Seven basic habits for remotely working development teams

In the current company, I have more than three years. I have been working with my current team for a little over a year, and I was one of those who formed it - this was my first experience of creating a team and a culture of communication in it from scratch.

In addition, the current team is the most geographically scattered of all with whom I had to work, but also the most productive. I do not think that this is a coincidence or just the result of the selection of good specialists (but it is worth noting that they are really excellent professionals). Now we are scattered in time zones from UTC + 3 to UTC-7. If someone is lazy to count - this is the difference in 10 hours! We, moreover, mostly work remotely, so many of us do not have a specific workplace and schedule.
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From the very beginning it was clear that due to the difference in time zones, we would need to make additional efforts and plan more to cope with the tasks. Below, I present seven habits that have taken root in our team, which have helped not only to achieve the desired results, but also to succeed in this.

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Excessive communication

I will begin, perhaps, with the most important habit - excessive communication. If I were asked what is the difference between normal and excessive communication, I would say: “If we were together in the same room, excessive communication could be annoying.”

Communication redundancy for remote teams is important, because all colleagues must be aware of what is happening.

How to put this into practice?

• Expect interlocutors to have no context . Be sure to add to the messages the appropriate background, at your discretion - links to previous comments, cards, conversations in the chat rooms - so that others will quickly understand what they mean.
  
• Use public and group channels, not private messages . If you really need to discuss something with one colleague, this does not mean that the rest of the new information is useless.
  
• Use both closed and public chats as a team. For Slack users, I recommend setting up a private channel and an additional public one, if needed. I am less likely to ask a stupid question on the forum with more than 200 clever (and sometimes brisk language) specialists than in the channel, where ten people sit, with whom I communicate every day.
  
• Don't worry about what time it is . Share current information as quickly as possible. If colleagues do not want to be disturbed, they should learn to use features such as “do not disturb” and “mute”. Believe me: if I do not want to be disturbed, they will not disturb me.
  

Group (pair) programming

I (in real life)

Pair programming is a great thing! I admit: initially, I was a little skeptical about this idea, but after numerous cases of successful application this year I definitely changed my mind.

I will not go into the subject too much, but if you are interested, here’s a great article about it. I just mention a few points that I myself try to take into account.

• Beware of the formation of "microinstructions" ‍♀️ . In the case of remote commands, it may seem convenient to work in tandem with those who are in close time zones. However, for several reasons, this should be avoided. In the case of the formation of "microinstructions" there is a risk that the project will contain a set of knowledge and skills that may seem good for several team members, but in general will be bad.
  
• Pair programming is not always a good choice ‍♂️ . If you are bitten by a pair of programming programming, you may feel that it should be applied to all tasks - and this can be a trap: in some cases, working alone is simply more effective, in others it is possible to “pump” your own skills, trying to solve some problems. that task yourself. Before making a decision about pair programming, you should carefully weigh everything.
  
• Try asynchronous work in pairs. This kind of pair programming is related to the next section. The idea is to organize the process so that you can easily transfer the unfinished work to a colleague in a different time zone and, quite possibly, the next day you can return to it again.
  

Summarize the working day

This item is quite close to excessive communication, but it seems to me that it has enough advantages to give it its own section. The habit of daily summing up is a great way to organize teamwork and keep colleagues informed.

I do not like to wake up at three in the morning to chat with European colleagues who are just starting their day, so it turned out to be useful to develop the habit of writing messages with the results of the day that tell about the current state of affairs. In addition, colleagues, having a brief summary of the work done in their absence, do not spend time figuring out how things are going.

What to include in the daily summary?

1. The status of the work done at the end of the working day . Are there any requests? Is there any progress in the project documentation? Include only highlights.
   
2. Unsolved problems . If you have been trying to solve the current problem all day, have not finished and decided to go to sleep, tell us what you have done and hope that colleagues will sort out your task before you wake up tomorrow.
   
3. Rejoice often made . This is the flip side of the previous paragraph: if at the end of the working day you have reason to rejoice, share it with the others. Everyone likes to start the day with good news.
   

Document workflows

This section actually includes two habits.

1. All important processes should be well documented and understood by team members.
   
2. Review workflows more often and fix them as needed.
   

The main task of developing well-defined processes is to provide several team members with the opportunity to work together, replace each other, understand where everything is and what needs to be done next.

For example, we practice collaborative design: it’s more than one person who is designing new functions and receiving feedback - we do it all together, we consistently request feedback and make corrections. To work effectively on projects, each participant must have a clear idea of ​​what is happening.

Peer learning and encouraging

Recently I read an article , after which it dawned on me how much mutual learning and encouragement are needed, and not only in remote teams, so I would like to highlight this.

Mutual learning We all have different life experiences, different skills and hobbies. Sharing your knowledge with others is an excellent solution that benefits both parties. And if you notice that a colleague is knowledgeable in the subject you are interested in, ask him to share his knowledge.

Reassurance. Sometimes it’s enough just to add to a PR message that you thought was particularly successful, or to mention the work of a colleague during a daily meeting or retrospective. Expressing gratitude and appreciation to colleagues for their work can positively influence the team as a whole. I’m definitely starting to feel better when a colleague praises me for my work, and I’m very happy when I can say the same.

Personal acquaintance

I love remote work very much: an employer can hire the best specialists from around the world, and those, in turn, can work and live where they are more comfortable - it is beneficial for everyone. Nevertheless, I would still recommend remote teams at least once a year to get together to talk face to face: this allows colleagues to meet in a less businesslike environment and get to know each other better. If you can't get together officially, look for interesting conferences, and think about whether colleagues can come to an informal meeting.

Experiment ️

From my own experience I can say that in the best teams there are always a lot of curious people who are rarely satisfied with the status quo, whatever it may be. One of the ways to improve, working in a team, is to experiment with different approaches and processes. To get used to a well-functioning process and stop experimenting is quite easy and happens as if by itself. If you notice this in your team, look for a casual observer who will attend your meetings for several days in a row, ask questions and suggest different ideas. To roll into stereotyped thinking is quite a real situation, so a look from the outside can help.

Not so long ago, I tried several solutions that I liked:

• Informal morning chatter over coffee .
  
• Constantly open team video chat at extraordinary meetings .
  
• Change the role of the master of Scrum .
  

This list is obviously far from exhaustive - so tell us in the comments about habits that have been helpful to your team.

About the translator

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