Multiple successful cases have proven the huge potential, which comes from doing technology products in a global team. Cost-efficiency is not the only decisive factor to opt for going global. The advantages are numerous: covering more time zones to provide ongoing support, increasing an absolute working timespan, better understanding of local business cultures, broader outreach to the target audience, engaging with top talent, etc.
Interested to build your global team with Ukrainian engineers on board? How do you secure your company from risks, which might arise when managing a dispersed team? Here’s our advice how to deal with those risks, and ultimately be happy about your decision to work with a Ukrainian technology vendor.
1️⃣ Take time to build the right team
It is essential to build a reliable team and find people, who share your values, approach and goals. The engineers joining the team should not only have technical skills, but also soft skills, like communication, self-motivation and responsibility.
A talented project manager is playing a key role in reaching the expected results. Sometimes it makes sense to have a local project manager, at least on the initial stage to serve as a bridge between the customer and developers. The project manager will facilitate communication, as well as enhance the onboarding and knowledge transfer processes.
2️⃣ Invest in quality knowledge-transfer
The knowledge-transfer is most effective in cases, when there’s a possibility to do on-site trainings. A new-joiner from Ukraine would enjoy visiting your other locations and meeting colleagues. Not only would it help people to get to know each other, and consequently better interact, it would also minimize cross-cultural misunderstandings, while the team bonding would grow.
It proves effective to start the integration of a new team member with training in project procedures, policies and other standards. The engineers should clearly understand what discretion they have, and how the decision-making process is determined.
In addition, it is important to insist on proper documentation. The more the product is specified, the higher the chances are that it would finally meet all of the requirements.
3️⃣ Choose an optimal PM methodology
In most cases, Ukrainian engineers work according to Agile/SCRUM methodology. It is especially helpful in distributed teams. However, depending on the scale of the project, team size, and geography of the team members, you can choose another methodology.
You have various communication tools at your disposal, that help you erase the distance between the staff.
Regular communication coupled with clear and quantitative tasks would secure the project safety.
4️⃣ Make periodic retrospectives
Managing a global team requires performing periodic retrospectives to analyze how things are going and if everything is in place. It is also important to review the lessons learned. Everyone should receive honest feedback to better understand what skills you need to improve and what your long-term perspective is. This kind of analysis would also help you determine if someone needs mentorship.
5️⃣ Invest in team bonding
Trust is essential in achieving higher level of collaboration between colleagues. However, it appears harder to develop trust in global teams. To make it easier for people to become friends, several options are available. Personal meetups are the most effective, however they might put a strain on your budget. Alternatively, you can create a virtual chatroom, like for example, an intranet team page.
Adding some entertainment to the daily routine of your team members will also help people make faster bonds with others. Gamification of some tasks is a great example of how bringing fun to work can conquer the daily grind.
6️⃣ Start small, grow big
The proven success formula says to start small. When it comes to global teams, it is a great choice to begin with a smaller group of remote staff, make a pilot sprint, test what approaches are better and then add up to the team.
{% github_emoji tada %} We live in a global world, where the distances are minimizing. There’s no more reason to be limited by geography. Thinking about building your global team of tech minds? Please, contact us at Bitcom Systems, we’ll be happy to assist.