How to Make Virtualized Software Development Teams Work Effectively
Virtual development teams are quickly becoming the norm in most industries and organizations. With the right approach, they can be highly effective as they leverage global talent and optimize collaboration. Having team members from around the globe allows for a wide range of expertise to be a part of the team, but such a variety of people doesn’t come without challenges. Timezones and the lack of face-to-face interaction can cause team members to feel isolated or to have communication breakdowns. That’s why virtual teams must have specific methods and tools in place to ensure a sense of culture and collaboration present in their online workplace.
Here are some ways to ensure your virtual team is thriving and working to the best of their abilities.
1. Effective Communication
It’s essential that virtual teams can communicate seamlessly and efficiently with one another during their work hours. Communication channels like Slack and Microsoft Teams facilitate real-time communication between team members, file sharing, and task management. This can be paired with regular video conferencing through a platform such as Zoom, which enhances team engagement immensely because it simulates face-to-face interaction.
It’s important to note that software companies should set some clear guidelines about how often team members should communicate. This can be in the form of scheduled meetings or check-ins. It may also enhance interdepartmental interactions between members, keeping team members engaged and involved in the whole organization.
2. Content Management Tools
Many tools are available that facilitate virtualized development, and utilizing them can vastly improve how a virtual team communicates and functions. Atlassian has several team collaboration tools, such as Jira and Confluence, which allow for information to be centralized and shared amongst team members. Other platforms, such as Adobe XD and Figma, can help user interface designers and user experience designers create virtual web templates and applications. These can be used in addition to video conferencing and real-time communication platforms to cover all aspects of a virtual software development team.
3. Collaborative Work Approach
Collaboration is at the core of every effective software team. Members need to be able to work together seamlessly and should always be encouraged to share ideas, insights, and best practices. These can be shared during virtual team meetings or even virtual workshops, which can be more structured and facilitate the sharing of ideas more effectively.
Paired programming also facilitates collaboration because it allows developers to work on developing code with another team member. This can create a partnered environment and will also enhance problem-solving skills. Although pair programming usually involves two members of a development team working together at a single workstation, it is just as effective when done so remotely. Remote pair programming involves having one team member write code while another reads it and gives feedback on how the code can be improved. Some remote pair programming tools, such as Live Share and Replit, can be used so team members can work together on code in real-time. Regular code reviews are also critical, allowing team members to give each other constructive feedback.
4. Virtual Office Culture
Creating and maintaining a sense of purpose and trust within the organization and each team is also crucial. It’s vital in any organization, but it becomes even more essential with virtual teams, as the company’s ‘in-office’ culture simply doesn’t exist. But an online office culture is achievable if everyone commits to creating it. Online team-building activities such as games or trivia can be a great way to bring everyone together. Giving team members recognition and rewards for their hard work can motivate them and encourage a company culture.
Reiterating the company’s story and values can also keep team members motivated, as well as give them a sense of personal purpose. The company’s mission should be clear and reinforced throughout the working day during team meetings and through collaborative activities.
5. Continuous Documentation
It’s essential that there is a significant amount of documentation while working on software development projects and while solving problems. It’s helpful to have some kind of backlog of issues and how they’ve been resolved so that when they come up again in the future, team members can simply look back at how the problem was resolved. This also helps with onboarding new team members.
Project requirements should also be documented to outline what the software should do. Design documentation, technical specifications, and test plans are all also extremely important in ensuring that every step of the project is covered and understood by each team member. Collaborative tools such as wikis and project management systems can make these documents accessible to everyone on the team.
SRG’s Outstanding Virtual Team
Since 2000, SRG Software has leveraged a virtual software development team approach with very successful results. We have expanded our team member locations to include over 4 global regions with no negative impact on customer time zone availability/communication and team productivity. SRG uses state-of-the-art web communication and project management tools to maximize efficiency and transparency during all phases of software development, maintenance, and support.
