With the structural shift in workplaces, hiring remote developers or teams has become a standardized approach in the IT industry. As cross-platform frameworks such as React Native build apps for a larger audience, hiring remote React Native developers or teams has also become common.
Evidently, choosing remote developers has various benefits, such as a wider talent pool, lower costs, and more. In fact, 90%of employers reported that remote work hasn’t hurt employees’ productivity.
But effectively and efficiently managing remote developers or teams can be challenging. This blog shares a few dos and don’ts for managing remote React Native developers to make your project management easier and get the desired results.
Do’s
- Implement a simple yet effective communication and information system.
Communicating and collaborating the right way is fundamental to managing remote development teams. Such teams require tools that allow indefinite communication, and you must choose the tools wisely. You must also not skip face-to-face meetings, whether formal, informal, or ad-hoc. It goes a long way to keeping everyone on the same page and tracking the team’s progress.
Additionally, have a simple information system in place as it will be used hourly and daily. An effective information system includes bug/issue tracking, a Source Code Management (SCM) system, and even pages where everyone can document things, share sketch ideas or proposals. Many such services are available, such as Redmine, JIRA, Trello, etc.
- Establish a feedback system that works for everyone
As a manager, you must establish how to give your React Native team feedback and set precise schedules for communicating your input. For instance, book a specific time or day to discuss the work progress with the team to share tips, solve doubts, and remind the deadlines of assignments. However, practice caution, and not overbook developers on meetings as it can adversely affect their productivity.
- Choose your control methods wisely
Managing remote teams will demand a more thoughtful approach to controlling members. Typically, quantitative and qualitative indicators are set for specific amounts of work calculated daily, weekly, or monthly. Make sure you do not overburden your team with daily goals, leading to micromanaging. Instead, communicate the bigger picture to the React Native developers and develop clearly-defined priorities together.
Moreover, you can also have an incentive system to add extra motivation to your team. And of course, you can also have a plan of penalties discussed in advance in case of objective delays in meeting deadlines.
- Formulate tasks clearly and be transparent with your team
Formulate your expectations for a task in a clear and well-defined manner. For instance, asking the developer to create ‘something simple and beautiful’ is vague. Share your ideas, thoughts, and demands effectively to establish a sense of responsibility in your project team. The more the React Native developer knows, the more effective and productive they can be.
An agile development approach can be the best here as it enables knowledge-sharing between all the parties involved by removing hierarchy, and all problems are escalated quickly.
- Provide adequate training if needed
It may be practical to address some issues with additional training for the team. For example, it can help develop the positive traits of members, identify weak spots and mitigate shortcomings.
Moreover, platforms like React Native are fast-changing with frequent updates and changes. You must ensure that you and your React Native team are keeping up to date with the latest trends and different ways of development that maximize the potential of the React Native platform. Give your team enough space and time for self-improvement, learning, and organizing knowledge-sharing sessions to discuss the latest React Native updates.
That’s all for the dos; now, let’s move on to the don’ts of managing remote React Native developers.
Don’ts:
- Don’t cloud your mind with remote team myths and misconceptions
Remote teams working on the same project may be separated by oceans, but it is not impossible to foster a productive environment despite the boundaries. It would be best to discard any belief in remote team myths before working with one, so you don’t hinder their confidence and performance. Following simple tricks like adhering to these dos and don’ts from practical experience can differentiate between successful and unsuccessful remote React Native teams.
- Don’t ignore the cultural and language differences
While working remotely, React Native developers or teams often do not have the luxury of speaking their native language or working in familiar surroundings. The first step to dealing with multicultural teams is acknowledging and embracing their diversity. You must not forget that remote developers or teams are uniquely positioned to provide insights that are hard to achieve in centralized, monolithic teams.
- Don’t worry about different time zones; instead, use them to your advantage
If you have a good information and communication system, you need not worry about the different time zones of React Native developers. If you are ahead of the developer’s time zone, you will be able to prepare task needs in advance. If your developer’s time zone is ahead of yours, you can review their work the same day and immediately coordinate with him about your assessment or the next big thing.
- Don’t Micromanage
Being open-minded and trustworthy can help build a strong relationship with remote developers. When you micromanage, it will bring down the overall enthusiasm and productivity of the team. Thus, it negatively affects product quality. It shows you are insecure and doubtful of your team’s competency.
If you are unclear about something or disagree, argue your position with open-mindedness and give the developer a chance to prove himself right. Welcome their suggestions and provide them with the freedom to show their expertise. Encourage and praise their efforts.
Conclusion
Working with a React Native developer or a team is beneficial to both parties and is totally doable. But it’s more about creating your dream team than finding it. Following the above tips and trips from our handbook will help you build a team that completes projects on time, with minimal losses and superior quality.