Finding senior remote talent is hard. Working remotely can be even harder, but it doesn’t need to be.
We’ve identified 5 best practices you can do today to manage and work with your remote developers better.
Brief Overview
- Share your vision and culture. Remote or not, everybody needs to know what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.
- Outline CLEAR product requirements. Your developers can’t read your mind, tell them what you want!
- Respect your developer. Be patient, kind, and flexible. It makes a world of difference.
- Learn from your developer by asking questions. Draw on their past experiences to see how you can improve your development.
- Develop healthy work habits, don’t micromanage!
Share your product vision and company culture
Whether you’re separately integrating your remote developer’s work or having them build your product, all developers must know what your vision is, what your product goals are, and how your team is working together to accomplish these goals.
By aligning the various stakeholders across your company to one vision, everyone will know what they’re doing and why they’re doing it, regardless of whether or not they’re remote.
“Empower the individual when recreating your remote culture. A lot of people have to be self starters in this model of distributed teams. They have to be independent but they also have to be a team player. So being able to foster that type of culture as you grow your remote team and creating a welcoming environment for others comes with intention.”
- Salina Mendoza, Director of Product @ Brix
Outline clear product requirements
Without effective documentation, your developers are essentially working without a blueprint. Effective documentation should have clear directions and a concise and descriptive background of:
- Main features of your product
- How features interact with each other
- What you want to build
- What you’ve built so far
- What libraries/resources are used and their versions
- Expected development timelines in relation to your business goals
Respect & engage with your remote developer
Many international engineers aren’t used to working with employers who treat them well and respect their work/life balance. Being able to create a welcoming environment for any employee is fundamental to creating a successful and collaborative culture. What can you do now?
- Always pay your developers on time and consider bonus policies
- Be patient and kind while leaning preferred methods of communication if they aren’t native English speakers. If their written English is better than their spoken English, use text more and vice versa.
- Be mindful of different workstyles and find a style that accommodates all parties. This adjustment often results in more successful projects.
“They work harder for him because he’s graceful, calm, level headed, patient, and willing to adapt to develop that trust. You want them to be able to tell you immediately that they fucked up. In China if you fuck up, you FUCKED up. So they’re not used to this grace, people being patient and nice. Respect makes a world of difference.”
- Salina Mendoza, Director of Product @ Brix
Learn from your developer
The knowledge and past experiences of your remote developer may be one of the greatest resources you’ll have. Don’t be afraid to ask them questions!
- Where do projects like this typically go wrong?
- What could we do differently?
- Do you have everything you need to deliver the project?
Develop healthy work habits
It’s easy to fall into the trap of micromanaging your developers and running daily meetings that don’t address immediate needs.
- Overlap your work schedules for paired programming
- Don’t micromanage, focus on mid/long term goals
- Align work and communication styles with non-native english speakers
- If appropriate, build an informal relationship through conversation!
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