With the recent shift to increased remote working, project management teams faced significant adjustments to get the work done efficiently and with the usual high quality. While the benefits of remote working are quite clear, managing remote project teams comes with its own set of challenges. Though, when the right structure, technologies, and processes are in place, organizations have a great opportunity to fast adapt the work model and thrive further.

Remote working has been a relevant topic explored by organizations for a while; however, at scale, as forced by the recent events, is unusual and will affect organizations for many years. When remote working is appropriately done, it can increase productivity, innovation and help the organization embrace even a more efficient project execution approach. If it is done poorly, it raises inefficiencies, harms work relationships, and discourages employees. So there is a lot at stake!

Effective Project Management is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to remote teams. Managing the implementation of complex projects involving multiple locations, workstreams, and teams can be exciting, requiring exceptional coordination and skill. Remote project management also brings a unique set of challenges. Without regular status meetings or meetings at work, which most teams perform daily in the office, project transparency naturally decreases, and complexity in the overall project execution increases.

Successful remote project implementation requires a practical framework using adequate technologies, establishing clear goals, providing team members autonomy, and delivering progress. While the project necessities will vary for each company, project scope, and team, having a consistent approach will enable companies to deliver high-quality projects on time, within budget successfully.

Working with remote project management strategies, no matter what methodology is chosen, it is vital to keep the following components on top of mind:

• Creating shared objectives based on project specifics
• Scoping out and prioritizing project specifics is crucial
• Establishing effective project kickoff calls
• Soften the chaos of remote project tasks
• Prioritize to build remote teams with clear and effective communication at all levels
• Achieve early timelines and deadlines for project milestones
• Track every significant task and deadline in a central tool
• Keep teammates accountable with quick status updates
• Document every decision
• Manage budget properly and mitigate risks early
• Systematically provide team engagement
• Praise achievements and project progress
• Keep the lines of communication open

Over the years, our experience demonstrated that keeping this on the top of your mind will help manage any remote project successfully and increase your team’s ability and momentum to correct course faster when necessary.

• Remote work differs from regular office work. In remote work, teams will need clarity and freedom to work when it’s best for everyone
• Having a strong project management structure will help team members develop the right habits and create alignment and accountability through trivial status updates
• Remote work embedded in micromanagement and control will fail – balance supervision with trustworthiness
• Develop clear and obvious governance on project documentation and share information openly. Keep all communication integrated, where cross-functional teams can collaborateSoften the chaos of remote project tasks
• Allow your team to embrace change always and be inspired by doing so

With the right technologies, tools, and processes in place, remote project work will consistently deliver real and valuable outcomes.

Team members will thrive in an environment that promotes adaptability, confidence, and autonomy.

Our team is regularly utilizing these methodologies and techniques for remote project management success, and it is an incredible journey.

Hopefully, this Article can inspire other organizations and managers to build a remote project that fits their culture.

An innovative and research-driven Life Science organization sought significant revenue growth and a new organizational setup to transform and eliminate non-value-added activities. With the expected new organizational design, the company looked for opportunities to reduce costs, identify growth drivers, strengthen short-term performance, and improve long-term organizational health. The organization looked for a partner to support this large-scale organizational transformation program across multiple project workstreams.

Impact:

During this project, we managed an end-to-end organizational transformation and design project, including the implementation of a consolidated work plan.

As part of the project, we established individual workstreams and several governance meetings with the executive management team.

Overall, we implemented the new organizational strategy splitting the organization of more than 20,000 employees into three vertically integrated business units and adjusting the operational structure.

A new business partner approach with HR, Legal, and other vital business functions proved an excellent approach for the new organization to avoid disruption during this early phase of the disintegration. Following the new design, we developed and adjusted guiding principles, governance setup, and structured communication plans. In our collaboration with global Human Resources Teams and the newly assigned Business Partners, we also fast-paced the employee data cleaning process and defined new roles during the selection and alignment process.

Best practices:

We identified the following best practices during this initiative:

• Excel in driving individual stream activities and deliverables
• Focus on project governance and change activities
• Achieve buy-in from key stakeholders
• Build a Business Partner Approach to avoid business disruption