To prepare
Leadership / ownership. It is important that the selected person internally has the responsibility and mandate to manage and lead the developers remotely.
Prepare the team. Employees should be prepared to welcome and include the developers remotely into the team.
Set clear procedures for working methods, meetings, instructions, documentation. In this way, misunderstandings and unnecessary errors are avoided and the productivity of the team can be maintained or even improved.
Use English even if you local language is not english. It facilitates for all parties if English becomes the everyday language and of course all written information and documentation.
Introduction
Take the time to explain to the developers why they are here. Give them the background and explain what they are expected to do. The collaboration will work better if they understand the context in which they operate.
It is usually a good strategy to start with smaller tasks to get started and test all new routines and working methods.
Better to conduct video meeting often rather than rarely. In the beginning, there are a lot of questions and thoughts. The investment in time consumed by frequent communication pays off in the long run.
It is well worth the investment to invite the developers to the local office in the first week or two. The opportunity to get to know each other, get into the team, experience the office and the mood is important to integrate the developers in the company culture.
Give the developer a chance to start looking at the system, code and the tasks before the developer arrive on the starting day. It gives the developer a chance to create a picture of what he/she will work with and start to think out some questions and thoughts making the start and the visit more productive.
Remote developers value participation and are happy to show commitment with their own suggestions and ideas. It is important that you encourage them to feel involved and not just as an extra resource at a distance.
Communication
Clear and defined communication channels. Decide which tools to use and in what way they should be used. Having co-workers at a distance requires more discipline to actually stick to agreed communication channels
Work with a clear agenda in meetings.
Frequency! – Create a habit of daily communication with each other. The physical distance can be bridged quickly if the team get used to meet online frequently.
Video Communication – See Each Other! Phone and chat alright, but the importance of looking at each other should not be underestimated. It creates a different affinity and today there are great video conference solutions.
Integration
Be personal. Invite. Consider and treat your developers in Ukraine as your employees. Dare to be personal and invite them also to the informal chat threads or happenings that will make them feel like part of the company and your culture.
Generally small cultural differences to Sweden. Remote developers function and act mostly as Swedish developers. The cultural barriers that some companies experience with offshore development generally do not apply in cooperation with developers in Europe. This is also one of the reasons why Swedish companies like to cooperate with countries in Europe and vice versa. It’s a good cultural match. The higher grade of involvement the faster you reach productivity.
Working methods
Clear project management. As with all IT development, good project management is required. However, this is perhaps even more critical when the development is distributed.
Complexity is increasing and thus also the need to keep things together and follow up on all aspects.
Clear project management is one of the most important success factors for well-functioning distributed development.