Over the last few years, remote working has become essential to any business as businesses expand their operations worldwide. 44% of companies have reported an increase in full-time employees remotely working from different locations. Remote working is prevalent in the IT services sector, where companies often hire remote software development teams from India, Eastern Europe, and China to access top talent at reduced costs.
Managing a remote software development team can bring many advantages like cost optimization, performance boost, 24x7 operations, etc. But it also has challenges you must consider before hiring and managing a remote team.
This blog will give you an in-depth overview of why you should hire a remote team, what hurdles you may face in the process, and how to navigate through them to manage your hiring team successfully.
Benefits of Managing a Remote Software Development Team
1. Access to a Global Talent Tool
Finding and hiring the right professionals who can do justice to your time and money has always been a challenge among businesses. Sometimes, the professionals from their region need more expertise or are too costly.
A remote software development team can help you overcome this issue by letting you quickly contact and hire software development professionals worldwide. This way, you can quickly fill the skill gap without hiring a full-time person on your team.
2. Reduced Time-to-market
Having a remote software development team means you have extra staff. It means you build and release your product faster, reducing the time to market. Also, the time zone differences ensure that your business runs around the clock and your product’s development never stops.
3. Reduced Costs
A remote software development team can save operational expenses as you don’t have any equipment or office space for them. Also, many developing countries offer attractive tax breaks, significantly reducing transaction fees. Also, you’ll enjoy lower labor, operating, and maintenance costs.
Hiring and managing a remote team costs much less than hiring and managing an in-house team in your native location.
4. Reduced Risks
Hiring an in-house team can be risky. You must pay a monthly salary, provide training, and set up systems. them even when there’s little demand. Sometimes, employees quit for a better opportunity, and all the money spent on training go to waste.
However, a remote software development team doesn’t pose any such risk. You can scale your team up or down based on your business needs. You don’t need to worry about employees quitting after training, as quickly filling the position is your outsourcing partner’s responsibility.
Challenges of Managing a Remote Software Development Team
Despite offering compelling benefits, managing a remote team poses some serious problems that you must prepare for, such as:
1. Communication Barrier
While you can interact face-to-face with your in-house team, you don’t get the same luxury with your remote staff. The only interaction happens through video calls and conference meetings. As a result, it becomes challenging to convey complex ideas, establish trust, and forge strong relationships with your team.
2. Collaboration is a significant issue
Remote teams need strong collaboration to operate successfully. However, collaboration can be challenging because of time zone and linguistic differences. As a result, most businesses need help to keep all the members on the same page, and the project hampers.
3. Time management can be a problem
You can keep track of your in-house team to see if they’re working with focus. But your remote software development team is on its own. If members are not vigilant enough to avoid distractions and manage their time, they may miss deadlines, and productivity can take a hit.
4. Technology can backfire sometimes
Technology is the only way to stay connected to your remote software development team without video conferencing software. Without project management software like Clickup, you can’t track the work. If there’s a slight issue with the internet, your project will halt. This dependence on technology can significantly affect your project’s progress.
Best Practices for Managing a Remote Software Development Team
Here are a few tried and tested tips that you can implement to manage your remote software development team:
- Pay close attention to your onboarding process. It should be attractive enough to engage the new member and clear enough to ensure they know your organization’s workflow before they start working with you. A well-planned onboarding will turn your new remote members into top-performing individuals.
- Use agile project management techniques like Scrum, Kanban, and lean software development to ensure your remote software engineering team’s collaboration, flexibility, and productivity. An agile approach would allow your team to adapt to changing requirements quickly.
- Celebrate small wins to keep your team motivated, engage them through virtual team-building sessions, and offer them the opportunity to learn and grow. It would boost their morale and encourage them to give their best.
- Create an environment of collaboration, communication, and trust within your team. Teams who play together often win more.
- Actively measure your team’s performance and identify areas where they can improve. If you feel a team member is not meeting expectations, address the issue proactively with open conversation and necessary guidance.
- Implement data security protocols and train employees on security best practices to prevent incidents of data breaches and cyber-attacks while working.
In Conclusion
Hiring and managing software development teams can be a tough nut to crack. However, with a calculated approach, you can manage it efficiently.
Hopefully, the article gave you enough idea of what challenges you can expect while managing a remote team and how you can mitigate them. Now, it’s time to implement these tips and witness the results practically. Best of luck!
