You’ve come to the correct spot if you’re eager to enhance your offshore team management abilities. We’ve put together five revolutionary suggestions that will simplify communication with your offshore software development team. Let’s get started!
In the past few years, more and more businesses have been hiring software development teams in other countries to make their digital projects come to life. Why not? It may be good for your business to work with top software writers from all over the world of course.
But there is a catch: it can be hard to manage a team that is spread out across multiple time zones, but it’s not impossible!
You’ve come to the right place if you want to get better at managing foreign teams.
We’ve put together five tips that will change the way you work with your overseas software development team. Let’s jump right in!
1. Make sure there are clear lines of communication
First things first, let’s talk about how important it is to communicate. When you work with people from all over the world, you need to be able to communicate clearly. It’s what keeps your project and team together.
How do you make sure that everyone understands?
Pick out the right tools.
These are all great for people who work from home: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Skype. Just make sure that everyone is happy with the tools you pick out and knows how to use them correctly.
Make some rules.
Set clear rules for how people can talk to each other. Think about this:
When do people think they’ll hear back?
How can I get in touch with you about important matters right away?
How should you act in online chats?
Set everything out so there’s no doubt.
Regularly check-in
Make plans to keep in touch with your remote development team. It could be stand-ups every day, progress reports every week, or retrospectives every month. It’s important to keep everyone up to date and deal with any problems before they get out of hand.
Helps things stay clear
Encourage your remote software development team to talk to each other openly and honestly. You should make a place where everyone feels safe to share their thoughts, ideas, and comments. Remember that a team that talks to each other freely will succeed.
2. Use the power of asynchronous communication
Asynchronous contact is a great way to work with a software development team that is located in a different country. Why?
Because it lets team members talk to each other and work together without having to talk to each other in real time, they can work quickly and independently. These are the best ways to communicate without being in the same room at the same time.
Use chat boards and email.
Tell your team that email and boards are good ways to share information and get updates that aren’t urgent. This way, your overseas workers won’t feel rushed to reply, and they can do so whenever it’s convenient for them.
Bring in detailed paperwork
Write down in depth the steps, needs, and specs for the job. After this is done, everyone on the team will be able to see important information and work without having to talk to each other all the time. This will help you and them both save time.
Record video reports and use them.
Tell your team to make video updates to show off their work, share their progress, or explain difficult ideas. Other people on the team can watch these movies whenever they want, so there’s no need for long talks.
3. Plan regular overlap hours
Even though asynchronous contact is very important, you should also be able to talk to your remote software development team in real time.
Overlap hours are times when people on the same team who live in different time zones can work together and talk to each other in real time. How are you going to do this? Is it possible at all? Yes, let us show you!
Please choose the best time.
First, look at the time zones of your overseas development team to find the best time for most of them to meet in real time. There may be some back and forth, but believe us, it’s worth it.
Change when you meet.
Change up the times of meetings every so often to keep things fair and open to everyone. This way, your remote workers in different time zones can join conversations in real-time without having to stay up all night all the time.
Set important conversations first.
Use the above-mentioned gap hours for important conversations, problem-solving, and making decisions. For the best results, make sure everyone comes ready and stays on task.
Keep talks short and to the point.
Meetings should be short and to the point to respect everyone’s time. Plan, stay on time, and make sure that the talks stay on track by making a plan ahead of time. This makes the most of the split hours and keeps people from getting tired or burned out. It will make your team happy.
4. Use more flexible methods
In the past few years, agile methods like Scrum and Kanban have shown to be very useful for software development teams working from abroad.
It’s great that these models are all about being flexible, adaptable, and always getting better, especially when you’re working with people in different time zones. What you need to do to make agile work for your remote software development team:
Break it down.
Break up big jobs into smaller tasks that you can handle in short bursts. This lets your software workers in other countries focus on specific tasks and keep the pace going.
Effectively divide up work
By using agile methods like list cleaning and sprint planning, you can set tasks in order of importance and worth. To avoid delays, make sure that everyone has an equal amount of work that fits their skills and availability.
Be able to change and adapt.
Be willing to change your plans and goals if you get feedback, your needs change, or you run into problems you didn’t expect. Agile methods let teams react to changes and make changes quickly. This keeps the project on track and meets the needs of all stakeholders.
5. Build a strong team culture that welcomes everyone
Last but not least, let’s talk about how important it is to make sure that everyone on the team feels welcome and supported. If the people working on your overseas software project feel valued, supported, and linked, they will be more involved, inspired, and excited to do their best work.
Want to make your team a better place to work? How to do it:
Spread variety and acceptance
Enjoy the different ideas and experiences that your remote team brings to the table. Make sure that everyone feels welcome and honored in the space you create. Your foreign software engineers should be open-minded, empathetic, and aware of other cultures.
Plan tasks to build teams online
Plan regular virtual team-building events to help your group get to know each other and work together better. These might be:
Fun games online
Coffee breaks in your head
Sessions for sharing skills
Days of work
Video calls with breaks
Your goal is to break the ice, build trust, and bring your faraway team together.
Celebrate your wins and important milestones.
Celebrate all of your team’s wins, no matter how big or small they are. Honor each person’s work, the team’s wins, and the project’s major accomplishments. A small act of thanks can go a long way toward keeping your overseas software development team engaged.
Put money into growth
Give your team working from home chances to learn, grow, and improve their skills. Help people grow professionally by giving them training programs, mentorship, and other tools. Encourage your workers to share what they know and make learning a way of life.
Finishing up
Now you know five tips that will always work to help you manage your overseas software development team like a pro.
It’s not easy to manage a software development team that works in different time zones, but if you have the right attitude and tactics, it can be very satisfying.
Remember that it takes time, work, and a desire to learn and change to build a high-performing remote team. Always put the success and happiness of your team ahead of your own. Stay upbeat and adaptable.
How long are you going to wait?
These tips will change the game for you. Now you can handle your overseas software development team well and help them succeed!