Projectmanagement Tips for remote teams - Cloudical
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WHITEPAPER
Projectmanagement
Tips for remote teams
Projects are often implemented by teams whose team members no longer all work in one office.
They often work from home, live in different countries, on different continents. Leading such a
team and ensuring a successful project implementation is a great challenge that can succeed.
We can give you valuable tips for your project management.
Example -Kanban-Board
Contact
Cloudical Deutschland GmbH
info@cloudical.io
www.cloudical.io
CONTENTS
3 Agile methods and tools
4 Team communication
5 Conclusion
6 Links
PM - Remote Teams 2Nowadays, project managers are almost used to the fact that the collea-
gues implementing the project are not always on site, but work at home,
at an external customer or even in different countries. Nevertheless, it is
always a great challenge to really create an environment in which each
person is perceived as part of the team, to introduce transparent com-
munication and to establish good cooperation.
For teams that are only just switching to home and digital project work,
this is a major challenge that needs to be carefully monitored by the
project manager.
There are various methods and tools that can and should be used for Agile methods and
project management. Basically, agile project work has proven to be a tools
target-oriented approach in recent years. Four central aspects are un-
derstood by agility: Speed, adaptability, customer focus and attitude.
Speed and adaptability are understood to mean that organizations or,
in our case, project teams react quickly and dynamically to changes or
other results than expected and are able to adapt quickly, i.e. find new
approaches to solutions quickly. The third aspect is the stronger cus-
tomer focus that is achieved through agility. This refers primarily to the
short cycles and iterations, the ability to move forward in small steps and
to react quickly and selectively to customer requirements. Agile atti-
tude, sometimes also called agile mindset, encompasses various points
regarding interpersonal behaviour. Essential here is an appreciative way
of dealing with others, which enables an encounter at eye level, and
open, goal-oriented communication.
In order to work agile within a project, there are methods and tools like
Scrum and Kanban boards, e.g. Trello, Jira, Microsoft Planner and many
more. Scrum was designed as a project management method for soft-
ware development, but is now used for all kinds of projects. The start-
ing point was and is that many projects are too complex to be captured
in a complete, all-inclusive plan. An essential part of the requirements
and the solution approaches are unclear at the beginning. This ambigui-
ty can be eliminated by defining intermediate results. Based on these
intermediate results, the missing requirements and solution techniques
can be found more efficiently than through comprehensive project
planning. In Scrum planning is developed iteratively and based on each
other. The long-term plan is continuously refined and improved. The
detailed plan is only created for the next cycle (the sprint). This allows
the project planning to focus on the essentials. Three points are crucial
in Scrum:
• ●Transparency: Progress and obstacles of a project are recorded re-
gularly and visible for all.
• Review: Project results are regularly delivered and evaluated.
• Adaptation: Requirements for the product, plans and procedures
are not fixed once and for all, but continuously and in detail adap-
ted. Scrum does not reduce the complexity of the overall task, but
structures it into smaller and less complex components.
PM - Remote Teams 3Tools such as Kanban boards support the Scrum method and ensu-
re transparent clarity and clear allocation of tasks. Kanban boards also
come from software development, but are also used across project ma-
nagement. The first step in introducing Kanban is to visualize the existing
processes, the existing work and problems. This is done in the form of a
Kanban board. The individual sprints are divided into individual tasks.
These are entered into the board as notes, a table in which the status of
each individual task can be seen at first glance. Table columns are e.g.
tasks / in process / completed (simple example is shown on figure 1). If
it becomes apparent while editing the tasks that even this planning was
too vague, new single tasks can be defined very quickly. It has proved
to be useful to assign the individual tasks to only one team member at a
time, who is then responsible for completion. This way, the project ma-
nager always has a quick overview of where the team currently stands,
where there are problems and whether the sprint can be completed in
the defined time. The team members can see at a glance what they are
responsible for in the near future. This does not mean that they are left
alone with their tasks, because they work in a team, but still bear this re-
sponsibility. Proper communication is crucial for team cooperation.
Especially when working remotely, the exchange of ideas must be pos- Team
sible within the team, the different team members must be able to com- communication
municate with each other. If the technical prerequisites are in place (see
the white paper on digital work, https://cloudical.io/white-paper/), the
most important thing is to set up regular meetings to keep everyone on
the same page - daily, or at least weekly meetings have proven effective
here.
Regular exchange is especially important when the team cannot meet in
person. In this case, the social factor must also be taken into account in
the daily exchange. Meetings should be short and focused, the project
status should be recorded and a plan for the day should be produced. At
least once a week, the project manager should also allow time for chat-
ting, which is essential for the team feeling. If the meeting takes place in
the morning, it can start, for example, with each participant holding his/
her coffee cup to the camera and telling how the week is going apart
from the project. This has the charming side effect that the cameras
must be turned on during the meeting. This is also an important factor
in being able to see your team members, see non-verbal reactions and
thus have a greater interpersonal component in the meeting (figure 2).
These social meetings should also be time-limited, but should be sized
to allow members to joke or complain. When teams work exclusively re-
motely, the project leader must be sensitive to the mood of the team;
there may be a greater need for social exchange than once a week. Ne-
vertheless, not all meetings should degenerate into chat sessions, so
that a good, productive balance is found.
It is important in these meetings that each participant has his or her
say and can give feedback. Everyone should be given about the same
amount of speaking time so that the quieter team members can partici-
pate in the exchange and the more eloquent ones get a framework.
PM - Remote Teams 4If the Scrum method is used for project work, the
respective sprints should be discussed in the team.
The tasks for the next period are placed in the con-
text of the overall project and briefly discussed indi-
vidually so that each team member is aware of what
he or she is responsible for in the sprint. It has proven
to be a good idea for each team member to repeat
their tasks in their own words, this way it shows that
they have really been understood. The status of the
tasks is clarified in the daily meetings, difficulties are
discussed and, if possible, a solution is worked out so
that the sprint produces the desired results.
Other factors that need to be considered when com-
municating in a widespread international team are
time differences, cultural backgrounds and langua-
ge barriers. Meetings should be held at an accepta-
ble time for everyone in the team. Especially in inter-
national teams, the time difference must be taken
into account: If it is late in the morning in Germany,
the colleagues in India, for example, are already at
work, while for the US team members the working
day has not even started yet. Appointment schedu-
ling tools such as Calendly or FindTime take into ac-
count the time zones of all participants. It must also
be kept in mind that when the sender's workday has
just begun and the recipient is already at work, some
urgent messages may take longer to respond. For emergencies that
cannot be postponed, appropriate substitution arrangements should
therefore be made.
Different cultural backgrounds and also language barriers require dif-
ferent types of communication, the effects of which often only come to
bear when the project is already well advanced. Here too, the project
manager has the important task of ensuring that a lack of social compo-
nent or even a lack of cultural understanding between the people in the
project, who only know each other through the various means of com-
munication, can appear like fine sand in the gears and ultimately con-
demn the project to failure. To avoid misunderstandings and problems,
clear expectations should be communicated by all participants: Tasks,
goals, deadlines and progress within the project should be recorded in
writing by everyone. In addition, open communication should be made
possible, in which misunderstandings, problems and difficulties in un-
derstanding can and should be addressed openly in order to find com-
mon solutions and make joint work possible at all.
Remote project teams are a challenge for project managers, which can Conclusion
be mastered with a clear project structure, the right tools and balanced,
open communication within the team.
PM - Remote Teams 5Agility: Links
• ●https://the-report.cloud/agile-transformation-for-small-and-
medium-sized-enterprises-first-steps
• https://the-report.cloud/agility-in-the-cloud
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development
Srum:
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_(software_development)
Kanban:
• https://medium.com/re-write/managing-projects-easier-with-a-
kanban-board-30a988a99f57
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban
PM - Remote Teams 6You can also read
