How to Collaborate with Remote Team

Do you own a small creative business focused on building website designs? Or probably you create illustrations or make footage for ads and promotional campaigns? If you work like that, you obviously have got a team of experts working together on a common goal.

It’s great if you work in an office and are able to discuss all business issues personally, but sometimes the team members are located in different countries and cities worldwide, so in this case, one should resolve the tasks how to easily:

communicate with each other;
track the time;
share files;
build team relations.

Every task is possible to fulfill with the help of modern tools which allow bringing the team together as well as make every team member work more efficiently. Let’s see how to make this real.

1. Communication

There is no teamwork possible without communication. Members of the small team are surely going to easily remember each other’s names and birthdays, find some common interests, and create an understanding and friendly ambiance while discussing anything online.

The big team is likely going to be divided into departments where it’s also important to encourage folks to be friendly and well-disposed with each other because the efficiency of teamwork depends both on the expertise of every member and the relations in the crew.

There are multiple types of remote communication today including email, phone calls, common chats with or without video, and messengers.

The most popular apps for online communication are such as:

Viber

Facebook Messenger

Skype

2. Time Tracking

Time tracking allows you to count and consider the time you spent fulfilling any certain task. If you work with a remote team, it would be great to allow every team member to control themselves and create their own schedule using the time tracking tool.

By the way, you can control yourself to find out your weak points and learn what you should change to improve yourself. The great tools for time tracking are as follows:

Zoho People

ActiTime

Jibble

Toggl

TimeCamp

Time Doctor

3. File Sharing

Designers and developers often work in a way that requires sharing a big amount of files like PSDs, HTML pages, some pieces of code for feedback and approval, etc. Small files are possible to send in email attachments, but the ability to store lots of files as well as access them at any time and by every member of a team is possible thanks to more convenient tools like the following ones:

Dropbox

Google Drive

SugarSync

WeTransfer

Hightail

4. Team Building

Effective team building is based on many aspects, and virtual collaboration and project management tools help in this case. Some team-building programs combine games with work, so this playful mood brings the team together and makes the working process more efficient.

If you work remotely, it would be great to create a general chat room for all team members where they can discuss their personal questions, exchange funny images, etc. Please see the useful tools for teamwork and team-building purposes: