Setting up projects with virtual teams requires a different set of communication skills, tactics, and tools than starting a project that involves in-house employees. At Apptension, the software house behind Teamdeck (the resource management software), we work with remote employees as well. And we’re not talking about programmers located in nearby cities.
In this article we’re going to share with you how to:
Our team members live and work in different countries and time zones, including Japan and the UK. We know the advantages and pains of working with people with whom you can’t simply meet in one room and talk about the project. Or hang out after work to celebrate another successful sprint (which, BTW, is very important to build a close-knit team).
Before we jump into that, let’s quickly sum up what are virtual teams and if it really is an emerging trend in recruiting and managing employees.
Virtual teams are groups of employees working on the same project from different locations, communicating with each other via emails or messaging apps.
Working remotely is increasingly common amongst companies that rely on knowledge workers, who can work from any place, often using just a laptop and a decent Wi-Fi connection.
According to the official statistics mentioned by BBC, more than four million Britons worked from home in 2016. Remote work saves money for people who then don’t need to commute or rent a flat in a given city.
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What about the so-called “digital nomads”? According to the Digital Nomad Survey, 52% of interviewees consider themselves ‘location independent’, while the other 40% would like to be. Digital nomads like to work from home (67%), cafes (36%) and coworking spaces (33%), visiting even up to 5–10 countries a year (30% of respondents).
The general trend towards flexible work, including virtual teams, has been recognized in the World Economic Forum report ‘The Future of Jobs’. The authors point to the need to “redefine the boundary between one’s job and private life in the process”. As remote work may help employers to easier find and hire talented workers, and employees to live their lives more independently, there is one concern that has to be solved:
“The challenge for employers, individuals and governments alike is going to be to work out ways and means to ensure that the changing nature of work benefits everyone.”
Increasing accessibility of the Internet, cloud-based solutions such as Citrix or Amazon WorkSpaces alternatives for collaborative work, the rise of coworking spaces made working in virtual teams even easier. With the right tactics and tools managing, those teams are not so difficult.
Read on to find out how to deal with virtual teams while managing a project.
It is really challenging to turn a group of individuals who have never met each other, into a team.
Paradoxically, it is said that you should, if possible, gather the team together physically early on. A face-to-face meeting can help in project team management, getting to know each other, and building trust and relationships.
If it’s not possible, don’t worry. Do your best to help your remote employees develop team spirit virtually, e.g. by creating chat groups that are meant to convey the “water-cooler moments”. There your employees can have their casual conversations, exchanging thoughts not necessarily related to the projects they run.
Since we’re using Slack for most of our daily communication, we’ve created the #internal channel where casual conversations take place. Besides that, we encourage our employees to create their own channels, focus on the matters that interest them, and then invite other, like-minded colleagues. People can also get to know each other through fun activities. There are games designed specifically for remote teams. They’re great to break the ice at the beginning of your project.
Working with remote teams, it’s very important to foster camaraderie amongst employees so that they are more willing to work together, share their knowledge, and help each other develop a project.
A successful project launch depends on two things:
The better you’re able to do so, the easier it will be for your team to deliver what’s expected.
One of the main differences between starting a project with a virtual team compared to managing an in-house one is that you need to pay more attention to avoid micro-management.
Start by setting straightforward goals and project objectives. Make them clear to everyone involved in the process to avoid confusion and one-on-one questions later on. Use shared boards like Jira or Trello to assign tasks so all employees can see who’s responsible for what.
While assigning tasks, take employee availability into account. Working with virtual teams, you need to keep in mind:
Having all of this in one, the shared schedule will help you to maintain the proper project flow. You will also be able to avoid delays caused by the absences of some team members, that haven’t been included in the workflow.
Establishing a clear communication process from the very beginning is vital while working with remote teams.
As the majority of your communication will take place through emails and messaging apps, Wade Foster from Zapier says that while recruiting remote employees, it’s recommended to hire good writers. Good written communication skills of your employees will make it easier to avoid misunderstandings.
Leading the project, find a way to set a common meeting schedule with your team. Daily calls that include everyone involved in the project can help with understanding the current status: what’s done, what needs to be taken care of, and how to do this.
It will also make it easier for you to monitor the workflow.
For other calls, like project planning meetings or review sessions, client calls, etc., try to plan everything in advance and book meetings in your employees’ calendars. Using a virtual phone system will help increase productivity, decrease miscommunications, and reduce missed calls. Employees can make and receive home phone calls from anywhere at any time, improving employee satisfaction and making remote work more productive. Keep in mind the time differences and give your teammates advance notice.
One of the biggest challenges regarding communication with your virtual team is setting the ad hoc calls. Sometimes, when something urgent pops up, you may want to jump on a call ASAP, but with asynchronous communication, it may not be possible. One way to solve it could be setting a time during the day when all your team members (or at least the majority of them) are available, and making those calls during these hours.
Decide on one messaging app that all team members will use. Slack, Hipchat, Google Hangouts or Skype — you name it. Just pick one and make sure that all employees use it to communicate with each other during the project.
The right toolbox is essential for running a remote team. Since you can’t just physically gather together in one room and discuss the project, you need online tools enabling collaborative work to plan the assignments, schedule tasks, and communicate.
Let me quickly introduce you to the tools that we use, which help us to manage over 50 employees, including remote ones, located in different locations and time zones.
1. JIRA
For planning and assigning tasks to our employees, we use Jira. This one tool lets us easily plan, track, and manage all of our projects.
Managing virtual teams you want everyone to see tasks’ status within the workflow, the assigned person, and the one responsible for reporting it. In Jira, you can configure your workflow, which makes managing tasks on the boards even easier. Therefore, everyone knows exactly what’s going on.
2. Confluence
Team collaboration, like working on shared documents including meeting notes, project plans, product requirements, knowledge bases and documentation — for these we use Confluence.
Its integration with Jira makes it super easy for us to manage project-related resources. The ability to create shared documents connected to assigned tasks helps our employees to better understand the project.
3. Teamdeck
Last but not least, we use our resource planning software for resource scheduling, time tracking and leave management. With it, we can check employees’ availability, book them on projects and track how much time they’ve spent on them.
Teamdeck makes it easier to work with virtual teams, part-timers and freelancers, too. A scheduling calendar provides project managers with quick access to employees’ bookings, vacations, hourly availability, and more. This, in turn, increases team visibility, eventually leading to more efficient resource allocation in project management.
4. Bitbucket
Bitbucket is a version control system by Atlassian. Our programmers use it to work together on a project from any location and time zone. It allows collaborative work on the quality of code through peer code reviews.
5. Slack
For all our daily communication we use Slack. Here we can have one-on-one conversations, group chats and open or private channels for all kinds of discussions. Additionally, the great number of add-ons and bots makes it even more tailored to our teams’s needs.
For example, since we use Culture Amp for 360-degree surveys, we added their bot to our Slack. As a result, our employees find out about upcoming surveys via chat.
Running a virtual team relies on the communication skills, tactics, and tools (such as the employee management system) you use.
Since you’re mostly not able to meet in person to discuss the project, its objectives, and issues, the way you do it online will make or break it.
Using online tools for collaborative work and aligning it with the right processes and transparency will help you to achieve your goals and to deliver the project as expected. Find the best ones for you, onboard your team, and create great things with people spread across the globe.
Do you have any experience working with virtual teams? Share it with us in the comments.
Check project resource management software designed to support remote teams, selected by Stormind Games, Hill-Knowlton, NTT Data.
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