Software development can be challenging and time-consuming, requiring advanced technical skills and many hours of input. Yet, managing a remote development team can be even more challenging and time-consuming, with a lot of issues to deal with from communication and resource accessibility for individual team members to trust, reliability and more.
Yet, a good number of software products that you enjoy using are outcomes of remote development. For instance, software products such as video games like FIFA are developed by remote teams with members who may even be cities or continents apart.
It’s worth stating that all the technical aspects of these software or online chat platforms are often divided among the different groups of those teams.
For example, in a game development scenario, one group of the remote team may be responsible for the sound and audio aspect of the game, whereas another group may be left in charge of visual elements of the game. Nonetheless, a third group may be tasked with the characters of the game and so on.
Tips to Manage a Remote Development Team Efficiently
If you have been having trouble managing a remote development team, you have come to the right place. That’s because I’ m going to let you in on 5 vital tips you can use to properly manage the team. Are you ready for it? Fair enough, let’s get right to it:
1.Invest In the Right Resources
Investing in good resources for your remote development team can go a long way in making your work easier. For example, putting in place essential resources such as a fast and steady internet connection powered by a tool like Superboost WiFi will ensure your team members’ online presence isn’t interrupted. That way, you will be able to reach out to them any time you need to without effort.
2. Simply Communication
One of the biggest challenges involved in managing remote development teams is communication. That’s usually so due to the fault on the part of project managers who establish complex communication structures for their teams. Remember this isn’t a traditional organization where communication is structured. In other words, you should allow all your team members to be able to communicate with one another directly regardless of their seniority levels. Let them all communicate as equals such that any team member can directly contact another member without first following a particular channel. That will save time and make your work easier.
3. Create a Fair Work Schedule
It will be easier for you to manage your remote development team if all the members are located within the same geographical location such as a city. Since there will be no issue of time difference here, you can let your members agree on the workdays and hours they find convenient whether that be as from 9 am to 4 pm a day from Monday to Friday. However, if your members are based in different timezones, you should allow flexibility and avoid compelling some of them to work during hours that are inconvenient for them. The trick here is to let them understand the project’s deliverables per 24-hour timelines and ensure they deliver according to that.
4. Geographic Location Matters
Managing your remote development team may not be so easy despite using the above tips, if you did not choose the right individuals. When constituting your remote development team, you should avoid selecting developers who are located too far away from your geographical location and probably in a timezone that’s many hours ahead or behind, unless otherwise. That way, communication will be easier and so will coordination, making it easier for you to manage the team.
5. Acknowledge and/or Reward Hard Work, But Don’t Entertain Laziness
A good trick to motivate your team members to work harder is to give a bonus for every job well done. The fact that everyone wants to make money means even the lazy team members will put in more effort to get a bonus. Even if they do not achieve it, they will have strived harder, which is a great thing. Also, you should be very strict about the project’s deliverables, making sure those who will not achieve targets without a valid reason are penalized.
Final Thoughts
Managing a remote development team can be a nightmare without the right strategy. Communication issues, missed deadlines, resource deficiency for your team members, and uncooperative team members are some of the factors that can contribute to making your work hard. But with the tips above, managing your remote development team doesn’t have to be a painful process. Everything will fall in place and you will enjoy doing what you do greatly.
