Lessons From Working As A New Remote Team Lead

Problem

Before switching to working remotely, I worked as a Software Engineer based in Paris. I had an agreement with my CEO that I'd spend one year in one of their offices before switching to being a remote worker. One year passed, and we started discussing my relocation but at the same time, I got an offer to become a team lead. It was weird, as I was about to take on more responsibility while also moving to working remotely.

Actions taken

My boss was very supportive and said I should see how this worked out, so I took on both opportunities. I moved back home to Italy and I became the team lead of eight people, based in Paris, San Francisco and New York. I was terrified of not being in the office, as I thought I wouldn't have a sense of what was happening with my team. It turned out that my biggest problem wasn't working remotely, it was the different time zones, as there was a six-hour time difference with New York and a nine-hour difference with San Francisco.

We had to improve communication and I had to share my thoughts on Slack more, reach out by email, and encourage more one-to-one meetings. This took a while - a day could pass without a single message in the team's message app. At the time, we had a daily stand-up meeting which was at a time that was a compromise between the East Coast, West Coast, and Europe. For me it was a bit odd, as it wasn't a standup meeting at the beginning of the day for me, it was a stand-up at 5 pm, when I had just finished all my work.

I decided to move the stand-up asynchronously, and I made a Slack channel specifically for the stand-up. People then had to use this channel to say what they'd done yesterday, what they were going to do today and if there were any blockers in their way. This let me know what my team member in San Francisco was up to, even if it was late in the evening for me.

This worked well, but I realized that the stand-up was also a way to see and talk to your teammates. I introduced another half-hourly daily meeting, which was a compromise between time zones. This was set up as a way for my team to check in, say hi, and discuss any technical issues they were facing. If nobody has anything to discuss, we'll just say hi and then finish the meeting. However, this allows team members to see each other and get to know each other more.

Lessons learned

Being a manager is hard work, so it's important to be prepared. An engineer wouldn't face a technical problem without proper preparation, and it is similar for managers. What caught me off-guard was facing new management problems that I'd never had to deal with before. Before becoming a team lead or a manger it's important to study to understand how to deal with situations and to ensure you are prepared.

"I was terrified of not being in the office, as I thought I wouldn't have a sense of what was happening with my team."

"Being a manager is hard work, so it's important to be prepared."