How to manage a remote software development team?

Today in the era of modernization, the growing need for software engineers and COVID-19 has given rise to remote software development teams. Businesses and startups from G7 countries are leveraging remote work by hiring tech-savvy talented employers worldwide.

Leading a development team from around the world is not easy but managing a remote software development team is even more challenging. Krowd has helped many companies in managing their software development teams. Krowd provides the best strategy to manage the software development teams. If you want to succeed in this era of remote work, you need to get ready for change and innovation because this is here to stay.

Do you want to know how to manage a remote software development team successfully?

This blog is a comprehensive guide on correctly and effectively managing your remote development team. In this blog, we have assembled the essential tips to bridge the distance between the remote teams and you’re in a house and keep all the workers satisfied, efficient, productive and accountable.

Try to work around the time zones

The first important thing to keep in mind is that you should try to work around the time zones. One possible solution to this issue is using the golden hour, which is the overlapping hours of your time zones when both you and the team you have appointed are available to calculate that you only need the time zones for you and your team.

Create a work procedure that is defined

The next important thing that you should keep in mind is that you should try to create a work procedure that is defined. There are four basic rules when managing your teams, and they are essential for in-house management and crucial for remote teams.

• Try to create clear project guidelines for the productivity of teamwork and your employees’ accountability. It is better to uphold both your remote staff and in house developers to the same standard to avoid hostility.
• It would help if you also remembered that the estimate for your project would ultimately depend on what you communicate to your team. Your team can start developing the product faster and give you a more precise quote if you provide a transparent version for the project.
• It would help if you tried to set your task and give a detailed answer. First, review the project requirements document attentively to ensure that you have included all the required functionality. Respond promptly to all the emails from your project manager since they are the ones to pass down what you say to the team. The development of your product will largely depend on the information that your team gets.
• Present the idea of your project and describe what has to be done in detail when working with your team, remote or otherwise. It would help if you made sure that the goals and objectives of your company should be apparent to them and this work has to be done by you. You have to communicate the goals of your company very effectively.

· Improve Communication

The next important thing that you have to remember is to improve the communication network between your employees. Whether we speak about report team or in house, the most important thing is to build a solid communication network with every team member. You have to communicate with them very clearly, and you also have to make sure that both your teams and in house team are on the same page.

· Try to build personal connections with all the team members

The work-related issues can be discussed quickly and get back to your work. The emotional distance between the remote managers and the subordinate will create an unhealthy working environment and lead to poor performance. It would be best not to underestimate the importance of building personal connections with all the team members. Whenever you are holding a meeting with your remote team, you should always try to find some time for small talk. These small talks can include topics about lifestyle, hobbies and what they are into. You will also be surprised by how many things you have in common. Try to build a personal relationship as well apart from a professional relationship.

· Schedule meetings

You should also schedule meetings to track your team’s weekly, monthly, and daily progress reports. This way, you can resolve all issues and bottlenecks that arise. The meetings held by you are invaluable for sharing accomplishments and thoughts. It also helps you in staying accountable and aligned with each other. Keep the minutes of your regular meeting and then send them as a follow-up email to all the participants. This will also serve as a to-do list and ensure that all the relevant details about personal responsibilities are preserved. Do not cancel any meetings, especially those outside the routine. You can postpone or reschedule the meeting but do not cancel them because if you cancel the meeting, the remote team might feel neglected or less critical. You can also hold conference calls by adjusting your team members’ schedules.

· Utilise tracking

There are times when it can be challenging to understand what is going on with the project and how long has each person worked. All the basic metrics of productivity should be tracked to know the team’s progress in numbers objectively, understand each employee’s capabilities, and review their value and importance on the team. Tracking provides you with everything that you need for a performance review. Moreover, employees can see the issues they have and start working on them by themselves. It provides excellent material for monthly face to face meetings.

Use team time tracking tools

Each member can install a time tracker on the computer and report the task and time spent daily, but this can often be a wasteful way to use their time. Instead, they can consider using dedicated tools for time tracking development teams.

· Jira

Jeera is an industry-standard for software development. It is somewhat intimidating at first sight, but the actual developers will often need only the kanban board functionality that is simple and intuitive. It helps to integrate nicely into the Atlassian infrastructure and has incredible energy with slack.

· Asana

Asana is an approachable competitor as compared to Jira. It has a much better user experience and also less clutter. It is cheaper and even has a trial version for less than 15 people teams.

· Stay Transparent

The next important thing is staying transparent. Sometimes, it is effortless to forget about people you don’t see every day in your office, but you should remember to keep the remote team informed of what is going on in the company. All the team members should be aware of the crucial decisions, company goals, changes in the company’s strategy, and other important news. Please document all the information and then send it to all your team members. Transparency is the key to achieving success, and it also helps your remote team understand what success means for your company and what exactly they should do to achieve the objectives and goals of your company.

· Reward your developers

It would be best if you tried to reward all your developers because that acts as an incentive for the developer to work with a better spirit. When you are a team lead, your developers look up to you. It would help if you tried to compliment your team members at the start and end of each meeting. Try to explain the course of the project and praise your team members. Never underestimate the value of a small presence. Show your appreciation to the team members by sending your team gifts like mugs and t-shirt badges with the company logo. Bonuses are another way to boost the morale of the team members. When the morale of the team members is high, they work hard and even better. You can consider these bonuses as an investment in the project and show your appreciation to the team developers.

Wrapping Up

If you persevere and learn to manage remote teams, you can gain incredible benefits. In this blog, I have listed some tips that will help you manage your remote teams very efficiently and effectively. Remember, a team of great developers are dispersed worldwide, and a geographical location never determines the quality of work.

Krowd has helped many companies by providing a strategic plan to manage their team developers. The companies have achieved their sales target and earned massive revenue because of the strategy provided by Krowd. You can take help from us.

Don’t worry! Choosing Krowd will be one such decision which you will never regret.

That’s all for today, folks!

Hoped you liked reading the blog as much as we liked writing it.