Managing Engineering Teams Remotely by Maria Avelino

Presentation on Women Who Code Tokyo x Mercari collaboration event on May 19th, 2020.

Talk by Maria Fernanda Avelino, Engineering Manager at iFood Brazil.

Transcript

1. 11 Tips for Managing Engineering Teams Remotely Maria Fernanda Avelino
2. Hello! ◦ I'm Maria Fernanda Avelino 2
3. Hello! ◦ I'm Maria Fernanda Avelino ◦ Software Engineering Manager at iFood 3
4. Hello! ◦ I'm Maria Fernanda Avelino ◦ Software Engineering Manager at iFood ◦ Four engineers work remotely ◦ Four engineers work at the office 4
5. Hello! ◦ I'm Maria Fernanda Avelino ◦ Software Engineering Manager at iFood ◦ Four engineers work remotely ◦ Four engineers work at the office ◦ Of course now, everyone is working remotely 5
6. Challenges of Remote Work 6
7. Challenges of Remote Work 7
8. What Engineering Managers could do to help with those challenges? 8
9. 1. Take time to know your team
10. Take time to know your team ◦ You should know every member of your team as a person!
11. Take time to know your team ◦ You should know every member of your team as a person! What are their hobbies?
12. Take time to know your team ◦ You should know every member of your team as a person! What are their hobbies? How are their family?
13. Take time to know your team ◦ You should know every member of your team as a person! What are their hobbies? How are their family? How was the weekend?
14. Take time to know your team ◦ You should know every member of your team as a person! What are their hobbies? How are their family? How was the weekend? Talk about tv shows, books
15. Take time to know your team ◦ You should know every member of your team as a person! What are their hobbies? How are their family? How was the weekend? Talk about tv shows, books Is everything fine? Is there any problems happening?
16. Take time to know your team ◦ You should know every member of your team as a person! What are their hobbies? How are their family? How was the weekend? Talk about tv shows, books Is everything fine? Is there any problems happening? Demonstrate that you care about their problems!
17. 2. Importance of 1:1 meetings
18. Importance of 1:1 meetings ◦ Ask: "How are you feeling?" ◦ Listen actively and understand the answer
19. Importance of 1:1 meetings ◦ Ask: "How are you feeling?" ◦ Listen actively and understand the answer ◦ It is a great time to give feedback and talk about career development
20. Importance of 1:1 meetings ◦ Ask: "How are you feeling?" ◦ Listen actively and understand the answer ◦ It is a great time to give feedback and talk about career development ◦ Use this time to know more your team members ◦ Exchange experiences ◦ Understand their life moment
21. Importance of 1:1 meetings ◦ Encourage your team to do 1x1 with each other!
22. 3. Manage Expectations
23. Manage expectations ◦ What you as a leader and the company expect from the person?
24. Manage expectations ◦ What you as a leader and the company expect from the person? ◦ What are their goals? ◦ Setup responsibilities
25. Manage expectations ◦ What you as a leader and the company expect from the person? ◦ What are their goals? ◦ Setup responsibilities ◦ If needed, change what has been agreed.
26. 4. Video meetings
27. Video Meetings ◦ It is in video calls that you can remotely take advantage of non-verbal communication.
28. Video Meetings ◦ It is in video calls that you can remotely take advantage of non-verbal communication. ◦ You can have a feeling of how is the mood of each of all the team just looking to them ◦ You can see their reactions about change of plans, for example
29. 5. Sync vs Async communication
30. Sync vs Async communication ◦ Try to maximize asynchronous communication ◦ Leave synchronous meetings for daily, 1x1, urgent issues happening in the production environment, etc.
31. Sync vs Async communication ◦ Sometimes you can start a discussion in the slack, for example, and when you have more data, ideas, you set up a meeting. ◦ This will improve your meetings and avoid that your team is in a meeting during all day
32. Sync vs Async communication ◦ Make sure your team has different tools for sync and async communications ◦ Async ◦ Slack ◦ Email ◦ Sync ◦ Video calls ◦ Mumble
33. 6. Mumble (or some voice communication tool)
34. Mumble ◦ Mumble is a low-latency voice communication tool (open source and free)
35. Mumble ◦ Mumble is a low-latency voice communication tool (open source and free) ◦ Allows encryption and authentication making a secure environment
36. Mumble ◦ Most of the day we have most of the team members online on Mumble ◦ You just need to press a key to talk with the team
37. 7. All discussions should be online
38. All discussions should be online ◦ Special tip if you have a mixed team (remote + office): If one person is working remotely, everyone should be working remotely!
39. 8. Focus on outcome and trust your team!
40. Focus on outcome and trust your team Don't try to manage all the work done by a remote team, it can be frustrating!
41. Focus on outcome and trust your team Don't try to manage all the work done by a remote team, it can be frustrating! Focus on the outcomes and evaluate your team according to those results! ✨
42. Focus on outcome and trust your team ◦ As managers, we should trust that our engineerings are going to accomplish what we’ve agreed.
43. Focus on outcome and trust your team ◦ As managers, we should trust that our engineerings are going to accomplish what we’ve agreed. ◦ You need to trust and empower engineers to organize their day, tasks and responsibilities.
44. Focus on outcome and trust your team ◦ As managers, we should trust that our engineerings are going to accomplish what we’ve agreed. ◦ You need to trust and empower engineers to organize their day, tasks and responsibilities.
 ◦ And if something happens and makes this delivery impossible, we need to be assured that the engineer will let us know about this unexpected event.
45. 9. The magic of to-do lists
46. The magic of to-do lists ◦ It’s common to feel unproductive working from home.
47. The magic of to-do lists ◦ It’s common to feel unproductive working from home. ◦ How can you increase your perception of productivity and how can you help your team with this matter?
48. The magic of to-do lists Create a to-do list of your day at the beginning of the day!
49. The magic of to-do lists Create a to-do list of your day at the beginning of the day! Break down all your tasks in smaller tasks to include in your to-do list!
50. The magic of to-do lists Create a to-do list of your day at the beginning of the day! Break down all your tasks in smaller tasks to include in your to-do list! Include all your daily tasks in the to-do list: check your email, review pull requests, answer your slack messages
51. 10. Time besides work
52. Time besides work ◦ Happy hour online ◦ Gartic ◦ Stop online ◦ Two truths and one lie
53. Time besides work ◦ Send birthday cake/gifts
54. 11. Once a year, meet together!
55. Once a year, meet together! ◦ At least once a year, you should meet all your team in person ◦ Celebrate the results ◦ Build relationship ◦ Long-term strategies ◦ Discussions about culture, vision, future
56. Questions? =) 56
57. Thank you! 57