For so many of us, one of the few good things to come out of the pandemic was an acceptance that most of our jobs could, in fact, be completed to the same high standard from the comfort of our makeshift home offices and dressing gowns. 

Much to the annoyance of office landlords that declared our apparent need to enjoy perks such as hour-long commutes, rubbish lunchtime meal deals and hardly seeing our loved ones, remote working is clearly a welcome, permanent fixture.

For all of the benefits that come with teams having the freedom to be based anywhere in the world, it does bring a unique set of challenges that many PMOs and project teams have never dealt with before.

Embracing asynchronous working

Adopting a model of asynchronous working for remote project management is now pretty much a necessity with teams spread across different locations and time zones. 

Asynchronous work maximises output by removing the constraints posed by synchronous work like a set 9-5 schedule, with the latter hitting roadblocks when teams aren’t all online at the same time (or even in the same time zone!).

This does mean that this form of work management relies heavily on transparency and crystal-clear communication. It also hinges on each member working with autonomy, which is great for boosting team morale.  

You need to be Agile

The Agile methodology works seamlessly in tandem with an asynchronous approach, offering your team the autonomy and flexibility necessary to optimise performance and productivity with minimum constraints.

Agile shifts focus onto your project team, rather than the process. It removes the restraints associated with ‘traditional’ office processes to boost productivity while enabling that all-important autonomy that we’ve already touched on. 

Communication, collaboration and clarity

With collaboration and communication essential to the process, running a remote project management successfully can seem a little overwhelming. 

While having a clearly defined agenda is useful to a meeting of any kind, it’s essential to keep things focussed and on track when those meetings are remote, especially when there are limited opportunities to have everyone on the same call. 

Likewise, meeting minutes need to be in-depth and shared immediately afterwards, clearly defining roles and next steps, leaving no ambiguity when it comes to establishing who is responsible for what. 

Ditch the pointless meetings 

Remember just a few paragraphs ago when we were lauding the benefits of remote working? Well, this is one area that still has us screaming into our Google calendar.

Some meetings are completely, utterly, painstakingly pointless. In fact, recent research commissioned by Adobe found that workers in the UK struggle to spend more than 60% of their work day actually doing their job, with unnecessary meetings being a major factor.

If there’s even the tiniest voice in the back of your mind suggesting something might not have to be a meeting, please oh please, listen to it! Save everyone the hassle. 

When you do have to take the meeting, Fluid can help with automating both agendas and meeting minutes. The streamlined meeting functionality in Fluid ppm software  also allow project managers to create a clear flow of communication that’s visible to all relevant team members in one place. From this, direct actions can be taken and assigned without the rigmarole of meetings, making the switch to remote project management seamless.

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Want to learn more about how Fluid makes remote project management a stress-free process? Get in touch today.

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