Thoughts from the Shed: Benefits and Challenges of Managing A Remote Team Remotely

Empowering your team to meet their goals is hard enough, now try to do it from a shed. When our company went remote. . . I moved my project management practice from a traditional office to a shed-quarters in my yard. Learn what I needed to change, what I didn’t, and how it made me stronger as a PM.

We will be discussing what elements of being a project manager translate well to a fully remote environment and some that don’t.  How do you translate your success with a co-located team to success with a remote team? What do you need to adjust in order to remain an effective manager for your team and your stakeholders?

Shifting to a distributed model can raise new challenges and new opportunities.  We will be discussing the right working environment for you personally with tips to avoid loneliness and resist distractions. We will be discussing engagement with your team and stakeholders through video conferencing, email, & chat.  Finally, the psychology of human interactions and how to not lose that aspect of engagement through digital interactions.

In this Session you’ll learn:

• Tips for engaging with your team remotely

• Challenges and improvements that come with working remotely

• Tools and how best to use them:

  • Video Conferencing, Phone conference, email, chat.

• Psychology of human interactions and how to engage when you are disconnected

• Open discussion about topics of interest:

  • Timeshifted team members

  • Specific tools

  • Trust but verify