Remote teams are an excellent way to collaborate with highly experienced individuals. In the case of software development, this is certainly relevant – since they bring the expertise in tech stacks, processes, and project experience onboard. Thus, choosing a remote development team is a wise choice whether you cannot find the proper expertise in your area or you want to avoid the increasing salaries of software developers.
Hiring a remote team of software development engineers, system architects, or project managers to build incredible products is a very efficient way to –
Scale your Ops. Extend your Team. Craft a new product.
However, do not assume that it’s effortless to build or manage a remote team.
Big companies like Spotify and Facebook have done an excellent job, but many small businesses are still indecisive about hiring remotely mainly because of the uncertainty around options, and choice.
This blog explains with a step-by-step guide on how you can build a remote development team to grow your development projects remotely.
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Step-By-Step Guide to Build A Remote Development Team
1. Define the structure of the remote team
Before you start hiring individuals and allocating tasks, you need to decide to see what kind of structure or framework you want the hired remote team to follow. and, for that, you need to ask yourself a few questions:
- Will the entire team or just a few employees work from home?
- Do you want every team member residing in the same town or city, or from all across the country (or the world)?
- Will they work from home every day, or will they visit the office once or twice a week?
Post that, you will have to focus on the members in your Remote team.
PS: Project manager + Developer > Developer,
when considering a dedicated remote team service.
That is to say, managed services are often better than lone wolf freelancers!
Choose the structure that is most appropriate for your company. You should also be mindful that future pandemics may force all of your staff to work remotely, so having a backup plan in place is a good idea.
2. Carefully Select Your Applicants
Although studies have shown that people who work from home are more productive, we must acknowledge that this is only true for those with the discipline, drive, and skill to work remotely. Why? Because you won’t be able to supervise the team. Thus, you need to hire people you can trust to execute the job.
Assess their past experience with remote work. Assess their references and portfolio.
Take your time with the recruitment process & vett thoroughly. Make changes to your standard hiring procedure to make it more suitable for employing a remote staff. You must include candidates with excellent communication skills, adaptability, and knowledge of their profession.
3. Adopt Reliable Communication Method
Setting up numerous reliable protocols for your workers to use is essential for the success of a remote team. Consider using an internal direct chat for direct communication between team members, while the entire team and clients can use email.
Slack, for example, can give your team an additional channel to communicate about specific projects.
When considering a vendor for a dedicated remote team, make sure you plug in to professional communication suites, rather than informal IMs or even email.
Try and plug into project management tools as well.
4. Communicate Expectations & Guidelines
You’ll have a hard time holding your team members responsible, and they’ll have a hard time enhancing their efficiency without any expectations or guidelines. When you present those rules, make sure your remote staff understands what you expect out of them.
Time tracking, contacting individuals for difficulties or specific projects, and how to handle the paperwork for tasks done – are just a few of the things these guidelines will take care of.
Include the working hours and the particular timing the remote team stays active to communicate with the team.
Define how regularly they need to communicate with the team or client to deliver quality-enhanced software solutions.
5. Encourage Mentoring Culture
With its dynamic and ever-changing environment, software development is perhaps the only industry that requires professionals who can expand their knowledge, learn consistently, and adapt rapidly while working.
Companies can improve leadership and development within their teams by establishing a mentoring and coaching culture. Mentoring isn’t simply for young team members to learn from senior team members; everyone may benefit from and mentor each other. Software developers will continue to gain new skills and contribute to the organization’s overall value.
This aspect is something that you must consider if you’re keen on building a dedicated remote team. Does your vendor have a continuous training program for your potential remote recruits?
6. Make Use of Time Tracking
You may not observe your remote team members in person, but you must still hold them accountable for their work. Use time tracking to ensure that they adhere to guidelines and fulfill expectations, at least in terms of meeting their deadlines.
Furthermore, time monitoring can assist you in calculating the correct payment for hours worked, identifying areas to improve work operations, and finding team members who require extra training or a structure. You may find both free and commercial time tracking tools and software online. You’ll find free and paid time tracking apps/software online. Some of the best time tracking software include Hubstaff, VeriClock, TSheets, Zoho Projects- that every remote team can avail.
7. Engage With Your Remote Staff Regularly
Engage with your remote staff frequently using dependable communication options. It’s important to ensure team engagement because feeling disengaged from the team might harm business productivity.
Check-in with individual employees frequently, hold department/team meetings weekly or monthly, and hold company-wide meetings at least once a month. If your remote employees cannot attend meetings in person, utilize Zoom or any other video conferencing software to include them.
8. Provide Tools Your Remote Team Needs
Several companies have a Bring Your Own Device (BOYD) policy, which allows them to use their laptops and other personal devices for remote employees. However, because not everyone can afford high-quality or new technology, it is far preferable to provide your employees with what they require.
Depending on the nature of your team’s work, they may require access to tools other than computers.Increase the chances of your remote team’s success by offering the tools they need to do their tasks effectively.
9. Contribute to Your Team’s Success
Giving employees access to continual training and development isn’t a new concept. However, software industry evolution has reemphasized its value. It takes more than just planning, recruiting, handing out computers, and asking your staff to go to work to build a remote team.
You must invest in the development of your remote team if you are serious about developing an effective and productive remote workforce. For example, You can run workshops, organize courses, and provide an education stipend to your team members who can take classes related to their work.
Conclusion
According to studies, remote workers are 35 to 40% more productive than those in an office. On the other hand, your remote team may be condemned to fail if good management practices aren’t in place, as its members would lack a united vision and feeling of purpose. They may also be unaccountable to management or the team, and they may disregard team processes such as knowledge sharing and obeying the hierarchy.
Building a remote team, however, is not as tough as some people may believe. All you need is to follow a step-by-step guide mentioned above to ensure that the development process is in place without too much trouble.