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This is the golden rule you must follow in all interactions with your developers. Remember, you aren't only dealing with time zones, but you also have cross-cultural differences.
Sometimes idioms or terms that we find intuitive and habitual might convey a different message to people from other countries. Non-verbal cues are also often used to gauge meaning, especially when the culture and language aren't in sync, so pay special attention to your tone of voice.
Show that you care, be kind to your developers and work with them. Yes, you hired them to build your product, but if you don't give any input and don't stay actively engaged during hiccups, your development partner might not know what you want. Raise any concerns as they occur to you and don't assume your development team can read your mind.
Here is a great example of how to be direct in your feedback:
Situation: You have received mockups of your designs that don't exactly match what you were expecting.
Bad Response: I don't like the color you chose, it needs to be a lighter red.
Good Response: I don't think the background color of the third button ("Cancel") is exactly what I was looking for, can we switch it to this shade of red? (Attachment of the color is included in the message).
When working across language and cultural barriers, it never hurts to be more explicit in your feedback. Don't assume your developers understood you, make absolutely sure there is no room for interpretation by elaborating and asking follow-up questions to gauge their understanding.
If you're having difficulties communicating a concept to your development team, don't hesitate to reach out to us via the live chat or by emailing resources@aloa.co! Our Aloa Outsourcing Strategists have years of experience communicating technical concepts across language and cultural barriers, and we'd love to help in any way we can.
Everyone likes to be told that they are doing a good job. When your developers do something good, tell them! You want to establish positive reinforcement and make sure they are excited and eager to work with you.
Sometimes, when working with someone remote who you don't always see face-to-face, it can be easy to forget that it's a person on the other side. Many times, relationships like these turn too transactional, and in turn, you de-incentivize the developers to go above and beyond and to feel a true connection to the project they are working on. View the developer as a part of your team, not as a replaceable add-on.
In the same way that not speaking up during a demo call may be perceived as tacit approval, not responding when a major milestone is completed can be taken as disapproval or dissatisfaction.
When working remotely, the only way your development team knows they're delivering what you want is if you tell them. Don't be shy about giving praise for well-executed tasks.
Running a business is hard,
Software development shouldn't be ✌️
