Managing a Remote Team of Engineers  ## Metadata - Author: [[Ladybug Podcast]] - Full Title: Managing a Remote Team of Engineers - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: [remote-work, engineering-management, communication] author: [MISSING] source: Ladybug Podcast reference: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0] date created: {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}} {{time:HH:mm}} --- # 🏷️ Title: Managing A Remote Team Of Engineers ## 🧰 Action Inbox - [H1] Publish a performance-documentation template — context/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0 #articleseed - [H2] Draft a “trust + rituals” starter guide — context/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0 #articleseed - [H3] Ship a “ways-of-working” worksheet — context/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0 #xref - [H4] Standardize 1:1 agenda notes in Lattice — context/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0 #xref - [H6] Create a remote-celebration playbook — context/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0 #share - [H8] Add pairing-and-reviews weekly cadence — context/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0 #articleseed - [H9] Write a boundary-setting checklist for managers — context/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0 #aphorisms - [H10] Define a conflict-escalation protocol — context/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0 #addendum - [H11] Require remote-first practices on hybrid teams — context/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0 #articleseed - [H12] Share active-listening resources with leads — context/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0 #share ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) - [📚 References](#-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### 🔗 References - Include links cited in or relevant to the article. ## 📝 Summary - Two engineering managers share remote team practices. - They stress trust, documentation, and explicit communication norms. - Stakeholders include managers, engineers, HR, and cross-functional partners. - Risks include burnout, time-zone bias, and conflict escalation. - Bottom line: remote success needs clear rituals and humane boundaries. (Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0) ## 📖 Main Content - Set expectations early. Document performance and behavior consistently. - Build trust through reliable 1:1s, clear channels, and follow-through. - Use Slack for async updates. Reserve video for high-stakes topics. - Celebrate wins intentionally. Run inclusive social rituals on schedules. - Protect balance. Model boundaries and schedule messages when needed. - Handle conflict live. Prefer face-to-face over text for tone. - Hybrid requires remote-first processes to avoid exclusion. - Provide resource routes for mental health support, not therapy. (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0) ### 🗒️ Notes #### ⏱️ [00:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=2) Promotions and paper trails ### [H1] Document performance early and often > [!quote] [Managing A Remote Team Of Engineers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0) by an unnamed author via [[Ladybug Podcast]]. Published [MISSING]. Accessed {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}}. > “document everything early and often.” Performance evidence supports promotions and fairness. HR needs specifics. [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=2) #articleseed ID:yt_0002 #### ⏱️ [03:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=194) Foundations ### [H2] Remote management requires trust and clarity > [!quote] [Managing A Remote Team Of Engineers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0) > “successfully running … requires a lot of trust in open communication.” Publish norms for sync and async channels. Revisit them quarterly. [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=194) #articleseed ID:yt_0314 #### ⏱️ [04:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=266) Team norms ### [H3] Define expectations and rituals explicitly > [!quote] [Managing A Remote Team Of Engineers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0) > “All of those rituals need to be established early on.” Codify standups, statuses, and response windows. Reduce ambiguity. [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=266) #xref ID:yt_0426 #### ⏱️ [06:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=402) Channels ### [H4] Use Slack async; reserve video for big news > [!quote] [Managing A Remote Team Of Engineers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0) > “I definitely prefer written communication… For bigger conversations … prefer one-on-ones.” Protect context in writing. Deliver sensitive updates live. [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=402) #xref ID:yt_0642 #### ⏱️ [09:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=595) Cadence ### [H5] Keep one-on-ones consistent and structured > [!quote] [Managing A Remote Team Of Engineers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0) > “I’m pretty … strict about my one-on-ones.” Use agendas, shared notes, and action owners. [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=595) #xref ID:yt_0955 #### ⏱️ [12:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=720) Records ### [H6] Celebrate achievements intentionally and remotely > [!quote] [Managing A Remote Team Of Engineers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0) > “you should always make an effort to recognize and celebrate…” Plan inclusive events. Rotate time slots and hosts. [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=720) #share ID:yt_1200 #### ⏱️ [19:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=1150) Collaboration ### [H8] Pairing and code reviews strengthen teams > [!quote] [Managing A Remote Team Of Engineers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0) > “pairing … and review PRs together.” Schedule weekly pairing blocks. Track diffusion of knowledge. [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=1150) #articleseed ID:yt_1910 #### ⏱️ [22:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=1369) Burnout ### [H9] Model boundaries to prevent overwork > [!quote] [Managing A Remote Team Of Engineers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0) > “I need to schedule messages…” Leaders set norms. Use delayed send and quiet hours. [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=1369) #aphorisms ID:yt_2249 #### ⏱️ [29:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=1788) Conflict ### [H10] Resolve conflict face-to-face, not in text > [!quote] [Managing A Remote Team Of Engineers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0) > “This has to be … a face to face conversation…” Minimize tone risk. Pause, then resume with cameras on. [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=1788) #addendum ID:yt_2948 #### ⏱️ [31:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=1875) Hybrid ### [H11] Hybrid teams must adopt remote-first processes > [!quote] [Managing A Remote Team Of Engineers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0) > “hybrid teams need remote friendly processes first.” Write decisions down. Avoid hallway decisions without notes. [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=1875) #articleseed ID:yt_3115 #### ⏱️ [33:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=2009) Listening ### [H12] Active listening strengthens remote relationships > [!quote] [Managing A Remote Team Of Engineers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0) > “we’re more concerned with what we’re going to say next…” Train managers on reflective listening and summaries. [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0&t=2009) #share ID:yt_3329 ## 📚 References - Video: *Managing A Remote Team Of Engineers* — https://www.youtube.com/wa - Summary: Remote work is here to stay—but managing a distributed engineering team comes with its own set of challenges and opportunities. In this episode, we dive into what it takes to lead remote engineers effectively. From building trust and maintaining team cohesion to running productive async meetings and handling time zone differences, we cover the key habits and tools that make remote engineering teams thrive. Whether you're leading your first remote team or refining your remote leadership style, this episode is packed with practical insights you can apply right away. 02:56 Setting yourself up for success 03:20 Communication 08:46 Building trust 30:30 Collaboration and innovation - URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wbvOvpTXF0 Things are going really, really well forsomeone, and they're going to go forpromotion in the next year. Documenteverything early and often. Yep. Uh, andif things are not going well and you'venoticed it's a pattern of behavior, alsodocument it, because you will need apaper trail for HR. [Music]Welcome to the Ladybug Podcast. I'mKelly, and I'm Emma, and we're debuggingthe tech industry.Well, hello. How are you doing?I am doing great. I'm totally not tiredat all. Uh, welcome to my life. I'mabout to have my second kid in literallya month, and I'm like, well, I thinkactually, for me, pregnancy tired isworse than parenting tired. But, uh,we'll find out shortly.Yeah, you absolutely will be finding outshortly, by the time this podcast isreleased. Actually, you will already befinding out. In any case, today we're not talkingabout being tired, but we are talkingabout something that is very relevant tome in my job, and it is also veryrelevant to yours, and that ismanaging a remote team of engineers. I have always managed a remote team,my entire career. I had aphysical office space at a localco-working space for my agency, but myengineering team was fully remote. Eventhen,I've just always been remote. I workedat an office for my fellowship,yeah, I was a fellow at the CDC,and that was the last time I went intoan office. Oh, my high school office. How about youthen? You're well prepared for thisdiscussion. I have also only evermanaged a team of remote engineers,but that is also because this is myfirst engineering management job. So, my team is seven engineers splitacross European time zones. Um, I haveone in Berlin, one in Amsterdam,one somewhere in Spain in a very smalltown that I don’t remember the name of.A few in Stockholm, but even those ofus in Stockholm, we don’t come into theoffice. So, we are remote-friendly. Yeah, my team right now, post reorg,isthey span from Californiato India, and it has been like that sincepre-reorg as well. Yeah. Um, it's almostLike I need to actually count, butit was a 50-50 split before, and umthere was one point when Iactually just started my workday at around6:00 a.m., and then I took a 2 tothree-hour break in between before Icame back to work for theYeah. the West Coast hours.That's nuts. The time differencecan be a real work-life balancekiller, but it can also enhance yourwork-life balance if that’s the type oflifestyle that you prefer. And we’lltalk about work-life balance later inthis episode, but um perhaps we canstart by discussing how we even setthe foundation for success for remoteteams?Yep.In my opinion, and this is how I’ve alwaysapproached this, successfully running and managing ateam of remote engineers requires a lotof trust and open communication. Youneed to trust that your team is going tobe able to deliver because you’re notsitting there watching them do theirwork, and nor should you, because they areWe are all adults, and we should approach this situation like adults. However, you need to make sure you have very clear lines ofcommunication set up, including how youcommunicate synchronously and asynchronously.All of those rituals need to beestablished early on. Ifyou're not super clear about what theexpectations are for a particular individual on your team up front, thenyou're going to have a bad time. It's not just about the expectations you have for theindividuals on your team, but also whatexpectations your team has of oneanother. We talked about this ina previous episode, where we discussedways of working or a "how to work with me" document.This is something I definitely recommend forremote teams: how do we eachindividually work? For example, Ileave work at 4 PM every day because I have topick up my child from school.Other team members have different commitmentsin their lives that they need to balance. To account for, um, doing somethinglike that is really helpful in terms ofwhat the expectation is. Um, and evenlike, you know, what do we expect as a team, right?I expect everybody to be at standup. Um, it’s notoptional. Or, um, I expect that if you’regoing to be away from your computer forlonger than 45 minutes, that you justpost a message in Slack or at leastupdate your status. Yep. Uh, so yeah, getting on the same page isvery important.Yeah, and I’m very flexible withyour working hours. So long as you’remaking meetings and you’re getting your work done,it’s what I tell everybody. It’s what is expected of meas well, where so long as nothing isfalling behind,I don’t care which hours you’re working. If you find that you hit your groovein the late afternoon or if one of my engineerswants to start work at 6:00 a.m. and end early, I’m okaywith that, so long as they’re not missingmeetings. Yeah, that’s how I feel. Itell them, like, I shouldn’tsay this, but I don’t carewhere you are and when you get your work done. Done so long as it gets done, and it getsdone well, and like you're an activeparticipant. And frankly, if you're exceeding expectations orperforming well on expectations,I'm not going to question you. It onlybecomes a real problem to me if thingsare not getting delivered or you're notshowing up. And in those instances, it'sa very uncomfortable situation toaddress retroactively. And it'ssomething that you probably should setthe stage with proactively to avoidthose discussions in the first place. Exactly. Exactly. So, how do you preferto communicate with your team?Anything that'snot time sensitiveand not like earth-shattering, likewhen I say that, I mean like a raise or apromotion or a reorganization — those arelife-changing things to an extent.Right? Um,uh,I like to use Slack to communicateasynchronously, of course. Like, if I havesome news — like if someone's waiting on apromotion and I get the news — I'llask them if they can hop on a call. Will give them context as to why, becausegetting the "Hey, can you hop on afive-minute call with your manager" isnot fun. Um, I definitely prefer writtencommunication because I feel like lessgets lost in translation, and then youhave something to refer back to. But, um,for bigger conversations, um, I definitelyprefer one-on-ones over video calls, andthen using the agenda. Like, we have ashared Google Doc that we use, um, withnotes, uh, with any outcomes. Yeah.Yep. How about you? We, um, yeah, I mean I'mthe same. Slack is going to be wheremost of our communications happen. I ammore than happy to hop on a quick videochat if it's just easier toexplain something to me over video.Even if, like, or just like huddle onSlack, like I don't, it doesn't have to beanything formal. Um, any kind of big conversationsabsolutely should happen face to face,whether that is good news or bad news.Like, if it's, you know, a performancerelated thing, we're going to have aconversation about that as well. Um, andthen I'm pretty strict about myone-on-ones. I'm okay with moving them. If need be, I just don't want to cancelthem. Um, because I think that it's importantthat, you know, as part of buildingtrust, my team needs to be ableto know they have access to me. And whenyou have so many direct reports, youhave to split mine to be bi-weekly and not weekly. Um, and Iwant them to know that in their "off" week, they can still reachout to me if they need something fromme. So that is typically how we handlemost of our communication. It is, I mean,it's fairly asynchronous. Um,I want to again respect their time, andwe are working in different time zones,and so I will make adjustments to my schedule to make sure they can accessme if need be, provided that it's withinreason. Like if you're capable oftalking to me at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time,but you would rather talk to me at 8:00p.m. Eastern time, we're talking at 1:00p.m. Eastern.Yeah, you have to set your ownboundaries as well, of course.Yeah.So, you had mentioned building trust,which frankly is like step one ofBecoming a manager. Yep.But, uh, yeah, I guess we touchedon having regular one-on-ones. Um, Ialso don’t like to cancel unless I haveasked to cancel. Like right now, I’mpreparing to go on 7 months ofparental leave, and I only have like 5weeks to finish the rest of my work.I’m only working 3 days a week, so myschedule is pretty compact, and I’m doinglike hour and a half long goal-settingsessions with everyone for the upcoming6 months. So my replacement has contextand can match people with projects thatalign with their goals. However, thatmeans I might not have time forour 30-minute one-on-ones if we alreadyhave FaceTime that week. I think the biggestthing is if you let people know why you’re asking. For me, it’s not like I’m justgoing to flat out cancel. It’s likehere’s my schedule. If you’recomfortable canceling this week, justlet me know. Um, as long as you’renot doing it all the time, I think it’stotally fine. Completely agreed.Completely agreed. And I also follow avery specific structure for my one-on-ones. Ones, um, that I like. We use Latticeinternally, which is a fantastic HR tool.Um, #notsponsored.Um, but I really like their one-on-oneformat. So, there's basically asection for agenda items that I want totalk about, agenda items that they wantto talk about, um, any kind ofdecisions that are made, like actionitems. They’ve got that section, you canassign it to the right person. Then,there's a shared notes section that youcan both add to. There's also aprivate notes section. That private notes section is incredibly useful forkeeping track of behaviors and other commentsthey make on the side. If there might be apersonnel issue, for example, I’m goingto put it in the private section, notthe shared notes section. If they’regetting really combative all of a suddenor if we have a tough conversationabout their behavior, like are they gettingdefensive, or are they goingthrough something? I want to putthose in the private notes because theydon’t need to see all of that. Of those. Yeah. Um, which has been reallyhelpful. And I, you know, I use this forthe regular one-on-ones, but Ialso like any kind of ad hocmeeting as well. I'll just pop, youknow, I'll create a new one withinLattice, and it looks like the regularone-on-one agenda, but I can just saywe're talking about this topic. Um, ithas come in handy. It's been reallyuseful for, unfortunately, manytimes. Um, anytime that I've had to letsomebody go for some reason, I have apaper trail of the conversations thatI had with them. I had one person saylike, "You never had performance-related discussions about me, like with me." AndI'm like, "Okay, but how about thesefour dates where we talked about them, andhere's what you agreed to do andhere's what I agreed to do."It's right there. Youcan't lie about it.Yeah, that's really important. Andwe'll probably touch on this moretowards the end of the season with thedifficult conversations or the hardparts of the job, but you need todocument things should you notice welleither one way or the other. Things are going really well for someoneand they're going to go for promotion inthe next year. Document everything earlyand often. Yep.Uh, if things are not going well andyou've noticed it's a pattern ofbehavior, also document it because youwill need a paper trail for HR. Um,so yes, having notes is very important.We love notes. Mhm. Also, I think as anote, you should alwaysmake an effort to recognize andcelebrate the achievements of your teamand individuals remotely. This canbe quite tricky. Um, there are severalplatforms that we've used forteam building, but also just to celebrate. For example, we useAirbnb experiences if someonegets a promotion or does a really goodjob, or has a 10-year anniversary,we can get together and do something fun. I think wemade New York-style cookieswith a chef, or we made pastaswith Italian grandmas via Airbnbexperiences, and they were a lot of fun.Um, that's fun.But yeah, celebrating achievementsremotely can be a lot trickier, but it'sJust if I were to say it's more importantthan when you have a team in person. It's so easy to celebrate in person. Um,remotely takes a little bit more effort.Yeah, I like, um,you're right. You just have to be veryintentional about it. I've also done trivia,which is fun.Um, we've done the "Have you ever played"like the Wikipedia hopping page?No.Where you have to start on aspecific page and find a way to end onanother specific page and see how manyclicks it takes you to actually getthere by clicking through the otherlinks within Wikipedia.Um, it's really fun; it'smy kind of fun game. Um, we've also donevirtual escape rooms as well.Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We've done those too.Uh, those are fun. And then there'sanother platform called Luna Park whichI hadn't heard about before, but we useit, and they have fun games, alldifferent kinds of games like trivia orvirtual escape rooms, like a platformwith many games on it, and they come outwith new ones all the time, so we enjoyDoing those. Interesting. There's also Luna Park andConey Island, apparently.I didn't know that. But we likeI don't know how it is at your company,but we do regular social events everytwo weeks on Fridays with our two othersister teams that we work with justto make sure that all of our teammembers get a chance to interface with oneanother in a fun setting. So likewe've done geoguessr competitions whichis so fun. That's fun. Uh, yeah, and every socialevent, so every two weeks, it's like oneof the different teams takes onownership of like, we've done Fall Guys,I think that's what it's called. Uh,yeah, lots of different games. Cool. Yeah, I like findingnew games to play with this. They'relike you, like you said, you have to bereally intentional about it. You can'tjustOh, there's one I have to mention. Iforgot about it. There are two actually.There's Gartic Phone and then there'sGartic.io.I love Gartic.They're so fun. I always confuse them,But I think Guardic phone is the idea oflike, uh, what is it? Like telephone orwhatever, whereyou have to— is that the one where you'redrawing pictures based on what someoneelse has written? Well, I think Guard IO is similar tolike teleillustrations, I think, whereyou're drawing. I think actually I don’tknow the difference between the two ofthem. Okay. Well, anyway, they’re both fun andI just know one’s like, “Oh, write areally random sentence.” And it’s like,“Oh, like, uh, Kelly riding a dinosaur inConey Island eating a hot dog.” And thenthe next person gets that phrase andthey have to draw it in picture form, andthen the third person has to write asentence based on what the second personhas drawn. And then by the end, you haveto see what it was. It’s so muchfun.It’s so funny. Yeah.Like, it’s such a trip. And then there’slike the other one is like you’resomebody is getting a prompt or a wordthat they’re live drawing andeverybody’s watching them live draw it. And there's a chat where you have toput in what the phrase is of whatthey're drawing, and you can see likeother people are getting it live. Itit'sI think the first one, the second one'sGard.io.Yeah, I think so too. Um, there's also aan online version of Cards AgainstHumanity that you can play that is work-friendly. Um, we've donethat. Um, and then we have randomSlack channels where we have adaily "Would you rather?" that somebodyposts. Um, and then we also do a weekly likegift of the week, where whoeverwon the last one comes up with aprompt, and then everyone has to send agif from Giphy, and then they vote on it.Oh, wait, that's so fun!It is really fun. I won! I'm stealing.I'm trying to think through my promptnow.I'm stealing that. We'd have aquestion of the day where anyone canpost a question, and they get reallyfun. So likeI remember I think it was our productmanager asking, "Does water from theBathroom water tastes different than water fromthe kitchen. Why or why not? Or likeI post a picture of five differentforks, and I'm like, "Which fork is theright fork?" It sparks a lot ofdiscussions. I like this— I posted a picture ofa game, oh God, what's the gamecalled? Uh, like the backyard soccergame, like the little PC game from a longtime ago where it's a bunch of kidsand I'm like, "Choose your player," andthat's all I say. Some people get it, some people don't.It's very specific. There's one moregame that I wanted to mention that Icannot for the life of me remember. Um,it's like a music game though where youform— I think it's literally calledMusic League. Um, where you form agroup of people, and then each weekthere's a theme similar to the gift ofthe week. There's a theme for whichmusic you have to choose a song, andit builds a playlist. Then they vote;they vote on which song meets the prompt the best. That's adorable. I feel like I need tosteal that too,and it's like an app you can install. So, it's awesome.It's super.Okay. Well, we're going to link all ofthese in the show notes in case you'rewanting to use them with your team. Uh,I think the biggest takeaway here isthat fun is important, especially withremote teams. Building in scheduledtime for fun, whether that's like aSlack prompt that has somethingcome through in one of your socialchannels, or um, yeah, actually somethingthat we did as well last year ortwo years ago. I don't know if you'veseen The American Office; many of ushave, but the Dundies, like this sillyawards ceremony that Michael Scottputs together. I did a version of theDundies. I don’t remember what I calledit, and they were obviously all safe forwork, but I made awards foreverybody. It was quite fun. I love that. I should do thatsometime with my team.It took a lot of time, but it was fun.Yeah. It's also tough when you're so farapart geographically that gettingpeople is one of the challenges.With my team, when you're so likethe time zones are so different, I can'tSay, like we're going to do this onFriday afternoon because that's going tobe like Friday evening for people inEurope, for example. I'm notgoing to make you hang out with meon Slack at 6 p.m. on a Friday. Yeah. I mean, he doesn’t make any sense.Something else you can do to getengagement is that I made a Google formwith six different poll questions.I'm asking which meme was the best of2024, and everybody got to vote on theirfavorite meme that had been posted.Then you can do that kind of thingasynchronicity or vote on whoyou think had the most contributionsrequests on GitHub in the past year, andthen it's fun to see the outcomeversus what people thought it wouldbe. Um, and that can be doneasynchronously as well. Sothat’s fun. That’s okay. Other ways thatyou can collaborate. I think one way iskind of getting back into work. It mayperhaps be less fun, but like pairing— Mhm, less fun pairing and code reviews.Likewhen we're working through a very gnarlyproject, for example, like rebuildingauthorization. This is not a projectThat one engineer does by themselves. And this is the kind of thing thatrequires a lot more people to beinvolved, or at least one other person tobe involved. Being able to pair orat least review PRs together also kind of allows you to buildrelationships with them at the sametime, which I think is a really helpful thing.Also, you can learn a lot from your peers, especially in terms ofproblem-solving.Pairing is very valuable, especiallyremotely and especially if you have morejunior team members. But also foreveryone, because mental health starts todeteriorate when you realize you’re not meetingyour colleagues for extended periods oftime and like you’re just working inisolation.Yeah.Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Something else that we do is a lotof knowledge sharing. We do this thingcalled Desktop University once a year. Ithink we’ve had three years in a rownow. It’s essentially like twodays of half-day sessions where people willpost, "Hey, I’m interested inlearning more about GraphQL" orAccessibility or this technology. Andpeople can sign up to give talks forthose to help people, and we record themall. Now we have an online library ofall of these resources so that whenwe get new hires, interns, or embedscome sit with us, they have a library. I love that. That is such a good idea.And it also helps people learn how topresent.Yeah, it does. It's fun. Iwould recommend planning that intoyour capacity because it is definitely agood use of your time. Yeah. Okay. Um, let's kind of talkthrough the downsides of a remote teamand what is uniquely challenging for us.Um, like I commented on thisearlier. Time zones are really tough forme because there are basically, you know,12 plus hours difference from my twogeographically distributed engineers. That means thatsome people end up working together morethan others. Um, that also means that forour customer base, which is US-centric,our engineering team happens to be in Europe and India. They're mostly offline by the time ourcustomers are actively using theThe system means that the burdentends to fall a little bit more on theUS engineers to resolve bugs and outagesbecause they happen to beonline at the same time that the customersare online. It gets really tough tobalance that. I have to be very cognizant as amanager to be like, "Okay, who isresponding most to these outagesas they're happening and how do Imake sure I take care of them?"Because the last thing I want themto feel is that undue burden to thepoint where they're getting burned outand they want to leave. Yeah, that's a big deal. We don'tnecessarily have that because we have oncall rotationsin different time zones. You'renot going to be on call more than acertain amountper month. But yeah, time zones canbe super challenging. I don't think wehave the same challenges. I thinkI don't really have much to addin that way, but I can understand howthat would be very challenging. Yeah.And with that, you know, thereComes a challenge with work-lifebalance. Um, you know, when you havepeople going into an office every day,you can see generally when they’reworking and when they stop working. Um,because you know people end up leavingthe office at the same time or aroundthe same time, whatever. Um, when you’reworking remotely, you have to be verymindful of when your engineers areworking. And I’m not saying like makingsure they’re working. Sure, you’lloccasionally have people who are likethere will always be the person whotakes advantage of whatever you offerthem,but I’m more worried about the people who are overworking. Yeah, I seethem creating pull requests at 2 AMtheir time, or um, like, responding tomessages on Slack really late or on theweekends or, you know,and as the manager, I need to be settingan example for this. So I need to be theone who is not asking them questionslate in the evening or in the morning. Ineed to schedule messages because ifthey see me asking them questions, I ammodeling that behavior to them to saythis is okay or this might even beIt's not expected of youto be responding to me at, you know, 7or 8:00 p.m. in the evening when you shouldvery much be enjoying your life, the life sideof the work-life balance at this point. So part of this is being mindfulabout how you are, you know, presentingyourself for the company and for yourteam. Part of it is settingboundaries, respecting thoseboundaries for yourself, enforcing thoseboundaries, but also helping your team establish thoseboundaries as well. It does not comenaturally to everybody, especiallyto people who are earlier on in theircareer or who are a little bit moresensitive to feedback or who are moreon the perfectionist side of thehouse. They're the ones you have toworry about the most, who will struggleto set boundaries or at least struggleto actually enforce thoseboundaries for themselves. Yeah. Yeah. I've had to tell people togo home early because I can see thatthey've been there for too long. Not in a mean way,but if I notice that you'rethere on the weekends, I'm like, "Hey,why are you working weekends? You just"Leave early today," or like, um, and ofcourse, I'm never going to force someoneto leave early as long as it's notbecoming a consistent problem. Ofcourse. Yeah. But I always tell people, like, Idon't expect you to be sitting at yourcomputer for 40 hours a week. A lot ofyour job gets done when you're not sitting in front of yourcomputer, like go for a walk or, uh, likeleave early or go to social events thatthe office is having or whatever it is.I don't work 40 hours a week at my desk.A large part of my job happenssubconsciously as well. It does. Or onmy phone as I'm walking around whereverI happen to be. Yeah. Um, but like, if I have a teammember who's like, "Oh, I need to be gone for like 2 hours or an hour anda half to take my kid to the doctor.They're sick and I'll make up the hourstonight." I'm like, "Go take care ofyour kid. Like, you are an overachiever.You've put in way more than yourtime. Go take care of your kid and don'tcome back. Like, you'reyes. You don't have to. You don't haveto make up those hours. I'm not askingYou need to make up those hours. I mean, every week it's like, "Okay,then we're having a conversation." Yeah.Yeah. Or if there's something thathappens to be like a very tightdeadline, like we have to hit aparticular deadline, I might need you toflex. But if you're flexing every singleday of every single week, it's no longerflexing. That is your work, yourworking style.Yeah.Or the culture that I have set for theteam. I think for me the hardest part aboutmanaging a remote team is not knowingwhether someone is struggling mentallyor how to deal with somebody's mentalhealth that is perhaps not in a goodplace remotely. Because often, ifyou're not around them, you might notnotice that they're having a hard time.And if you do notice they're having ahard time, it can be really hard toconnect virtually. Yeah. That’s kindof the biggest challenge that I've hadto deal with. Yeah. It is tough, and it's somethingyou have to be really intentional about to check in with them. On a more personal level, see howthey're doing, you know. Um, I've hadteam members go through somereally traumatic experiences during the timethat I’ve been managing them.And I happen to be a trained therapist, but Iam not their therapist.Yeah.And that is a very important line that Ineed to draw to say I am happy to have aconversation with you about this. I willhelp connect you with resources youneed.Also, you know, we have ourEAP for if you have our companyinsurance, you know, you can find atherapist through that as well.But, you know, for our international team, likeI’m more than happy to walkthem through how to find resources toget help, but I am not their therapist.I am their manager.Yeah. And that line can get blurred reallyquickly.It can, and it can be really tricky, butyou've got that. Yeah. You've got to beable to set boundaries.Yeah. Again, setting them andenforcing them is so incrediblyThat is probably worth noting regarding challenges: conflict. You know, we've talked about conflict a lot over the course of this season. Um, and just like the communication, when you're dealing with conflict with somebody, it may be like you and a colleague, or you and one of your direct reports, or two of your direct reports. Managing that conflict remotely becomes a lot more challenging because you can't really see them necessarily, and you know nuance gets lost over text. Like if you start ending your sentences in a period, are you mad at me or am I a millennial? I don't know, um, and so learning how to have those conversations remotely is a really important skill to build as a manager. I have had situations where I’ve talked about this in one of our previous episodes regarding how difficult it was to not see eye to eye with one of my PMs that I worked with. We live across the country from each other. It's not like I can go show up to her house with a six-pack of beer and say, "Hey, let’s hash this out." That's not realistic. I am able to have this conversation remotely.In my opinion, I try to avoidhaving text-based conversations. This hasto be like a face-to-face conversationwhen it’s actually a conflict that needsto be addressed because I don’t want tofeel like I’m usingSlack as a crutch to hide behind.Do I need time at times to gathermy thoughts? Sure. I am okay ifI’m getting heated in aconversation. I’m more than happy tojust take a step back andsay, "Hey, I need five minutes to gather my thoughts. Let’sregroup in five to ten minutes.”I think that was kind of the last bigchallenge I’ve faced as well. I think remote teams do requirea bit more intention with collaboration,with building trust, navigating some ofthese challenges, but they’re not goingto be necessarily so vastly differentunless maybe the time zone difference isvast, as we’ve just discussed. They’renot going to be so inherently differentto the role than an in-person team.Yeah. And I will say, you know, sinceIn 2020, a lot of people have gainedexperience managing or being on aremote team. Um, so you should havea general idea of how this kind ofwork operates. Now, the one thing I will cautionis if you have a hybrid team, where somepeople are in the office and some people areremote, you have to be much moreintentional about making sure those whoare remote are being brought along,becauseinnovation happens at a much faster rateface to face. This is just a known factabout humans working together. It's really easy to make a decisionwhen you're just grabbing coffee andtalking with somebody,and then you forget that not everybodyis in the room for that conversation.They can feel really left out, and so Ijust caution you, if you have a hybridteam where some people are in the office andsome people are not, make sure you'rebeing intentional about bringingeverybody along. Yeah, I think my opinion is that hybrid teamsneed remote-friendly processes first.Agreed.Um, yeah. So, on that note, I thinkthat’s a good place to wrap up here. Um,But I'm curious, what is your resourceof the week? So, on the theme ofmanaging remote teams, I called outZapier's guide to remote work. Because Zapier has always beengeographically distributed, and theyhave a lot of really good, well-thought-out topics on remotework, from automation andteamwork for managers. There are tonsof resources on being a managerand on remote teams, and workingwith your peers, and how to set upworkspace tooling. There’s so muchgood stuff in here. I cannot say enoughgreat things about it. Well, it looksgreat just at first glance. Oh my gosh,I need to see this. My resource is a book that Ican't personally recommend as I’venever read it, but it's calledYou're Not Listening by Kate Murphy, andit was given to me by a fellowengineering manager. Not because shethinks I don't listen, but because Ithink I don't listen. I think manypeople in this day and age are moreconcerned about listening to respondversus listening tolisten. Yes, um, we're more concerned with whatwe're going to say next and less worriedabout what the person speaking to us istrying to say. So I think this is a bookthat's great for personal lives as wellas professional lives, especially in aremote setting.Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, we all tendto listen to hear or not listen tolisten.Yeah. Well, with that, we're happy thatyou are listening, and thank you so muchfor making it this far. We are, yeah,a little over halfway through the seasonnow, though.We are. Yep. So, thank you forlistening. Find us on your favoritepodcast, which you're probably alreadyon because you're listening to us rightnow. Uh, leave us a review. We likereviews. We like nice things. Please saynice things about us. And find us onYouTube and social media as well. We'llsee you next week.[Music], Managing a Remote Team of Engineers, Ladybug Podcast, 01k6x1vbdk4mrex1egf86pfkwe.