How to Simplify Project Management for Remote Teams

I’ve successfully managed remote teams for 20 years, without micro-managing It's a lot simpler than most people think. Here’s how I do it 👇 I started managing offshore development teams at GE in 2004 Now, my entire team is remote Managing remote teams can be tricky Especially if everyone on the team is performing at different levels One tactic that’s helped me the most. Creating habits! Tiny habits lead to big results. But in a remote world, how do you know everyone practices good habit hygiene? Here’s my system. 1. Set Clear Goals for Everyone ⮑ Make sure each team member knows their targets. ⮑ This helps them stay focused and productive. 2. Use Activity Logs Wisely ⮑ Ask for daily or weekly logs that highlight key tasks completed. ⮑ This provides insight without being invasive. 3. Encourage 15-min Regular Check-ins ⮑ Schedule brief, consistent meetings to discuss progress. ⮑ These touchpoints keep everyone aligned and accountable. 4. Embrace Collaborative Tools ⮑ Use tools like Slack, Gong, Hubspot to track activity. ⮑ This keeps everyone in the loop and eases communication. 5. Celebrate Small Wins ⮑ Acknowledge milestones and achievements regularly. ⮑ This boosts morale and keeps the team motivated. 6. Offer Constructive Feedback ⮑ Provide timely and specific feedback on work completed. ⮑ This helps team members improve and stay on track. 7. Foster a Culture of Trust ⮑ Build trust by being transparent and supportive. ⮑ This creates a positive work environment where everyone thrives. Each week at Miva I hold: -15-minute weekly 1x1s w/ my direct reports -30-minute functional team meetings w/ each GTM function -30-minute GTM all-hands on Friday. During our GTM all-hands, we discuss our activity goals and how we did. We also share learnings and ideas on how to improve. When we do the right reps the results take care of themselves.

What’s killing your remote team’s productivity? Here’s a hint: It’s not about working harder. I worked with a lifestyle brand whose remote team was drowning: 1. Scattered across time zones. 2. Slack pings out of control. 3. Deadlines slipping through the cracks. The team was frustrated. Leadership was stressed. Everyone felt stuck. In just 30 days, we turned it around and boosted productivity by 20%. Here’s how you can, too: 1. Map every role to a clear outcome. ↳No more "Who owns this?" Everyone knew what they were responsible for. 2. Ditch "online hours" and focus on outcomes. ↳When we stopped tracking time and started tracking results, trust skyrocketed. 3. Cut redundant tools. ↳Dropping from six apps to two made decision-making faster. 4. Hold brief daily stand-ups. ↳A quick 10-minute check-in ended the constant Slack chaos and brought clarity to the whole team. I’ve seen this time and again: remote chaos doesn’t mean failure. With the right steps, your team can thrive. P.S. What’s been the biggest challenge with your remote team?

I've been managing fully remote teams for over a decade, and I’ve found that the right tools and approach make all the difference. Here’s how we keep things running smoothly: 1) No Email: We don't like email for internal communication. Slack is our go-to tool—the lifeblood of our team’s communication. Quick, organized, and keeps everyone in sync. 2) Project Management: We rely on Asana for tracking project tasks, while Notion and ClickUp keep our agency and product workflows on point. These tools help us stay organized and focused. 3) Asynchronous Collaboration with Loom: With a team spanning multiple time zones, Loom is a game-changer. It lets us record and share ideas, updates, and instructions asynchronously. A video often says more than an email or message. 4) Accountability with Hubstaff: Managing 150+ people across time zones takes serious organization. Hubstaff helps us track time without micromanaging. We don’t deep-dive into the data unless performance concerns arise, but it gives us peace of mind that everyone’s on track. With this setup, we’ve built a remote team that’s not just efficient but also deeply connected and aligned, no matter where in the world we’re working from. Prioritize clear communication and accountability. Even when everyone is miles apart.

After a decade leading a remote company, I've learned productivity isn't about location. It's about strategy. 🙌 Here are 4 proven strategies: 1. Centralize all information. → Create one knowledge base for everything.  → Eliminate confusion. Save time on repetitive questions. 2. Embrace asynchronous work. → We reduced meetings by 70%.  → Documentation and recorded updates connect our global team effectively. 3. Measure results, not hours. → Set clear objectives with reasonable deadlines.  → Quality improves. Team satisfaction rises. 4. Simplify your tech stack. → Choose fewer tools. Ensure complete adoption.  → Avoid half-implemented solutions. Remote work forces intentional operations. Done right, it doesn't just match and crush office productivity.  📌Share your best remote productivity methods below. ~~~~ ♻️Repost for those leaders in your network. Follow me,  Mohit Tater, for more!  

PMs have all the accountability. With none of the authority. Getting others to do what you need them to do can be tough. Managers' and directors' gigs aren't easy, but at least they're in a position of authority. As for project managers? Not so much. Which means you need your own set of tactics. Since there's nothing you can do to 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘭 a team member to get their stuff done. Cialdini's landmark book "Influence" is full of great advice on subtly accomplishing this. a. Reciprocity b. Commitment & Consistency c. Social Proof d. Authority e. Liking f. Scarcity g. Unity But personally, I prefer a more direct approach: public accountability. How does it work? Here are the steps: 1/ 𝘿𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 Collaborate with sponsors and stakeholders to spell out what you're meant to accomplish. Ensure you have complete buy-in before moving from this step. 2/ 𝙊𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙨 Sit down with your project team members to mark down all of the tasks (with dependencies) that are required to accomplish your defined objectives. Make sure all of your team members are at the table. Spend as much time on this as it takes to get it right. 3/ 𝘼𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣 𝙤𝙬𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 For every task from the previous step, identify a single owner who is responsible for the task's completion. Ascribe durations to the tasks. Ask the owners what must be accomplished before their work can begin and/or finish. Ensure that it's marked as a dependency if it was missed in the previous step. 4/ 𝙑𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩 In round-robin style, ask every task owner if they believe the list of tasks is accurate. Do not ask this of the group; 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆. 5/ 𝙂𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙪𝙮-𝙞𝙣 Socialize the plan with the sponsors and/or steering committee. (Milestones should be sufficient.) Ask for concerns about timing and duration. Answer all questions and get final approval. 6/ 𝙋𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙫𝙨. 𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙠 Meet as a project team regularly. Review current and past due tasks *with the task owner PROMINENTLY identified*. Do this religiously so people know it's coming and will prepare accordingly. Be supportive of task owners who fall behind, and show support to their supervisor as you make them aware of deliverables that are at risk or overdue. ~~~ Be firm but fair. This will build your credibility and ensure that team members know what's expected of them. Any problems that arise become a concern related to the process rather than with individuals. Do this over the duration of the project--and then for subsequent projects--and you'll become recognized as a process-oriented project manager with high standards. People want to work with a PM who has high standards, and who holds others to high standards as well. ____ 👋 Follow me Timothy Morgan for more about IT project management.

As a project manager at a smaller organization, part of what my team does includes teaching staff how to use project management techniques and skills to work for their needs. We aren't an official PMO but we have customized templates, step by step directions made using Scribe, and we meet with teams to get their projects setup based on their needs. How can you do this at your own organization? 1️⃣Have a page on your company's intranet with easily accessible templates. You don't necessarily need to create your own depending on how complex the needs of your organization are. ProjectManager.com has just about every kind of template you could need ready to go and they're easy to edit for your team's needs. https://lnkd.in/dBwuv8_s. 2️⃣Find yourself answering the same questions repeatedly? Make a Scribe document that shows the step by step directions with screenshots without having to repeat yourself. 3️⃣Set up organizational templates in whatever project management software your organization has available. My current organization uses Asana and they have templates already made but our team can add additional templates based on organizational needs. 4️⃣Ask what your teams need! It's a simple thing but ask the teams you work with regularly what would be most helpful to them. They will appreciate you listening and taking their needs into account. No matter what your team chooses to go with, make sure all of it is easily available to other staff members. #pmo #projectmanager #professionaldevelopment