Taryn MancineProject Manager| Cook MyoSite, IncPittsburgh, Pa, United States
Who are remote project managers currently? What are the challenges that you consistently find yourself trying to mitigate? I am currently researching into this role based on a transition from onsite to remote within a company. Did you set up any type of contract in addition to your standard job description and is there a standard remote PM template? Any advice or additional information? Saving Changes...
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Janice GrierSenior Technical Vendor Manager| ATTShelby Township, Mi, United States
I am considered a FOW (flex office worker) within my company, I work from any company location based on what I need to do. My company uses SKYPE for Business so my phone is portable and I am easily reachable.
Personally I don't have any issues that are significantly different from when I worked at a permanent location as majority of the vendors, team members, company resources I collaborate/work with were not co-located with me.
The Policy Governing all remote workers is established internally and can be revoked by your Supervisor and/or Leadership at any time. Saving Changes...
Derrick BourgeoisProject Manager| DXC TechnologyColorado Springs, Co, United States
I would describe my situation as a "distributed team" rather than remote PM but it's a similar situation. I am not generally co-located with the rest of the project team members who might be scattered all over the world. Moreover, I quite often have to rely on teams who are not part of the project team, leveraged resources as they are referred to here, which is a challenge all unto itself. This is the environment that I have always worked in so I can't really say how it differs from working with a project team that is all co-located onsite. I have noticed that much (perhaps most) documentation on best practices and generally how to do things tends to assume a co-located, onsite team. I probably spend more time chasing people for updates via email or Skype for Business than I would like, particularly when we work in different time zones globally. Saving Changes...
I am currently working offsite as the lead PM and only member of my team not onsite with the client. Aside from typical project challenges, the biggest and most consistent challenge I face is getting my team to relay their weekly activities and project status, which I am then responsible for reporting to the client on a weekly basis.
I think that it will be important for you to establish the ground rules early. Make sure your team knows what you will be doing remotely and how what they do impacts your role and responsibilities, as well as how what you do will impact them.
If you can come to an agreement on how your communication plan will make everyone's life easier, then it may make it easier for everyone to commit to it and stay committed throughout the life of the project. Saving Changes...
My situation is very similar to Derrick's. I am not in the country where the project is implemented and we have most of the team and stackeholders distributed in different countries. The technology, tools and clear game rules of an established culture of "distributed teams" are important to mitigate the problems of not sharing the same location with your team.
We generally use Skype for Business as a substitute tool for telephone and meeting rooms. As a general rule for project, you should be connected to Skype by PC o mobile so the team could easily reach you.
Most challenges should be overcome with clear rules and the use of technological tools so you could keep connected with your team, sponsors and stackeholders. Saving Changes...
Hi Taryn, I have been and am currently, and also managed remote teams. The issues I found with managing projects remotely is communication issues, team cohesion and timezones. Regarding remote teams, the issues I see there are technology, isolation and distractions at home.
I wrote a short article in PM Network if you wish to read further on the topic:
I would love to pick up a remote project again. I think it has a high level of communication challenges to the project manager . Saving Changes...
Michael DelaneyPartner| Delaney Management LLCWest Chester, Pa, United States
I have done many distributed team projects and Kevin is correct the big challenge is communication. The PM play an essential role of keeping the team connected which as an interesting challenge. Saving Changes...
Taryn MancineProject Manager| Cook MyoSite, IncPittsburgh, Pa, United States
Thank you all for these responses! I created a strategic plan for a role of a remote project manager and the main topic was communication as that seems to be the foundation of challenges for a remote PM. Saving Changes...
Issues Faced while dealing with Remote team:
1) Setting up the expectation
2) Communication
3) Documentation
1) Setting the Expectation: Clearly define the roles and responsibility of the team members. Nominate two persons, who can play the role of lead and backup lead, whose major responsibility is task assignment to the rest of the team members, and sharing the consolidated status by end of the day to the PM.
Team should be matured enough to handle the tickets based on the priority. The details of resolution/ steps taken needs to be updated in the tickets. So in case the task gets handover to the offshore/onshore one need not troubleshoot the tickets from beginning
2) Communication:
The major issue with Remote team are the communications. Many projects fails to meet expectation because of communication. Have a suitable language and a convenient communication method.
1) Use Calls, whenever an urgent information needs to be shared
2) Use chats applications whenever call are not possible.
3) Mails for conveying the detail information’s.
Ensure that the remote team is aware of what method needs to be used based on the situation.
Have a status call once / twice in a week, based on the project health. Preferably agile methodology
Ensure the team is aware of
1) Who is working on a particular task?
2) Issues that they are facing, any help, suggestion required from others.
3) What task will be taken up in next few days?
Proper Hand Off: By the end of the day the offshore / onshore team needs to provide a proper hand-off .
Have sections like:
Tasks Completed:
1) JJJJJJJJ
2) MMMMM
3) NNNNNNN
Hand Off Task:
GGGGGG – 50% completed, please proceed with HHHHHH
Most of the time, team miss out the handover communications, so ensure this details are been communicated properly especially when the project health is not good, have a checklist if required. Encourage the team to follow this pattern consistently. Have a written communication/ e-mail, followed by a call if any clarification is needed.
Documentation: Have a proper documentation of important projects, troubleshooting steps. People tend to avoid documentation because of lack of time. But the time spent on this helps a lot. It reduces time, cost and dependency on key resources. Encourage the team members to read and document repository periodically. Share the document links and comments to improve the process. Saving Changes...
