Remote Inclusion in Distributed Engineering Teams

Increasingly, companies in business centres like London are combining offshore with local developers. Maximising the effectiveness in a mixed team environment is therefore critical to business success.

But without intentional effort to create an inclusive environment, a kind of “two-class society” inevitably develops, where onsite team members are included in every conversation and activity, but offshore team members miss out due to technical and social barriers. A team cannot thrive under these conditions, and output consequently suffers.

Let me share with you how we as developers chose to empathise with our offshore colleagues and learned to create fully inclusive teams, a “single class society”.

Steps to success, which you can replicate:

• Identify and address the technical issues which interfere with communication.
• Uncover and reduce language barriers.
• Apply nudge techniques to ensure participation and understanding in meetings.
• Create empathy and team buy-in for these actions.
• Don’t compromise.

When offshore team members say to the locals “you guys have become some of my best friends”, “I’ve never been treated like this before” or “I’m sad this project is ending, but not because of the project, because of the team”, then you know the team has achieved a powerful dynamic.