How can you balance speed and quality with remote teams?

It's crucial to note the significance of establishing clear and realistic goals. However, it's imperative to acknowledge the human element. People, being prone to errors, require a balanced approach. Looking back at Agile as a mere manifesto, two values align with my idea: Prioritising Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools & Responding to Change over Following a Plan. I believe in using growth mindset by allowing team members the chance to fix their own mistakes. When a mistake impacts the project deliverables, replan and regroup. Through adaptation and future orientation mindsets, the aim is not only to navigate challenges but also to ensure timely and budget-conscious project completion, aligning with the initial plan.

At one of the FinTech gig, I nailed that balance between speed and quality with my remote crew during the launch of our new product. Collaborating with the big shots and all the key players to get on the same page took some doing, especially with us all scattered around. Once we locked in our goals and chunked up the project, things got smooth. Going Agile meant those virtual powwows were our secret sauce, and tools like JIRA kept us sailing smooth. We also depended on some slick automated testing and continuous integration, and boom! Hit that delivery date right on the mark, and our baby product was a total hit!

Trust is essential for effective communication and collaboration. Trust begins with mutual respect and the belief that everyone will contribute to the team's success. There is a saying that you must go slow to go fast. New teams should go slow at first to be sure that everyone is being heard and understood. The team needs to be aligned on their purpose, goals and objectives. At the same time they should welcome disagreement on how to achieve those goals. Teams also need trust from management. Teams need to be given clear direction on their purpose and goals while being given significant autonomy on how to achieve those goals. That trust and autonomy encourages both creative solutions and accountability.

This topic links directly with my above contribution under 'set clear and realistic goals'. When you acknowledge the human element, you automaticaly connect on a deeper level through empathy. The Executive Editor for 'Harvard Heart Letter', Julie Corliss describes empathy as the "key aspect of emotional intelligence, which also includes the ability to identify and regulate one’s own emotions, and to use these abilities to communicate more effectively." The ability to adapt communication to any environment is a tool that needs practive and development. By properly connecting with your team using real empathy, trust is built, and once you have trust, you'll realise you have a team of allies who'll stand with you no matter how hard it gets.

Trust and accountability are essential for any project, but especially for remote teams, where you might not have the same level of visibility and interaction as in-person teams. You can build trust and accountability by setting clear expectations, providing regular feedback, recognizing achievements, encouraging collaboration, and resolving conflicts. You should also foster a culture of learning and improvement, where you and your team can reflect on your performance, identify areas of improvement, and implement

Keeping up with fast paced agile projects is a challenge but I would recommend to build a trustworthy team of experts meeting on regular basis (online) as a must have.