How top engineering leaders manage remote teams today

According to Zapier’s 2022 Future of Work report 64% of respondents say working remotely allows for more productivity. For National Work From Home Day 2022, we gathered insights from five global tech leaders at the helm of innovative, remote teams. Here’s our round-up of the best practices they shared.

Keep the communication running

While working remotely, maintaining uninterrupted communication is a massive challenge because of its asynchronous nature. And there’s hardly any way to maintain higher productivity with distantly working teams if they’re not communicating well. In our interview with Elena Ivanova, the Managing Director at Crunchyroll, we got answers to vital questions about efficient communication and the team’s productivity.

Remote work was a test for Elena and her team, which she passed successfully. She maintained a close connection with her team through online communication channels like Zoom Meetings, not only for professional talks but also for personal and emotional support.

While productivity remains a concern for many remotely operating businesses, Crunchyroll adopted the latest remote communication technologies to keep up with goals. With a 99% remote workforce, they use tools like Jira, Atlassian, and Github to communicate and remain productive.

Hire the top global talent

Hiring the most suitable person for a talent acquisition team becomes easy when they get to choose from an ocean of top global talent. According to Ismael Mouradi, the Director of Talent Acquisition at Foodics, remote work has allowed him to hire highly qualified and skilled people from different countries.

Regarding productivity, the Foodics team relies on Slack for organized communication, but that’s not all. Foodics also emphasizes mental wellness and high morale. For that, they organize weekly sessions in which the company’s CEO virtually meets with all the employees. They also host frequent gatherings and perform several fun and educational activities for creating in-person connections.

One size doesn’t fit all

According to Albane Bruyas, the COO of Scaleway, it’s crucial for management to understand that one size doesn’t fit all. When Covid shut down people’s movement, almost every business was unprepared for complete remote operations. So, no single process could be called the final answer to upcoming challenges.

The company has since shifted to a hybrid working model, leaving it up to individuals whether they want to be in the office or work from home. The company’s leaders tested multiple ways to manage in-house and remote teams to find the ones that suited them. Changing the working model to remote operations also allowed Scaleway to hire the best talent from the world.

Find what’s suitable

When you manage a global team, the biggest hurdle in communication is the time difference. Every day, while some of your employees are waking up to start their day, others are signing off. Therefore, a streamlined flow of instructions and deliverables is vital for such a team. In our interview with Alessandro Cavinato, Co-founder and CTO at Tresarti, we found out how they overcame this challenge.

The Tresarti team knew that the right talent, uninterrupted communication, and active participation are the critical factors for productivity in remote operations. So, they followed the mantra of suitability—hiring the right global talent after carefully examining their skills and using the suitable tools for communication and project management. They used Jira for technical aspects, Trello for business-related topics, and communication channels that were accessible to all.

Build trust in your team

Christianne N. De Carvalho, the Director of Engineering and General Manager at Trustly, tells us that the key to making things work with the team from different countries, cultures, and time zones is trust. Despite working with people from other regions, Trustly management actively engages every employee to make them feel valued and responsible.

Trustly focuses on teamwork while accepting and respecting individual personalities. When you hire a team that is open and welcoming to different opinions, diversity becomes a blessing. As per Christianne, the willingness of the Trustly squad has made it easy for them to inherit new processes, tools, and approaches to balance the team and, as a result, offer better value propositions to their customers.