Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

Product managers: ever feel like there’s a disconnect between you and your remote developers? If you find that you’re struggling to work together effectively, it may be because your developers aren’t telling you what you really need to know about your shared and individual workflows. I chatted with some remote developers in the Arc.dev remote community to find out what the top barriers to successful collaboration are – and what product managers can do to overcome them.

Freelance writer Evan Roxanna Ramzipoor is a writer based in California. She is the author of The Ventriloquists, and her writing has been featured in McSweeney’s, Salon, and others. Check out her work at erramzipoor.com. At some point, we’ve all experienced a problem with a process or strategy at work. But figuring out why the problem exists can be a daunting task. When you sit your teammates down for a discussion, emotions run high and miscommunication is common.

There’s a lot of pressure on the term “remote work.” It has been — and will continue to be — a trending buzzword. But, remote work as a concept seems to be thrown around loosely, and often fails to adequately convey all of its radical implications. Remote work is not just a sparkly employment perk. It’s not just working from the couch in pajamas. And it’s definitely not a digital nomad sipping a margarita in Bali while founding his next unicorn SaaS product.

Ice breakers are a fantastic way to get team members acquainted with each other—especially if teams work remotely or there are new faces in the office. We often spend more time with our coworkers than family or friends. But teams don’t always know the best ice breaker questions or games. You can use these simple team building activities to quickly help diffuse anxiety or awkward silences in meetings.

for many, Facilitating a meeting or a workshop may seem like a dreadful task. Facilitating a remote workshop – even more so. There’s something inherently challenging about not being in the same room with your team. You can’t really revert to small talk when the atmosphere gets stiff. You can’t create a warm welcoming atmosphere to ease everyone into the exercises. And let’s face it, ice-breaking games over video conference can seem nothing short of awkward and cringy.