Comments on: Open Thread: Managing Remote Workers Effectively

By: Soumya

Soumya — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 19:23:32 +0000

This is one event I am eagerly waiting for. Most people believe that key to managing teams is all about communication technology + rule book for do’s and dont’s + modeling behavior. That was the case 5 years back. Today we want to make the 3 pieces work seamlessly to achieve the company’s goals. Reduce friction, transaction costs (dollars and otherwise), and improve/increase productivity.
Disclosure – I am employed with http://www.sococo.com. Sococo’s Team Space is an online communications service with an intuitive user interface designed for distributed teams who need to communicate more effectively.

By: Simon Mackie

Simon Mackie — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:41:16 +0000

“Everyone needs to feel like the they’re part of the team pushing towards the same goal” — agree wholeheartedly. But the problem is that getting to that state is tricky, even for co-located teams, let alone those with team members working remotely.

By: Mac Fowler

Mac Fowler — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:28:54 +0000

I like to sum it all up with camaraderie, communication and consistency.

Everyone needs to feel like the they’re part of the team pushing towards the same goal

Each teammate need to be able to clearly communicate progress and issues to co-workers in both an active and passive manner.

Tools and procedures need to be in place to keep things smooth and consistant so team mates can answer each others questions or find the information they need when they needed it.

By: Simon Mackie

Simon Mackie — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 09:58:53 +0000

That’s a good point, Avdi, and I think it goes back to the trust issue, too. Management need to understand that remote work is not the same as working in an office, and that being at a desk 9-to-5 is not the same as productivity. Transparent, clear, honest communication goes a long way, but fostering a culture to support that is difficult.

By: avdi

avdi — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:07:35 +0000

As I laid out in a recent article about managing dispersed teams, one thing that's especially important for managers of remote teams is to model the kind of transparency they hope to see from their workers. The remote work day is fundamentally different from the office work day - it's typically longer, but also more fluid. You need your employees to be comfortable being honest about their current status if you hope to get timely updates on project status and roadblocks. With work-from-home and mobile workers, that status might well be "walking the dog", "cleaning up after the toddler", or "waiting in line for a latte". The best way to cultivate a team that feels free to be forthcoming with status updates is to be transparent yourself - if they see you talking about "checking facebook", they know they don't have to forge a sanitized narrative of their own remote working day.