What’s one innovative solution you use to check in with your remote team, and how is it effective?
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1. Monday
Monday is an amazing project and team management tool we began using a few months back. It is extremely intuitive and visually appealing. Monday allows us to see what each team member is working on, communicate with one another, review deadlines and more. This tool has proven to be extremely effective in managing our team that is composed of both in-house and remote team members. – Duran Inci, Optimum7
2. Time Doctor
About 80% of my team is remote, and we’ve been using Time Doctor for the last four years. It makes the team check in and check out, define daily tasks, capture screenshots and generate payrolls at the end of the month. It gives a sense of being watched to the teams; they feel like they have a manager who is monitoring them. It also increases the accountability and visibility of the remote team. – Piyush Jain, Simpalm
3. Slack
It’s not quite as good as face-to-face communication, but Slack seems to be as close as you can get to the rapport-building, casual-brainstorming settings that typically only happen in real-life contexts. The instantaneous back-and-forth and channel-based communication make it easy to keep people on the same page, both for the very small details as well as for larger goals. – Roger Lee, Human Interest
4. Annual In-Person Visits
I plan trips each year to different cities where my remote team works so I can visit them. Of course, if I can do other business while I’m there, like making it part of my annual holiday, then it’s all the better. I spend the day with them working and doing some type of fun activity. It’s been the best bonding experience for all of us. We understand each other so much better. – Peter Daisyme, Hostt
5. Sococo
Sococo is a very fun and great way to have that local office feel while being remote. Everyone can have their own “office” and close/open doors. There are also conference rooms and water coolers where you can hang out and take breaks. It’s great that when you need something, you can see who in your team is around and open to chat. We also do daily stand-ups to make sure everything is going as planned. – Adelaida Sofia Diaz-Roa, Nomo FOMO
6. FaceTime and Skype
We work remotely a few days a week, so video communication is crucial for us to stay in touch on all projects. FaceTime works when I’m communicating with team members or clients one on one, while Skype works best for three or more people, especially if we’re in different parts of the world. – Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Creative Development Agency LLC
7. Trello
Trello is project management at it’s finest. It’s so easy and fun to use because it’s action-oriented and visual. It’s basically an electronic bulletin board system that gives you a bird’s eye view of everything happening. The mobile app and desktop app make it even more of a joy. – Karlo Tanjuakio, GoLeanSixSigma.com
8. G Suite
G Suite plays a big role in our remote operation. The collaborative nature of Google Docs means that we can have multiple people seamlessly working on the same project on separate schedules. – Zohar Steinberg, Token Payments
9. Regular Teamwide Video Calls
We do a 15-minute Monday morning stand-up and Friday morning all-hands meetings. With over 30 folks working between our two offices (and many times that number of team members traveling or working from home), this allows us all to connect and feel like a team a few times per week so we can discuss important events and information. – Nick Eubanks, From The Future
10. A Combination of Project Management and Collaboration Tools
Our entire WealthLAB.co editorial team is spread across three continents. Whenever someone is sleeping, someone is working. In order to make sure we have a homogenous culture and relationships between people who’ve never met one another, we use Google Hangouts to communicate, Asana to stay on top of assignments and Airtable to view all the projects in progress. – Philip Michael, New York Equity Group (NYEG)