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Managing Remote teams

  • Writer: appliedpm
    appliedpm
  • Oct 1
  • 2 min read

Human beings thrive on social connections—from early morning coffee chats to late-night goodbyes, connection and communication get us through the day. Remote working removes much of this natural connection, amplifying communication gaps, assumptions, and misunderstandings. For project management, this adds pressure, as remote teams require efficient ways of working to avoid delays or mishaps.


In-person teams solve problems standing in the hallways, clarify any doubts while passing by each other’s desks and build trust with each other during shared breaks. A lot of these nuances are lost in remote teams which creates a gap in the workflow over time. Therefore, to build a successful remote team, you are not required to replicate office life, but to create new systems that makes teams work better together.


Three Critical Remote Challenges

  • Context Loss: Without situational awareness of others' workloads and priorities, team members work in isolation. This lack of insight leads to communication breakdowns and potential project mishaps.

  • Relationship Deficit: Trust is slower to develop through transactional interactions, making team members feel like names on screens rather than trusted colleagues, impacting morale and motivation.

  • Communication Lag: Asynchronous communication causes delays that accumulate, stretching what could be a two-minute question into hours or days of waiting.


Industry-Specific Remote Challenges


  • Technology/Software: Needs strong code review and virtual pair programming while maintaining an innovation culture.

  • Financial Services: Demands secure communication and regulatory alignment across time zones.

  • Healthcare: Must balance patient privacy with real-time consultation needs within HIPAA regulations.

  • Manufacturing: Requires hybrid approaches with remote design/planning and on-site execution.

  • Consulting: Needs a professional virtual presence and seamless client knowledge sharing across time zones.


Four Essential Remote Management Practices

  • Communicate with context: Share not just what needs doing, but why it matters and how it connects to others' work. Replace "update the dashboard" with "update the dashboard so marketing can finalize campaign messaging by Friday."

  • Create intentional informal interaction: Schedule 15-minute "coffee chat" video calls with rotating pairs of team members. These relationship-building sessions prevent the isolation that kills remote team cohesion.

  • Make work visible in real-time: Use shared dashboards showing current priorities, blockers, and progress. Team members should understand others' workloads and constraints without asking.

  • Establish response time expectations: Define when immediate response is needed versus when 24-hour delays are acceptable. Distinguish between urgent project blockers and general information sharing.


When done well, remote teams can outperform in-person teams with clearer documentation, flexible schedules, higher productivity, and deeper focus. Intentional systems for visibility, communication, and relationship building foster remote PM teams that deliver superior results.







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