Here's how you can efficiently handle remote project teams as a project manager.

A project manager has to have a lot of skills. Everything from listening, to tracking tasks, timelines, risks and deadlines and most importantly people leadership. While the people on your project may not directly report to you, you are leading the team to the finish line. Leading a remote team can be challenging, but open communication and regular touch points will help the team reach their goal. Make sure everyone's voice is heard and you will be successful.

As a project manager, I begin by connecting with each team member personally via LinkedIn, followed by informal Zoom meetings to understand their goals and working styles. I organize inclusive team meetings to agree on convenient times, considering all locations. Initially, I set realistic targets to accommodate the adjustment period and schedule regular updates to monitor progress. I also make an effort to check in with team members occasionally to maintain engagement and address any concerns, ensuring everyone feels valued and motivated.

Clear goals for remote, international, and multicultural teams means expectations must be written down and assigned to an individual.

Clear Goals: Define achievable objectives and tasks to keep the team aligned and focused. Effective Communication: Utilize reliable tools and methods to ensure seamless collaboration. Trust and Autonomy: Empower team members to manage their work independently while providing support. Regular Updates: Maintain transparency through frequent check-ins and progress reports. Adaptability: Stay flexible and responsive to changes, adjusting strategies as needed for success.

For managers, a primary objective is to ensure engineers have clear work assignments and understand expectations. Clarity reduces ambiguity and enhances productivity. Additionally, engineering managers and leads must identify and address any blockers hindering team members' progress. Scrum leaders should have a comprehensive understanding of technical stories and the tasks involved. Establishing a clear chain of leadership and work clarity simplifies work processes, fostering a conducive environment for effective collaboration and productivity.

I've found essential tools like JIRA, Confluence, Slack, Git, MS Office, task boards, and Zoom invaluable. Training remote teams to use these tools effectively is crucial. Encouraging a "write-first" culture fosters a balance between focused individual work and collaborative team efforts. Establishing a clear documentation strategy, including guidelines on document placement, enhances team efficiency. Linking documents from product help notes to Git readmes creates a centralized knowledge repository. Setting a benchmark for onboarding new remote engineers efficiently is vital for team productivity. Balancing live meetings for immediate collaboration with asynchronous communication for flexibility ensures effective remote teamwork.

Effective tools are the backbone of successful remote project management, enabling seamless communication, document sharing, and progress tracking. It's crucial to choose platforms that streamline workflows and provide training to ensure team proficiency. These tools not only enhance productivity but also foster a cohesive virtual environment akin to a physical office. Investing in the right tools and mastering their use is key to maximizing efficiency and team collaboration in remote settings.

Efficiently handling remote project teams as a project manager requires clear goals, effective communication, and regular updates. Utilizing reliable tools for seamless collaboration and providing training ensures team proficiency and fosters a cohesive virtual environment. Regular updates, whether through video calls or project management software, maintain transparency and allow for timely interventions. This continuous communication loop ensures alignment, addresses concerns promptly, and facilitates successful project outcomes in remote settings.

In a remote/distributed setup, effective communication is vital for staying updated. Standups for engineering managers act as down-to-top channels, involving product owners, product design, and engineering to gather granular status updates. "Iron Triangle" forums ensure alignment between product vision, design, and technical feasibility at both team and group levels. Separate forums for policy updates and organizational changes maintain clarity in information dissemination. Focused and concise communication is crucial for keeping everyone informed and connected. Establishing clear channels for information flow, vertically and horizontally across departments, minimizes communication gaps and fosters smooth operations in a distributed setup.

The mantra to live by, for any remote team, is KPI - 'Keep People Informed', which I rigorously emphasise on during any handovers/ start of new projects. This not only informs the stakeholders (at all levels) of the status, but they can forecast progress and plan for upcoming work. And inadvertently, it builds the trust in the team that is very important for a remote one to function smoothly, as has been noted in different sections of this post already. Remember, KPI!

In my experience yes I strongly believe that the communication has to be there but at the same time it should not be a overhead for the team so it should be short and resolving any blockers, issues your team is facing.

Conduct regular team meetings, either through video conferencing or virtual whiteboards, to facilitate face-to-face communication, discuss progress, and address any challenges or roadblocks.

In my opinion Trust and Respect for everyone in the team are equally important aspects of any team to be successful. So these things has to be two way and you can only achieve this by setting examples starting from you and having clear objectives/goals and proper communication

In my perspective, trust is foundational for remote team success. Granting autonomy to team members demonstrates confidence in their abilities and fosters a culture of accountability. Micromanaging stifles creativity and motivation, so it's essential to set clear expectations and then allow individuals to approach tasks in ways they find effective. This empowerment cultivates a sense of ownership and drives productivity in remote settings.

Demonstrate trust in your team by empowering them with autonomy and decision-making authority. This sets the tone for a culture of trust within the team. Provide team members with the necessary tools, resources, and authority to make decisions within their areas of responsibility. Trust them to manage their tasks and deliverables effectively without micromanaging.

In my view, embracing cultural sensitivity is essential for remote team success. Recognizing and respecting diverse work habits, communication styles, and holidays fosters a positive work environment. This inclusivity ensures that all team members feel valued and understood, ultimately enhancing collaboration and productivity in remote settings.

There is usually pressure in remote working; deadlines, missed targets, time zones, communication issues and people dropping the ball now and again. Intensive meetings dealing with agendas and bullet points are the typical, but I would recommend you always remember they are the same as anyone in your own office - having a chat about your hobbies, family, weekend activities etc, it always helps to keep things calm and promotes more fluid, open communication - particularly when it feels like the wheels are coming off the project :)

Vital lessons: I learned early in my career that we all learn differently, have different approaches to our work and need encouragement and reinforcement as much as anything else. We adapt to our team’s needs and be available for them to talk through their needs or just to listen.

A soft skill that all Engineering Managers must learn is how to manage people in a distributed work environment. No matter the official company RTO policy, it is likely your team is distributed already. This has been the state-of-play for going on 2 decades. It means that engineering managers must have remote-management skills. To be successful, be intentional w\ everything you do. Management-by-Walking-Around can be an effective strategy when everyone is in-person. It does not work at all in a distributed setting, IMHE. Info Self-Service is key. Put team & project info in places that employees can access asynchronously. Schedule in-person time only when it cannot be avoided to allow for an async-first workday. #ManagingRemote ☺️

Don't overthink it. If you have the right people in your team you know you can trust them even if all of them are working remotely. Make sure to show you trust them and don't try to monitor them too much by asking for too many status updates, reports or similar...

Hire the right people.... If your modi operandi for your team is dispersed, then make sure during the hiring process those you interview have the skill-set and feel comfortable doing their part solo yet part of a whole.... Think about it!

Encourage team members to take on new challenges and responsibilities that align with their interests and career goals. This not only fosters autonomy but also supports professional development. Also, create opportunities for team members to share their expertise and knowledge with one another. This promotes a culture of continuous learning and enables team members to grow and develop autonomously.