How do you work with your team and stakeholders online?

While other contributors have responded on the importance of team communication; in my experience, choosing the right tool for collaboration when you work online requires two factors: 1. Complexity of your team: e.g. do you have a flat communication system like a startup or a hierarchical one like that of a large enterprise? 2. Flexibility of the tool in integrating with other tools. I have led a sprint where UX is more active in ticking requirements with Google Docs and collaborates faster. Meanwhile, Devs bring everything to Slack & always want to "hurdle" for the sake of clarity; yet, they (the developers) struggle with Zoom calls with upper management/stakeholders. The key thing is to trade off between the tools & team collaboration.

The tools are only as good as your communication strategy. The purpose is to establish a collaborative environment where teammates feel safe to share ideas and have a discussion in the most effective way. For strategic overview and collaboration, use Productboard.

The key is to use the right tool for each communication or collaboration purpose. Here are some tools I use depending on the purpose: Buy-in: FigJam or Miro; sometimes online presentations. You need to be visual and give the option to the person you need the buy-in from to feel heard. I like to use the time in the meeting to capture feedback on the online whiteboard. Alignment: presentations and whiteboard workshops with links. Allow people time to give feedback. Align as much as possible before the scope definition. Transparent communication: Create one single entry point for communication about your product. For this, I use either Confluence or Google Drive. Managing tasks - for this I use a project management tool: Jira or Asana.

I think communication is key to a successful collaboration. Prior to choosing tools, you need to establish the ground base for relationships built on trust and transparency. The best in class communication tool won't solve bad communication practices.

Effective collaboration with teams and stakeholders online relies on utilizing tools tailored to specific tasks. A product lead's focus should be on achieving outcomes rather than fixating on processes. Embrace the diversity of toolsets available to streamline communication, feedback collection, collaboration, and progress tracking. Remember, it's the result that matters, not the tool and just use whatever your team finds appropriate for the task

Remember to communicate the WHY along with the WHAT. Knowing the high level goals of the product helps people around you to be more envolved, motivated and creative.

Do not assume that people understand and remember the details of a roadmap. Create mechanisms (meeting overview, memo notes and check-list) to keep stakeholders aligned and informed on all the planned and agreed upon terms. It's not the volume of communication but rather its efficiency that brings clarity to the process.

Remote work can blur the line between impact and encroachment. A product team may not get all the communication cues. To avoid confusion, as a product manager, you need to clarify the WHAT and WHY of your product goals, and let your team figure out the HOW. Your role at the stage of HOW will then be to support the team with anything they need to facilitate their delivery and remove any obstacles they face.

Fostering a results-oriented culture at every level of the organization is very important in remote work. It's important to explain the reasoning behind every goal and expectation to the stakeholders, and then it should be shared in written form with everyone for future reference. Highlighting the next actions, deadlines and acceptance criteria in the minutes of the meeting might be the most basic thing you can do today to improve remote working experience.

Clearly understand when to use which mode of communication for what purpose. "This should have been an email." or "This could have been a chat message." Identify these situations and make changes in your and team's style. Clearly set expectations on the expected response time. That way, the team is aware when to send a reminder.

Most meetings that could have been an email just weren't because people still have a hard time writing clear, concise documents. Writing 1 page takes more effort than writing 10. In addition, there needs to be the cultural incentive to read and comment on documentation. In many companies, I see docs written for no one to read.

In my view, when it comes to handling stakeholders and teams online, taking a highly customized approach is key. It's fascinating to observe how different stakeholder groups and even individual team members require specific information at various stages of a project. To embark on this journey, the initial step involves understanding the distinct needs and influence levels of each stakeholder and team member. Armed with this valuable insight, crafting a holistic strategy that incorporates digital communication avenues like emails, video meetings, and quick calls seems like the natural next move. This tailored method not only ensures sustained engagement but also facilitates seamless collaboration within the realm of online interactions.

Communicating frequently to bridge the remote gap is essential, but setting clear work/life boundaries is as necessary for a remote setup. In addition, everyone has a preferred way of receiving communication, some prefer calls, while others might just be happy with just emails. Consider this, and you will have seamless experience in communication with your team.

Communication is half the battle for any remote product team. It’s crucial to stay informed and updated on everything that’s going well or poorly in the team’s discovery and delivery process. A product team’s communication should strike a balance between discipline and fun.

Building trust with team members would require 1. Credibility of Decision making 2. Relationships With online engagements , building relationship has become a difficult task, people know each other by face and id but know nothing beyond that. I had introduced a simple practice amongst my team members. When ever we meet for sprint planning via zoom call, any 2 of the team member would talk about one funny , interesting, crazy story of the life. This has opened up a lot of stories about each other that people normally do not talk. Team now know each other not just by name but for that crazy thing happened with them. Human physiology requires emotions to be associated with persona to build relation. This practice has done wonders for me.

I’d like to add some further emphasis to the idea of creating informal channels and other avenues of communications. We can have the most highly efficient, effective collaboration tools for productivity but still miss the ‘soul’ of why we are creating products, which is to improve the human experience in some capacity. Sharing humor, brainstorming, personal insights (being human) and so forth are vital, to the vitality of any team. Just as vital as the backlog grooming sessions and stand-ups.

Add a human touch to the equation. Recognize that every team member has their own challenges, aspirations and insecurities. In addition to general team meetings, carve out time to establish communication channels with separate team members one-on-one. That will allow to build contextual rapport with teammates and stakeholders.

I believe a great way to establish trust within a remote product team is through regular updates and meetings like stand-ups, retrospectives, and demos. Likewise, appreciation of team efforts can be a last-mile effort for showing you trust in your team. It is also important to make time for casual conversations, games, or virtual happy hours to build rapport & relationships. However, it's crucial to maintain a healthy balance between work and leisure activities within the team.

I find very effective sharing pieces of unsolicited customer feedback from emails and gong calls. It helps people that don't work with customers directly to feel the field and be more connected.

Try out Async communication. Works wonder for some teams. It also ensures that there is less distraction and you can focus on your deep work.

We're an agency so our stakeholder are our clients. We've also embraced the remote work culture, and it's all about flexibility and understanding. We've honed our internal communication using tools like Slack, with dedicated channels for team collaboration and customer interactions. But when it comes to our stakeholders, I believe in a tailored approach. Whether it's creating a custom Notion board to track progress, utilizing Google Cloud and Gmail, or even picking up the phone for a more personal touch with those who prefer it, we adapt to what fits best for each unique situation. It's not just about using the latest tools; it's about connecting in the way that makes the most sense for everyone involved.