Software engineers often have a multitude of projects, from building software products and running network control systems to designing computer games and monitoring android tasks. Whatever yours may be, you must connect with your pros and ensure everyone plays their part through project management.
However easy project management sounds, it can be a nightmare, especially when working with software engineers scattered across Africa.
Remote project management has its fair share of challenges, including motivation loss and miscommunications. Luckily, you can use the following tips to make this task easier.
- Trust Your Engineers
Trust favors both you, the employer, and your team members. You can focus on your goals and objectives when there’s no reason to doubt your engineers. Moreover, you can create a distraction-free environment that’s good for your team members’ emotional and mental well-being. All these are surefire ways to boost your company’s performance and bottom line.
To build trust with your remote African software engineers, be responsive, dependable, and transparent. Remember that as a team leader, you have to exemplify the values you want your employees to possess. Also, prioritize honesty and openness. If you do that, your colleagues will be more than willing to follow suit.
- Set Goals and Expectations
Clear goals and expectations boost your team’s focus. Without these elements, the remote software engineers working for your company will have a hard time understanding expected outcomes and doing all they can to turn them into a reality.
Expectations and goals also enable you to examine indispensable operational processes and their effectiveness. That way, if you find anything pulling back your team’s effort or performing poorly, you can make it more efficient or find a substitute.
Common goals and expectations that you should incorporate in your projects include timely communication, meeting deadlines, and constant professional development.
- Encourage Ideas and Feedback
Evidently, you can ensure your software engineers adhere to a specified project plan and do their jobs well by telling them how they’re performing and suggesting hacks for improvement. That is important because regular feedback helps your team align performance with formulated goals.
That said, you should also encourage ideas and comments from your remote software engineers. With this strategy, you facilitate the development of a powerful think tank and create an environment where every team member can comfortably share their views.
And when your workers freely share their feedback, you become more aware of the experiences and challenges they face on an ongoing basis. You can use the information to your advantage by rectifying hardships, increasing employee engagement, and enjoying skyrocketing productivity.
- Communicate Unambiguously
Project management can’t have the desired effect without clear communication.
Clear communication lets your team members understand their responsibilities, proceed smoothly, and deliver timely results. Plus, good communication fosters trust and encourages everyone involved to collaborate seamlessly from start to finish.
Just as importantly, unambiguous communication staves off confusion and conflict. These challenges bog down your project and prevent key players from aligning on project goals and morphing into the dream team.