In the ever-evolving landscape of software engineering, remote work has become a staple. Kinda. Our entire industry's hand was forced by COVID a few years ago. Suddenly we were (mostly) all remote workers. From my own experience, I mostly saw companies trying their absolute best to maintain their existing synchronous culture while people stayed at home. It worked well enough. Out industry did not fall apart. Software continued to be delivered. I bet there are plenty cases where teams came out better for their remote experience. But its 2024, COVID is becoming a distant memory and the steady stream of engineers returning to the office continues.
For early-growth stage startups, where agility and adaptability are key, managing remote engineering teams effectively is crucial. The expense of an office might not (yet) be justifiable. Perhaps hiring remotely has allowed you to bring some incredible talent into your team. I think startups stand to gain most from nuderstnading remote engineering and making it work well for the team.
This blog post delves into strategies that can help you master the art of leading remote teams, ensuring productivity, and maintaining team morale.
Communication is Key
It probably comes as no shock to you: effective communication is the backbone of any successful remote team. Unlike traditional office settings, remote work demands more structured and deliberate communication strategies. Most importantly, balancing async and sync communication is crucial. Every synchronous contact point is a restriction on the team's ability to work when/where they need.
I think the following are the most-crucial components of your team's communication:
- Daily Stand-ups: A quick, daily check-in can keep everyone aligned and accountable. Who's working on what? Need support from team members, e.g. a code review? There are lots of approaches to making this meeting asynchronous and you probably should, especially if your team is geographically dispersed over many timezones.
- Clear Documentation: Keeping records of discussions and decisions helps in maintaining clarity and avoiding misunderstandings. Particularly so for planning. Very little of your planning needs to be synchronous. Use your ticketing system to open an issue which describes the problemn to be solved. Open a draft PR to contain the discussion about how to solve the problem and make sure there is a reviewer for that PR.
- Regular Feedback: Constructive feedback helps team members grow and feel valued. Managers are probably the only people having many synchronous meetings. Make sure you have a regularly-scheduled 1:1 for each of your direct reports. A certain amount of information gathering can be async, before the meeting starts. But, generally, this meeting needs to be synchronous to help build trust...
Building Trust and Accountability
Building a culture of trust and accountability is vital for any team, but more so in a remote setting. When team members feel trusted, they are more likely to take ownership of their work and careers.
- Autonomy: Empower your team members to make decisions related to their work. It is not a manager's job to do the engineer's work for them.
- Result-Oriented Evaluation: Focus on the outcomes rather than micromanaging the process. Everyone should work together to set a desired outcome, only the engineer (or engineers) working on the solution should care about the implementation details. Be careful, though: the desired outcomes need to be well thought through. Certain outcomes (e.g. improved performance for the end user) might imply certain technical decisions which need discussion.
- Regular One-on-Ones: Personal check-ins can help in understanding individual challenges and achievements. Engineers should be meeting with their manager on a regular basis. But this is a (necessary) minimum. Regular contact with more-senior engineers for technical feedback is also important. The best vehicle for this is code review, of course.
Tools and Technology
Leveraging the right tools and technology can make a significant difference in managing remote teams.
- Collaboration Tools: Tools like Slack, Trello, or Jira can enhance team collaboration. The importance of these collaboration tools in their flexibility, e.g. Slack can be just as supportive of both synchronous and asynchronous work. It is important to pick the tools which suppprt your process and culture.
- Video Conferencing: Regular video calls can strengthen team bonds and facilitate more personal interaction. They can also be a time-sink. Video calls (as with meetings, generally) should be used sparingly, for when synchronous, face-to-face communication is most valuable.
- Secure and Reliable Infrastructure: Ensuring your team has access to a reliable tech infrastructure is critical for uninterrupted work. Where possible, make this someone else's problem... Much better to buy then to build. Maintaining infrastrucure will become a necessity as your startup grows but, for now, it is a distraction from your core purpose.
Balancing Work and Life
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is especially challenging in remote settings, but it's essential for long-term success.
- Respect Working Hours: Encourage your team to work within set hours to avoid burnout. Let me be clear, I don't mean @everybody works 9am to 5pm", but rather "don't work more than 40 hours a week." Remote work should be as async as possible and afford the team a lot of flexibility, so long as desired outcomes are being achieved.
- Encourage Breaks: Short breaks during the workday can boost productivity. Make time for coffee. Make time to read your child a book. Even 15 minutes can be enough to get you relaxed and ready to focus again.
- Wellness Initiatives: Offering resources for mental and physical well-being can be beneficial. The age of "we have table tennis" as a perk is well and truly dead and it does not even apply to remote workers anyhow. Gym memberships to help people keep moving, that's a perk. Access to mental health services or something like a meditation app, that's a perk.
Continuous Learning and Development
In a field that's constantly evolving, encouraging continuous learning and development is key to keeping your team updated and motivated. Managers need to build strong rekationships with their team in order to help create growth paths for them. Wherever possible, it is desirable to make these learning experiences part of the day-to-day work of the team. By doing this, learning activities do not become a distraction from day-to-day enginering, which can become a time sink in a remote environment.
- Online Training and Workshops: Provide resources for skill development. There are many online resources for training. You're almost spoiled for choice. However, what is most important is making opportunities for your team to actually use the new skills they are learning.
- Knowledge Sharing Sessions: Regular sessions where team members can share insights and learnings. Not only do these session help to solidify learning outcomes, but also help to bind the team.
Conclusion
Mastering remote team management requires a blend of effective communication, trust-building, the right use of technology, work-life balance, and continuous learning. By implementing these strategies, you can steer your remote engineering team towards remarkable achievements.
