5 Time-Proven Practices That Will Change How You Manage Dedicated Teams

Have you considered following the example of big companies and choosing dedicated teams for your IT project? Are you aware of all the benefits that dedicated teams bring to companies? According to statista.com, 44% of US-based companies are choosing dedicated teams. Most companies claim that the savings and potential they can get from working with dedicated teams are enormous.

In fact,dedicated team placement has been a buzzword recently. This is why the future of work requires companies to grasp the potential of global talent and international expansion. While saving at least 5 to 10% for a developer in such a competitive niche, companies can use their funds and focus on their core business.

Nevertheless, with the installation of the software development team, the management has to adapt to the novelties. This is how they’ll get the most out of the dedicated team. For that purpose, instead of knowing all the ins and outs to motivate and work with in-office employees, managers have to engage their dedicated teams as well successfully. Besides, managing an in-office team is way different from managing a remote one.

Therefore, here are the critical practices that every manager has to be aware of to manage dedicated teams. All of these techniques are essential for project collaboration and getting the best of what remote team management can offer both for the employees and the company as well.

1. Daily Effective Communication

When it comes to the management of dedicated teams, communication is crucial! The more, the better! Your dedicated team may be miles apart, so encouraging open communication and honesty is key to success.

Make sure you schedule short daily meetings to check the development of the project. Once you use both audio and video calls, as well as screen sharing, there will be no miscommunication that can create further issues. Also, always double-check whether every member of the dedicated team understands the tasks well.

2. Choosing a User-Friendly Software for Collaboration

Since all the communication and collaboration with the dedicated team will be online, make sure you select reliable tools and software for it. Therefore, it’s wise to pick out some user-friendly and easy to manage apps for collaboration. Some of the most commonly used tools for managing your software development team are the following:

Slack – for chatting and group communicationEvernote – the app for collaborative sketching and writingAsana or Trello – task organization appsZoom, Skype or Google Hangouts – videos, conference calls, and meetingsBasecamp – project managementGithub, Dropbox or Google Docs – file management

3. Make Sure Your Team Has Access to All the Needed Information

At the very beginning of the project, you have to provide all the details to the dedicated team. You should be aware that hiring a dedicated team isn’t like hiring an employee. So, you can’t just expect them to learn things with practice while working. If you do so, you’ll be making a big mistake. Therefore, you shouldn’t risk it.

Once you choose to have a dedicated team for your project, equipping them with all the data upfront should be your goal. Adding some information later on, once the team has started working may demotivate them or bring failure to the project.

4. Measure Employee Engagement and Provide Feedback

To keep your dedicated team happy and productive, you have to keep them engaged with their work. And some ways to achieve that is by providing regular feedback and recognizing and rewarding their efforts. We are well aware that keeping the dedicated team motivated can be a great challenge, but you have to work towards it. Even though your remote unit may be miles away, you should treat them as you would treat a new employee.

At first, make sure you provide the dedicated team with a proper onboarding process and set clear expectations from the very start. Setting goals upfront is what will motivate them to get a bonus, achievement award or recognition. And in the end, it’s always essential to provide both positive and negative feedback. Constructive feedback is a way to navigate the dedicated team. Just by getting regular feedback, the dedicated team will know in which direction they should move further.

5. Grasp the Cultural and Time-Zone Differences

Managers should be ready to face the cultural and time-zone differences that come with the remote dedicated team. First of all, most dedicated teams work with international companies and are easily adaptable. So, managers should go a step forward, be open-minded and try to create an open communication atmosphere. It’s the manager’s responsibility to try and make sure that every team member of the remote dedicated team is familiar with the company’s culture, goals, and expectations.

Also, the manager has to be flexible when it comes to time-zone differences. Sometimes you have to be patient and be aware that you can’t ask them to work out of their work hours. Therefore, the best option is to give your dedicated team upfront daily or weekly tasks with a deadline. This way, there won’t be delays, and the time-zone difference won’t affect your work.

Now that you know what are the key points to making your dedicated team happy and productive, we hope that you’ll incorporate them into your practice. In the end, we all know that if the team members are appreciated and satisfied, it’s very likely that they’ll provide excellent project results.

Author Bio:

Dmitry Bogdanov is a marketing professional at Intersog, a Chicago-based IT consulting company that provides custom software and staff augmentation solutions for eCommerce, finance, healthcare, and other companies. He is a fan of emerging technologies like AI and IoT and believes that the future will be amazing thanks to good things that change this world today.