When it comes to running a business, nothing beats mobile apps. According to eMarketer, adult smartphone users spend nearly 4 hours per day using mobile internet, and 88% of that time is spent in mobile apps rather than the browser. Meaning companies have to make their websites mobile responsive and focus on creating quality mobile apps as well for their business.
Now the question is: How do you develop quality apps in 2021 when your mobile app development team is scattered all over the place? Even when the teams were working from the office, the development part is not that easygoing. Now imagine managing 20 mobile app developers from 10 different locations?
The hiring team should be extra cautious while bringing onboard new app developers to the team. The developers should have a clear-cut idea about the project objectives and deliverables while working in remote settings. More importantly, they should be able to work with minimum supervision. Granted, it’s impossible to make out whether the developer you intend to rope in will be able to deliver goods. However, one way to resolve this issue is to temporarily get on board more developers than necessary for the project and then sift the chalk from the cheese to recruit permanently.
You need to practice four basic rules while managing your team. These rules are invariably applicable to the in-house teams, but more importantly, they need to be applied to the remote units.
You will be having developers from different parts of the world on your team. Meaning, they would be working in different time zones. So having a strictly scheduled time for communication will make your team mates more accountable and will accordingly organize their day and the team’s workflow.
During the meeting, your team mates could share their weekly progress and monthly progress and also share their achievements also.
However, never cancel any meetings. Think of postponing or rescheduling them or else your remote team might feel lost.
As it turns out, rapport building is essential for the remote workforce. This is where face-to-face meetings could help. Such live meetings help employees communicate ideas or issues they are embarrassed to talk about during sessions.
Ideally, you should have a face-to-face meeting with every employee every month. See if you find answers to the following questions during the session.
Also, you can learn more about their personal life and hobbies through such meetings. When the employees realize that you care for them, they’ll want to work with you and bring more value to their work.
Further, wish your team members on their birthdays and congratulate them on their achievements. Having a more approachable, personal level communication with employees will help build trust and team cohesion.
Thanks to the advancement of technologies, you will find many ways to be in touch with the remote team today. It can generally be divided into two categories:
Slack: Slack is the top-notch marketing tool for corporate communication, which comes with several features. You can not just attach documents; you can even integrate Google Suite, assign tasks, create private rooms, and manage overall teams easily.
Discord: For those on a shoe-string budget, try Discord. The tool is surprisingly robust.
Skype: Though not famous for private chats, the corporate world is in love with Skype. It helps communicate with the team members, allows conferences, and comes pre-installed with every Windows PC.
Zoom: If you are not using Windows, Skype won’t be ideal for you, instead try using Zoom.
Your employees may not be efficient as you would like them to be, but that shouldn’t stop you from appreciating them.
For some managers, this may seem to be an unnecessary expenditure. However, it helps boost the morale of the employees.
Making each member download a time-tracking machine on their computer and send the report at the end of the day about the hours spent on every job seems a sheer waste of time.
Instead, using dedicated tools for time-tracking for development teams such as Jira and Asana is a better way out.
If you have always worked alongside your team in the office, remote team management won’t be that easy. However, there’s nothing that can’t be learned with patience. And as mentioned, there is collaborative software available which makes it easier to manage remote teams. And when properly managed, a remote group can do wonders for your project. GoodFirms has listed some top mobile app development companies, where you could easily find quality app developers for hire.
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