Best Practices to Efficiently Manage Remote Developers: the CTO's Guide

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Over 60% of individuals throughout the globe do their job from home. The IT sector is an excellent example of this tendency. Working remotely is becoming more and more popular among software engineers. As a result of this present trend, managing a remote team of engineers has become critical for the tech manager.

We may safely assume that remote work is here to stay since it has been more popular in recent years. Because of the difficulties in finding experienced developers, managers typically search for alternate options, such as exporting the work to other areas across the globe. Does anybody have cause for concern?

No, it is not correct. For this to be true, remote development management must be well-organized in its whole. So, how should this be approached? We’ve put up a quick reference for CTOs, and these guidelines will help you manage and collaborate with remote developers more effectively.

Set the groundwork for collaboration by establishing a set of norms.

If you want your project to be successful, the people behind it and the infrastructure for exchanging information are only as good as the plans you make.

Is this something you’ve heard before? Regardless of what anybody else says, I believe it to be the truth. From the start of the project, it is essential to set the rules of interaction between you (the management) and a team of remote engineers. This is the fundamental tenet of the argument.

What’s so critical about it? Everyone on the team should know precisely what their responsibilities are, grasp the project’s problems and goals, respect them and stick to the agreed-upon plan. It all begins here. Decision-making about project management is a critical next step. Agile Scrum is a prominent paradigm for managing a process in the IT sector, particularly in software development projects. I think this is a great option. Based on our experience, I feel this is the best way to handle projects. It gives you total command over the project’s workflow and the ability to coordinate the efforts of everyone on your team. 

Organize the schedule of meetings.

Remote developers can work from anywhere in the globe, even if they’re in separate time zones at the same time. You and your coworkers will both be happier if you schedule all of your project-related meetings in advance. Both parties must be informed of the action plan to coordinate their efforts better and track their success.

So, if you require regular check-ins, select a day on your calendar and invite your team to join you. In addition, keep in mind that your workers’ productivity will rise due to more efficient use of their time. It’s not that big of an issue. A well-organized schedule may be readily created by using your Google calendar and syncing it with the accounts of our staff. As a result, the whole procedure will go more smoothly.

Be sure to take advantage of resources that may help you enhance your performance at work.

You can manage a team of remote devs using a variety of technologies. There are, however, a lot of them accessible on the internet. Different individuals contribute to the success of the project in various ways. To make it easier for you to make a decision, We’ve picked a handful that we believe are the most beneficial.  

Recruiting is the first step in the process. Make a list of potential collaborators.

Read this section carefully if you want to hire additional developers for a project in the near future. There are two ways to go about this. Selecting an external partner (such as a software company) or hiring in-house developers is your only option. The most important thing is to work with individuals you can trust and to have a clear grasp of each other’s goals.

If you don’t have confidence in your workers, you won’t succeed. Your developers’ work will suffer due to a lack of trust in your team’s abilities if you acquire an over-controlling attitude toward their job.

Know what your developers want and need. Set up one-on-one sessions with them.

Your interactions with developers should extend beyond the scope of your current project. Meeting with your workers one-on-one is a great way to find out what they think about their work as a team, uncover what motivates them, and figure out how to best satisfy their requirements. Consider holding a meeting or phone conversation once a month, for example.

If you’re interested in finding out how satisfied your employees are, now is a great time to do it! Your present project will benefit from this information, but it will also provide you with valuable information for future collaborations. What if you have further projects in the future and want to work with your trusted developers again? Isn’t it preferable to do so rather than start a recruiting project from scratch?

Don’t forget to include summaries in your report.

It’s also crucial to be open and honest. As a result, for the whole team to be kept up to date on the project’s progress, they must get frequent updates. The simplest solution is the best one in this circumstance. Keep your employees up to date on the essential changes and developments by sending them weekly recaps. By doing this, you will raise employee awareness and participation.

Don’t forget to sum up the plan after each meeting. The time required to do this task is minimal. It’s sufficient to write a quick message with a few ‘bullet points’ of what was discussed. You won’t miss anything, and the summary will be available to everyone on the team at all times.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that remote work is the way of the future! Nothing to be afraid about. To ensure that your project proceeds in the proper path, you should take care of the things outlined in this article. To wrap things up, I’d like to point up an intriguing fact: You may be surprised to learn that a remote worker is up to 25% more productive than an office worker.