Managing Remote IT Augmented Teams Effectively: Best Practices

In an ever-evolving IT landscape, the concept of a traditional office with all team members present is becoming a relic of the past. The rise of remote work, especially in IT, has opened up a world of possibilities and talent pools that were previously untapped. However, managing hybrid teams consisting of onsite and remote workers presents unique challenges. The need for seamless coordination, alignment, and productivity across these teams has never been more critical.

This comprehensive guide delves into the actionable strategies and best practices for effectively leading augmented IT teams, where onsite and remote members work collaboratively to achieve shared goals. By optimizing communication, setting clear objectives, promoting transparency, and nurturing a culture of inclusivity, IT leaders can build high-performing hybrid teams by leveraging IT staff augmentation services that consistently deliver results aligned with the business’s strategic objectives. This guide offers a roadmap to success in the ever-expanding world of remote and distributed IT teams.

Defining Team Objectives and KPIs

The first step is clarifying team goals, key results, and success metrics across the integrated onsite-offsite workforce. Quantifiable OKRs related to:

• Business impact – Revenue targets, cost savings, customer satisfaction scores.
• Output metrics – Features delivered, defects fixed, uptime, response times.
• Productivity – Velocity of work, cycle times, throughput.
• Quality – Defect rates, security, technical debt, performance metrics.

Having clearly defined objectives and key performance indicators provides visibility into expected outcomes. It also enables data-driven monitoring of progress.

Optimizing Communication Rhythms

With distributed teams, purposeful communication rhythms become even more critical for alignment:

• Cadences – Establish daily standups, weekly sync-ups, sprint reviews, and monthly business reviews covering onsite and offsite members.
• Tools – Use video chat for better engagement during meetings. Enable instant messaging for quick conversations.
• Async communication – Leverage tools like Slack, email, and wikis for non-realtime coordination.
• Documentation – Ensure extensive documentation of requirements, designs, and guidelines on internal wikis.
• Touchpoints – Encourage informal chat sessions for social connections beyond work.
• Listening – Actively gather feedback from both onsite and offsite members to identify issues early.

Formal and informal communication rhythms minimize isolation and keep all team members in sync.

Bridging Onsite and Offsite Members

It is key to facilitate tight collaboration between onsite and offsite team members:

• Assign buddies – Pair up onsite and offsite members as peer buddies for mentorship.
• Rotation – Temporary onsite rotations expose offsite members to the head office’s way of working.
• Delegates – Appoint onsite coordinators as offsite teams’ primary point of contact.
• Visits – Arrange trips for offsite members to visit head office and connect face-to-face.
• Social events – Organize informal team activities online and occasionally in person.
• Recognition – Make efforts to feature remote team members in newsletters, awards, etc.

Bridging the perceived gap arising from distance improves mutual understanding.

Optimizing Collaboration Tools

Equipping teams with the right collaboration tooling enhances real-time coordination and transparency:

• Video chat – Reliable, high-quality video conferencing for daily interactions.
• Shared workspaces – Enable collaborative document editing and commenting.
• Whiteboarding – Virtual whiteboarding for design sessions and brainstorms.
• File sharing – Provide easy file sharing between onsite and offsite locations.
• Project tracking – Use tools like Jira Trello to share progress visibility.
• Instant messaging – Always-on chat apps like Slack for quick discussions.
• Virtual watercoolers – Informal chat channels for team bonding and connecting.

Seamless tools lower barriers to collaboration and make remote workers feel closer to the action.

Establishing Asynchronous Workflows

Structure workflows to minimize blocking dependencies across time zones:

• Shift left – Front-load planning, specification, and coordination time upfront.
• Self-service – Enable offsite teams to work independently with clear specifications.
• Batching – Group-related tasks to complete before handover between locations.
• Executive hours – Define overlapping hours for synchronous collaboration daily.
• Overcommunication – Overcommunicate context to reduce unplanned real-time dependencies.

Asynchronous workflows remove friction from distributed teams working on stretched timelines.

Instituting Code-Sharing Workflows

Implement code-sharing mechanisms like:

• Version control – Repository-based collaboration enables code access from anywhere.
• Code reviews – Remote developers can participate in online code reviews.
• CI/CD pipelines – Automated integration and delivery pipelines minimize manual steps.
• Branching model – Feature branching allows independent workstreams to progress in parallel.
• Modular architecture – Enables different modules to progress independently across locations.

Code-sharing workflows allow distributed teams to build applications collectively.

Monitoring Performance Visibility

Provide transparency into team and individual performance:

• Quantify work – Break down large goals into measurable work items that any team can own.
• Task tracking – Use systems like Jira to assign and track progress on work items.
• Automated reports – Pull delivery metrics and KPIs automatically from tools into dashboards.
• Peer feedback – Gather anonymous feedback from peers on both sides regarding performance.
• 1:1s – Managers to maintain robust personal engagement with each direct report.
• Surveys – Regular pulse surveys to gather feedback on team health, issues, and morale.

Objective data-driven visibility motivates teams to execute at peak productivity.

Cultivating an Inclusive Culture

Nurture a collaborative culture across the hybrid environment:

• Values focus – Instill shared purpose and values between onsite and offsite staff.
• Social events – Organize fun activities online and occasionally in person to connect people.
• Team building – Run team building exercises and workshops spanning distributed sites.
• Learning – Support remote staff with equal opportunities for learning and growth.
• Listening – Practice empathetic listening to understand the unique needs of remote staff.
• Appreciation – Recognize and appreciate both onsite and offsite contributions equally.

An inclusive culture minimizes friction and enables the sustainability of distributed teams.

Securing Offsite Infrastructure

Manage security risks arising from remote work:

• Access controls – Enforce the principle of least-privilege access to systems.
• Data policies – Establish data protection standards for offsite work, including encryption.
• Device management – Require registration and configuration management of remote devices.
• Network security – Mandate the use of VPNs, block risky networks, and enforce multifactor authentication.
• Audits – Conduct periodic audits of offsite security practices compliance.
• Training – Educate remote staff continuously on security best practices.

Mitigating information security risks is crucial for risk-free remote work adoption.

Conclusion

As IT embraces remote-first work, leading distributed teams effectively becomes a key managerial capability. IT leaders can reap exponential benefits of global talent by implementing best practices spanning communication, culture, security, and technology. The strategies outlined in this guide are not just theoretical principles but practical, actionable steps that can equip managers to lead their dedicated development teams effectively. As we navigate the future of work, the successful integration of onsite and offsite team members will undoubtedly become a hallmark of IT leadership. Adopting these approaches will enable harnessing the power of location-agnostic teams to achieve heightened business impact.