Welcome to the remote world!

Our vision in 2017

With the development of technology, a new way of communication has replaced traditional forms of office work and in many global companies it has become a norm. Due to cheap labor markets, outsourcing IT is not only common, but also the only option for many organisations that want to be competitive. Skype conferences, chat communications have replaced the need of a phone call. New type of workforce and communication practices, shaped by remote physical location, lead to a need for new type of management. Managers had to learn to analyse employees’ behaviour from a distance and apply slightly changed methods of motivation via new channels of communication.

Covid 19 – 2020

Few were expecting such a rapid change of the way we work in the IT sector. We definitely didn’t see it coming so quickly.

[Remote] Leadership

No matter whether it is an organisation, where all employees are located in one office, or there are remotely located employees, good leadership is needed. “Successful project management is more than just the effective application of tools and techniques” (Muller, 2010). According to the author, success in projects depends on both leadership and management competencies.

Main competencies: communication, self- awareness, developing others, vision. Situational competencies are managing resources, empowering, critical analysis and judgment, strategic perspective, emotional resilience, influence and conscientiousness.

How do a leader carries out competencies when communication changed overnight?

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[Remote] Motivation and Incentives

Motivation is one of the emotional competencies a manager should be good at. What does the Oxford dictionary say ?

“Motivation” – “A reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way”, so therefore a manager should be good at helping the developers to find the reasons of doing what they do.

Herzberg looks into the small details in our daily work – the environment, tools, support, relations and many other factors that may lead to lower or higher motivation.

How do we extrapolate this knowledge and apply what we know into the new remote reality?

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[Remote] Trust among team members

Is building trust similar in the office and in the remote environment?

Trust leads to sharing and contributing, that’s why it is important to understand the importance of having high levels of trust in your team. In a research about “trust” (Sarker 2003), three layers of trust are identified: personality based, institutional based and cognitive based trust. Which one matters most and which one is something that managers can influence the most?

In the book entitled “Trust in Virtual Teams” (Wise 2013), Thomas Wise studies these forms of trust. We would pay more attention to the Cognitive Trust. It has been described with three dimensions: expectation, experience and knowledge. Managers should be aware of them, as trust in teams leads to higher cooperation and performance.

[Remote] Hygiene factors

In the book entitled “Managing the Unmanageable” (Mantle 2012) the authors look at the hygiene theory but from the prism of the IT industry. Their personal experience is mainly in large and medium IT organisations and they try to find how relevant are these conclusions for the programmers. They underline few of the hygiene factors that play major role in managing programmers. The factors that increase motivation are: making difference, learning and growing, toys and technology, recognition and praise, having fun and upside. The factors that may lead to dissatisfaction if not met are: respect for supervisor, having fun, learning and growing, good working conditions, company policies and administration, ethical management, fair compensation.

Now, how about hygiene factors in a remote environment ?

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