The power of communication in a remote team
The communication within a remote team is one of the key factors for the success (or failure) of the project.
I have been working remotely since 2011, alternating between working from home, coworking spaces, cafes, libraries, and even renting an office with some friends for a while to see how it would work out.
During this time, I worked on various freelance iOS development projects, some with fixed hours and some with flexible hours (but clear delivery dates), in addition to having a company with a product focused on restaurants, where all of us worked remotely.
Some projects were poorly managed in terms of team communication, and the confusion generated by this is quite evident. The main factor is email. Do not use email to manage your remote team's communication. Here are some reasons I find important to mention:
- Task/idea explanations in emails are hardly accessible when needed. Sometimes they even get "lost" in a poorly managed inbox.
- Dates are easily forgotten when mentioned and defined via email.
- Email was not created for this purpose. If a remote worker tries to search for something important related to their work in their email, they will also see that a very famous e-commerce site has just sent an email with many irresistible offers, for example.
Nowadays, there are several excellent solutions for managing a remote project. In my company, we use one for project management and another for communication among colleagues, which ensures that none of us has external distractions while focusing on the project.
When I'm starting a remote project with a company that doesn't use this type of organization or isn't accustomed to this type of work, I always recommend using these tools, and in the end, everyone is grateful.
An online service for managing a project is not only for managing individual tasks but also for various other purposes:
- Facilitating discussions.
- Organizing references (whether for design or competitors).
- Managing tasks.
- Maintaining a calendar with important dates and deadlines.
- And the best part: all the history is saved and indexed only for that project.
Removing distractions and making important information accessible in remote work is extremely important because not everyone is in the same physical location, and in many cases, not everyone is working at the same time.
For those who are more interested in tips and topics from more experienced remote workers, I recommend reading this book, which covers many interesting aspects of the subject.