on the Kanban methodology, Trello is a visual project management software that’s both powerful and easy to use.
All work in Trello happens on Boards. Boards are then divided into Lists, which represent different stages in a project and populated with Cards. A Card represents a specific task and can contain due dates, chat boxes, attachments, and more.
Trello’s ease of use makes it not just a great tool for project and task management but also leading remote product feature prioritising sessions. It has a great mobile app too.
4. Azure DevOps
Azure DevOps (formerly Visual Studio Team Services) is a hosted service providing development and collaboration tools.
Azure DevOps has a lot of in-built functionality that allows teams to get up and running with managing their project and automating their workflows to increase productivity with a very short initial learning curve.
5. JIRA
JIRA is a tool developed by Australian Company Atlassian. It is used for bug tracking, issue tracking, and project management. The name “JIRA” is actually inherited from the Japanese word “Gojira” which means “Godzilla”. The basic use of this tool is to track issue and bugs related to your software and Mobile apps.
File Storage and Sharing
For remote teams, file sharing is inevitable. But we all know that sending files via email is rarely an ideal scenario. That’s why we recommend the following file sharing solutions:
6. Google Suite
If you need to share documents, spreadsheets, presentations, or other files, do yourself a favour and create them in G Suite first, then share them with your remote colleagues with ease.
G Suite is Google’s impressive suite of business tools that includes Google Docs, a cloud-based Microsoft Word alternative; Google Sheets, a cloud-based Microsoft Excel alternative; Google Slides, a cloud-based Microsoft Powerpoint alternative; and Google Drive, a cloud storage app.
Google Docs and Google Drive are particularly useful collaboration software for remote teams.
Users can use Google Docs to edit each other’s written work and add comments to ask questions or clarify ideas. And Google Drive is perfect for sharing large files like high-res images and large video files in the cloud.
7. DropBox
If you’re looking for a way to share large files but don’t need the myriad of tools that G Suite offers, consider Dropbox. This file hosting service is immensely popular and used by millions of people around the world.
All you have to do is upload your file to your Dropbox account and then share access to it with your colleagues. It’s that simple.
For remote workers who want additional functionality and extra storage space, Dropbox Business can be used to organise team content and store files from other popular tools like Google Docs and Microsoft Office.
Huddle, One Hub, and Box are other efficient file management tools.
Other
There are a few other tools that you might want to add to your remote technology stack. These tools don’t fall into a neat category like the ones above but they’re just as important.
8. GitHub
This is the ultimate tool for developers to host their code online. Not a developer? GitHub is also the site of choice for many company wikis. GitHub is a code hosting platform for version control and collaboration. It lets you and others work together on projects from anywhere. Alternatively other teams prefer BitBucket.
9. Todoist
Todoist is more of a smart to-do list than a project management app. But for remote workers seeking simplicity, it can double as a project management tool rather nicely.
Tasks that need to get done can be added to Todoist. Things like due dates, priority levels and comments can then be added to each task. The app even gives users the ability to assign work to others. Once a task has been added to Todoist, it can be viewed on any device with the app.
Todoist definitely works as a project management app. But it also excels as a personal organiser. You can use it to better manage both your professional and personal life!
10. Hubstaff
Hubstaff tracks time, activity levels, apps, URLs, mouse movements, and takes random screenshots. Field workers can also continue tracking their time on-the-go with the mobile app. This tool allows you to set shift scheduling and also integrates with third-party online payment services such as PayPal to automate your payroll.
Processes
The third ingredient in powerful remote team processes. Good processes let you get work done in the absence of all else. It provides structure and direction for getting things done.
That doesn’t mean processes should be rigid, unchanging, or pointless, though. Process, at a small company, is more about providing a feedback loop so that you can measure progress for both the company and the people in the company.
Here are a few management processes I’ve found especially useful in remote work contexts:
1. Make time for face time
Even in an age defined by digital communications, in-person contact remains essential. Schedule regular, one-on-one meetings with each of your direct reports and make sure they do the same with their team members. If you can do it often, all the better.
2. Turn your cameras on
People can be shy about video calls at times, but seeing the faces of colleagues goes a long way for team bonding — especially for remote workers who can also feel isolated and disengaged. It also enhances communication through the kind of non-verbal cues and expressions that can’t come through in a voice call. Even when most of the team is in the same room, they should be on video so that remote participants can see the entire group on their screen.
3. Don’t forget about culture and management
As you think about the technology infrastructure needed to make remote work successful, you also need to consider the organisational infrastructure — the policies and practices that help remote workers do their best work. Teams need to collaborate cohesively and function effectively regardless of distance, while managers and employees need to feel connected no matter where they’re working.
4. Invite questions and feedback
Keep communication flowing by proactively checking in from time to time both on specific tasks and projects, and on the remote work experience in general. Use this as an opportunity to review deliverables, invite questions and brainstorm ideas. The insight you gain can save you time and prevent problems further down the line.
5. The choice is a big deal
With so many communication tools, work with your team to find the best format that works for them. Email, chat, text and messaging apps are all-powerful bursts of communication that give employees the flexibility to connect their way. Add in the power of gifs and memes and you’ve got a lot of subtext in text messages.
What’s next?
A remote workforce is a reality; the sooner your organisation adopts it, the better it will be. Accommodating such a workforce will need a reworking of employee policies, talent management technology and a lot more.
It is possible to attain a strong, cohesive team that participates effectively and collaborates in all aspects of the company, even if a portion or all of the workforce is located offsite. This might sound like a lot of work but will be worth it in the long run.
Discover how you can hire remote software developers from Africa via Ellipsis Digital by visiting here.
