How To Work With A Hybrid Development Team

Tech companies are increasingly turning to a distributed model of operation that weaves in remote developers to work virtually alongside on-site team members. Not only is this approach cost effective from a time and money standpoint, it’s also a scalable way to engage talent that can tackle a project of any size.

What’s the best way to work with a distributed team of engineers, and which tools will help them excel? These tips from the Hiring Headquarters—Upwork’s resource center for entrepreneurs, executives and freelancers—will give you a springboard to get started.

Stay Agile With Efficient Practices

Efficiency, speed, and iteration are all necessary ingredients for success in the development world. How companies structure their distributed teams can have a tremendous impact on productivity. As such, sprint-focused Agile development practices are especially popular among companies with distributed teams, since they incorporate both the speed and flexibility needed to deliver in today’s fast-pace industry.

“How to Create a Thriving Agile Culture in a Remote Distributed Team” explores the benefits of adopting the Agile development method and using a selection of best practices to apply it to a distributed team model.

Here are some of the possible strategies:

Sync at regular intervals throughout a sprint with short, high-productivity meetings. A mix of daily 15-minute catch-ups can keep the distributed team informed, while group demos at the end of a sprint are a great way to show off completed projects.

Automate testing with embedded QA members to allow for quick build testing while developers have their “hands in the code.”

Deploy updates weekly back to the main code branch to avoid any bottlenecks or related issues. This also helps your distributed team stay on the same page.

Tools that can Enable Your Distributed Team to Thrive

In any tech-driven business, your choice of tools can help or hamper your team’s ability to work effectively. Given the remote nature of distributed teams, having the right tools can help bridge the gap between on-site and off-site developers, empowering them to do their best work. This can also facilitate frequent collaboration to maintain a cohesive remote work environment while still letting coders and designers feel connect.

“Finding the Right Mix of Tools and Technology to Support Your Remote Engineers” includes a detailed rundown of tools for tech teams, especially those that make life easier for remote developers. In addition to emphasizes the value of using solid software solutions to enhance your team dynamic, it suggests a wide range of resources that can benefit your workflow.

When you’re working with a distributed development model, clear communication and task delegation are a must. This means the top three bare necessities for remote team members are quality high-speed Internet, a decent webcam, and a headset. They’re invaluable for team syncs and conference meetings.

A distributed development team also needs a selection of trustworthy tools to handle its communication and collaboration needs. Here are some of the tools available:

• Bitbucket: Useful for version control and online code-base repository.
• Jing and SnagIt: When you need to share images and screen caps with team members.
• Google Docs: Lets you share files easily and allows numerous people to work on the same doc simultaneously.
• Upwork Messages: Upwork’s custom tool for real-time team messaging.
• Chromebox: Enables Google Hangouts and video conferencing sessions on a TV.
• JIRA, Confluence, and GreenHopper: For assignment scheduling and task coordination.

If you’re looking for more tips and resources to level-up your development team, head on over to the Hiring Headquarters to find the latest info on working with top tech talent.

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