Applying TASK-based Approach & Digital Tools For Effective Remote Team Management

Managing a remote or hybrid team can be challenging. Unlike the traditional work style of working from the office, your team members are not physically present in the office to justify their attendance every day. So, it’s hard to measure how much time your team members have spent on the work. Also, it can be hard to get a sense of what they’re working on, and you may not be able to offer them guidance physically when they’re not in the same room. However, with the right set of tools and processes, managing remote teams does not have to be difficult. There are steps and innovative tools to help you track and follow through with proper processes while you keep your remote team engaged.

The TASK-based approach is the acronym for a set of processes for each project which stands for:

• Take time to do research & plan before setting project directions
• Allocate & Communicate the scope of work & deadlines
• Solve anticipated problems in advance
• Keep all stakeholders informed on the project status, feedback & postmortem reviews

According to Harvard Business School Researchers Robert Pozen and Kevin Downey, working longer hours does not necessarily mean higher productivity, but, working smarter is the key to being more effective. Therefore, it is more relevant to measure the effectiveness of your remote workers based on how well they complete each task. Remember, quantity does not mean quality.

Applying the “TASK-based” approach could help you create a systematic process for your remote team to identify the specific challenges, get the work done, and measure the effectiveness or output of each member. When you manage a remote or hybrid team, it’s not realistic to measure staff performance based on the number of hours they put in. Rather, it should be measured on the output or quality of their delivery.

1. Take Time To Do Research & Plan Before Setting Project Directions

This is the most important process of managing a remote or a hybrid team when you begin a project. First and foremost, you would want all resources to be compiled under ONE virtual platform (also known as “one drawing board”) for everyone’s reference which includes useful resources to support the project – (ie. researched information, customer feedback, competitor activities, job scopes of team members, strategies and objectives, budgets, and others). This allows everyone to better understand the whole project and helps you set and convey the right direction to the entire team. This ONE virtual platform helps avoid any miscommunication and ensures everyone is aligned in the same direction. For example, you may use Trello - a web-based Kanban-style project management software with a built-in collaborative function. Kanban is a Japanese word for “signboard”. Trello has digital signboards, lists and cards for users to create tasks, share files, collaborate and communicate with all remote team members to stay organised.

2. Allocate & Communicate The Scope Of Work & Deadlines

This is where you make known the deadline and your expectations or desired outcome for each part of the project to a specific member of the team. Do not assume that your team members know their scope of work, deadlines and what you want. Most of the time, assumptions could cause miscommunication and great losses to the company. Leaders who are lacking in communication skills could cause huge costs or delays in project deliveries. For example, each team member may think that the work is still pending from someone else, but in fact, no one is working on it because the scope of work may be a shared responsibility. Besides avoiding miscommunication, it helps the team stay focused on the work assigned without distraction. Do remember to give each team member a realistic deadline for each scope of work, so that it won't affect the person in charge of the next step, which will eventually affect the whole project's timeline. You may want to use the online Gantt Chart to track the timeline and get an overview of the team’s calendar, project status, as well as any pending approvals. Aside from Trello, Asana is another online project management tool that has this inbuilt timeline view.

3. Solve Anticipated Problems In Advance

Once you have laid out the scope of work and deadlines to your team, it is time to solve anticipated problems in advance. This is the stage where you plan out your OPTIONS in advance, which does not necessarily mean changing from the original objectives of the project. It simply means that you need to be able to identify the roadblocks even when all your team members are working remotely. Usually, the best way to discern this is by monitoring the timeline. When there’s a delay in whichever part of the scope of work, it’s a signal for you to dive in to diagnose and treat the problem quickly and creatively. While working at it, you need to stay focused and keep your team members aligned with the vision of the project.

4. Keep All Stakeholders Informed On Project Status, Feedback & Postmortem Reviews

Though everyone is working remotely, with technology, you can communicate with anyone at any time from anywhere. You can keep all your stakeholders informed on the status of the project and get their feedback, including your remote team using online communication tools such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Interval updates and feedback from all stakeholders can also help during postmortem reviews. It can be useful to analyse the causes of failure and determine corrective steps while helping to navigate more effectively for future projects.

Conclusion

There are plenty of online project management tools available today, which help in managing the entire project remotely. However, having a great tool without the right processes will not help in increasing the effectiveness of the entire remote team. The TASK-based approach is a framework for a systematic process that helps you to manage the entire project team remotely to ensure effective management and quality delivery of projects.

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