The growing demand for software engineers along with Covid-19 has created remote software development team. More than ever, businesses and startups in G7 countries are taking advantage of remote work by recruiting tech talent from around the world.
Leading a development team from anywhere is not easy, but managing a software development team remotely is even harder. To succeed in this age of remote work, you need to be prepared for change and innovation, because it’s here to stay!
In this article, we will share seven tips for successfully managing a remote software development team.
Tip 1: Improve communication
For a remote team, the biggest problem is communication. It is difficult to arrange meetings and work with people from different time zones. Make sure you have a tight schedule, an organized workflow, and that your team stays on top of everything. We emphasize the importance of standing meetings. They should be brief, relevant, and frequent.
Also, facial impressions are everything in a conversation and context conveys more meaning than actual words. When you are texting or even on a call, your tone cannot convey the message correctly. When working with a remote development team, allow plenty of face time. Face-to-face meetings add a human touch to face-to-face conversation and are extremely technical.
Tip 2: Use remote communication and project management tools
Technology has made life easier for everyone. Using the right tools like Trello, Zoom, and Slack can help structure your workflow efficiently. Here are some remote tools that can make things easier for your team:
Trello:
Trello is one of the easiest and free project management software to manage remote teams. It allows you to create different boards for different projects and use lists and cards for task management. You can add descriptions and assign tags (i.e. tasks) to your team members, and even collaborate through comments. It is available on the web, iOS and Android.
Github:
For developers, Github is the holy grail used by over 50 million developers worldwide. It is a free code hosting platform for team collaboration and version control. On Github, you can host your application code, evaluate, and manage your projects. It is available for Windows and macOS.
Soft:
Slack is another communication platform widely used by development teams. It’s a great platform to create various dedicated channels and spaces where your team can collaborate and communicate with each other. You can even communicate with a select number of colleagues without having to engage the entire team through direct messages and private channels. It is available for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
Google Drive:
Google Drive has grown in popularity over the past decade, and Google Drive has been one of the main driving factors. Developers regularly use Drive to share and store documents in the cloud without worrying about backups and physical storage. It is highly secure and available on the web, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. Launch:
Zoom is a popular video conferencing application that you can use to collaborate with your team members. Zoom allows up to 10,000 participants, making it a popular choice for face-to-face meetings and video conferences. It is available for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices.
Tip 3: Focus on long-term goals
To increase the productivity of remote software development team, focus on long-term goals rather than day-to-day tasks. There are many ways to do this. For example, to avoid obstacles, introduce side quests.
Developers often get stuck on a problem and can waste time thinking about it. Having multiple tasks in the process can help them focus on the next task and come back to it another time.
