Tips to Managing a Remote Team
The world has changed and starting a team does not mean needing to get a physical workspace. With the digital world, we can build an international team from day one. Tools available on the internet are more than sufficient to provide a seamless working experience for managing a remote team. As a co-founder of an educational game startup, I realise that our experience of managing remote teams is rather unique. While we are still working on improving our processes, I have decided to share some of the common practices that we have found really useful to managing a virtual team:
Structure
Monday Jumpstarts
Who doesn’t experience Monday blues? After the weekends, it is often hard to get back into the work mood. That’s why it is important to leverage each other’s energy to get the ball rolling. In our Monday jumpstart meetings, we jot down all the tasks that we aim to achieve for the week on a Google Doc and share it with everyone. Jumpstarts usually lasts between 30 minutes to 1 hour. Monday jumpstarts are where we create accountability.
Friday Wrapups
This is your time to shine. Everyone is given 10 minutes to share what they have achieved in a week and usually lasts 30 minutes to 1 hour. This provides each member of our team with a chance to showcase all they have done over the past few days. Often, teammates get really excited about their accomplishments and share them by sharing their screen. Friday wrapups have worked as a great way to end the week.
Daily Standups
Daily standups are short 10 minute meetings to get the day going. The team takes turns to share what they will be working on for the day and possible obstacles they might face. Daily standups provide a good platform to get everyone excited to work as they see the progress their teammates are making.
Virtual Office
We simulate a physical office environment by using a tool called Gather. It has provided a unique experience that allows us to feel like we are working next to each other, as though we are in an office. If you’re curious to learn more about how it works, check out my other article.
Brainstorming
Miro, miro, miro. This is a tool that my co-founder and I swear by. As a design advocate, I always felt that the brainstorming process cannot be replaced digitally…until I was introduced to Miro. This is an easy to use collaborative tool that allows you to write post-its, move things around and keep everyone on the same page. All our game ideas, concerns, feedback have been done on this tool.
Project Management
When my co-founder and I started messaging each other at 12 AM to discuss work, we had to stop ourselves from enabling each other to be workaholics. That’s where Asana came in to save ourselves, from ourselves. We assigned tasks to each other and the tasks even had comment sections for us to discuss. The nature of messaging apps forces a very linear way of conversing which is not necessarily useful when working on projects. Task-based communication by Asana allowed us to choose the conversations we were ready to discuss on without feeling the urge to reply to each other immediately. This created a structure to discussions that messaging apps lack. We could see the progress of each other’s work whenever we want. This tool helped us draw the line between work and life.
Team Bonding Games
A big benefit to having physical teamwork together is the bonds that can be formed from chit-chatting during breaks and lunch. That is something that we sacrifice when working remotely as we do not have common spaces that facilitate social interaction. As such, replicating these experiences digitally has to be very intentional. For our team, scheduling biweekly games evening and have fun together. Note: trash-talking is allowed during bonding activities. Whatever happens during the game, stays in the game.
Here’s a list of team bonding games that you might find fun for your team:
- Codename: this is a team vs team game that requires >4 people to play. It allows for members to collaborate and get to know each other better.
- Copyrighted Artists: a Roblox game where players draw out prompts and earn votes. You can set up a private server for free and play with your team provided they have Roblox accounts. It’s a chance to laugh at each other’s drawing and share some ridiculously hilarious moments together.
- Set with friends: an extremely brain-intensive game that allows your team to play against each other. It can get really exhausting but is strangely addictive, so play with caution.
- Kahoot: you can get your members to create a quiz to test how well other members know them. This is a chance to know each other on a more personal level and creates opportunities for conversation.
Managing a remote team is not easy as it often requires even more communication than working in a physical team. But setting structures in place can allow us to harness the convenience of remote work while mitigating the limitations as well. I hope that the tools and strategies I have suggested above are useful for you in managing your team remotely! Feel free to share some tips that have worked for you as well.
*This is not a sponsored post*. I genuinely find joy in sharing my experiences and discoveries with others.
