Are you here looking for suggestions for building a remote development team? Follow the blog to learn everything related to hiring and managing a remote development team.
Even in the best of circumstances, it can be difficult to find the right employees to fill a void on your software development team. The difficulties multiply when you’re trying to find someone to work remotely for you. But why do we search for remote developers anyway? Let’s find out.
Why Companies Should Hire Remote Development teams
It’s important to choose a remote development team based on more than just cost. Although it might not always be the best option in some situations. But utilizing a remote developer has additional advantages for the environment as well as the company.
It should come as no surprise that the advantages of hiring remote developers for the company rank highly in the selection process.
These benefits are:
1. Savings on Expenditure
- Remote workers don’t need an office! They are responsible for their utilities and office supplies. Imagine saving all the cost of equipment and hardware!
2. Access to Global Talent
- The world of information technology has many fields and specialists. It might get difficult to find someone who is closer to your requirements and has experience in the field you need. Hiring remotely enables you to access the world’s talent pool and locate the ideal candidate.
3. Quick Adaptability
- The only way for a business to remain competitive in today’s ever-evolving global marketplace is to adapt quickly. By hiring remote developers, you might be able to find a person or a team who is prepared to work on your project quickly.
4. Keep Employees Happy
- It isn’t a surprise that satisfied workers are more efficient and driven to help their business to be successful. If your remote workers are content with their choice to work from home, both you and they will benefit from it.
What’s the Process for Hiring Remote Developers?
The ideal remote developer can be found using a five-step process.
1. Find the Right Job Board and Post Your Job Description (JD)
- After you have created a catchy job description, you must choose where to post it. Your JD should contain all the necessary information like roles, responsibilities, and experience requirements. Mention them clearly and concisely. There are many online job boards from which to choose. But not all boards are well-known or have a positive reputation.
- Before posting, spend some time researching the job boards and selecting the ones that best suit your requirements. To get in touch with the developer you want, you might need to post on several websites.
2. Sort Through the Applications
- Even if you carefully craft your job posting, there is still a chance that you will receive applications from candidates who are unqualified for the position. A quick screening of the applications will help you avoid unqualified candidates.
3. Pay Attention to the Cover Letter
- Going through resumes will give you a good idea of the qualifications the candidate has to offer in terms of education and experience, and cover letters offer much-desired insight.
- A well-written cover letter should be in plain English. It should clearly and effectively convince you to hire the applicant. If it does, you can conclude that he/she is better at communication. If not, you might want to read more cover letters.
4. The Interview
- It’s time to schedule an interview. Even though conducting a successful interview can be difficult for remote workers, it is still a crucial step.
- You can evaluate the candidates’ communication skills even if the interview is conducted via computer screen. Determine their level of experience and whether or not their personality will match with the rest of your team.
5. Evaluation and Testing
- The candidate will undergo several tests as the process’s last step. It will allow you to assess how well they performed. Giving them a task to finish in a set amount of time will not only allow you to assess their abilities but also demonstrate how they work under pressure.
Tips to Manage Remote Development Teams
Remote software development is going to become key for maximum ROI. The future of the global IT industry lies in a distributed workforce. The transition was less difficult for the organizations that had understood and used this fact.
The majority of offices are also moving online to drastically reduce their infrastructure costs and give businesses the ability to continue operating even in the event of local disasters. You can access global talent with a distributed workforce, making it possible to find and hire the best candidates.
The main query that the majority of managers have is how it is going to turn out. Hiring remote development teams is not enough. And managing remote development teams is tougher and requires plenty of strategies.
The following guidance will help you in overcoming the initial challenges you may face when managing a remote team.
1. Set Expectations
- Give your team enough time to adjust to this new situation as the project takes on a new way of working. Do not anticipate a 100% output on the first day.
- While managing remote development teams, establish expectations gradually. The software development teams should understand what is expected of them. Therefore, the project’s ultimate objective should be thoroughly discussed. Additionally, since the team members’ tasks are divided, it should be simple for them to picture the final product.
- To achieve this, software developers’ individual goals should adhere to the SMART principle (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound). As a result, you must understand each task’s deliverables and the time required to complete it.
- This also helps in the assessment of the software development team’s performance and equips them with the necessary resources to succeed.
2. Effective Communication
- In remote software development environments, communication is a significant obstacle that must be removed. In an office setting, people are accustomed to approaching co-workers and updating them on the status of the project or the current situation. However, in remote software development, the teams must rely on software and tools to remain connected.
- These days, communication is seamless due to many tools. Some of the most popular tools that can be used for daily communication between Team members include Slack, Flock, Zoom Video, Skype, and Microsoft Teams. Choose the specific tools that will meet your needs for effective project management and communication.
- Establish communication standards, such as email response within 2-4 hours, messages response on Slack or Skype requiring an immediate attention, and use of phones during high-priority situations. This prevents you from waiting for a response and maintains the team’s responsiveness.
3. Daily Standups
- Anticipate and assume that everything is going according to plan once software developers are given their tasks until any problems in the near future.
- But this may not be true at all. The majority of crucial issues get identified at the last minute. This causes the project plan to deviate and incur additional costs. Therefore, it is essential to regularly check the status of each task. The issue will be discussed in daily standups where all employees will participate virtually. A group meeting maintains cooperation and dispels loneliness.
- By doing this, the team will be in line with the project’s direction and the advancement of each team member. It will provide you with an update on what is working well and what working styles don’t fit with the remote software development team.
- One thing to keep in mind is that strong interdependence among teammates is a negative quality that needs to be addressed in the project plan.
- Putting a face to a name and getting to know the person behind it fosters team cohesion, a sense of purpose, and a shared goal that everyone is working toward.
4. Avoid Micromanaging
- Trust your software development team. You won’t always be able to see what the remote developers are up to. After giving them the tasks to complete, allow them the freedom to complete the work at their own pace. When working with remote teams, trust is a key component. Micromanaging results from attempting to control every detail of how the goals are being achieved.
- Instead of concentrating on the activities, one should focus on the outcomes. If the product being delivered is of the calibre you require, that ought to be sufficient justification for allowing your team to work independently.
5. Keep Employees Engaged
- It is alright to feel alone for remote developers. But always plan to maintain employee engagement. Mass video calls to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries encourage teamwork.
- Set aside a specific time each week so that everyone can organise a gaming session. a brand-new game that promotes social interaction and boosts team spirit every week. Encourage teams to have online team meetings where they can have impromptu conversations over coffee during virtual coffee breaks. This fosters teamwork among members of the group.
6. Always Appreciate Performance
- Sending a message appreciating good work boosts confidence among team members. In addition to fostering employee motivation, it maintains the team’s performance level of competition. When working remotely, this employee recognition gradually takes a back seat. As long as they consistently produce, you tend to assume that employees are happy with their jobs.
- However, working remotely evokes a sense of seclusion. Lack of feedback causes you to gradually lose perspective on how productive the work is. This must be repeatedly reaffirmed by thanking coworkers and emphasizing accomplishments during daily calls.
Final Thoughts
Setting people up for success is your main objective as a remote team manager.
And the first step in doing this is outlining what success means for your business and how you define it concerning their job.
Additionally, you should be more intentional about sharing knowledge and communicating. And doing more meetings is not the answer. Instead, you must create a setting where everyone can work asynchronously when necessary.
