Top 5 Tips For Managing A Remote Team In Vietnam

As a venture studio that operates across Vietnam and Singapore, we are commonly asked by tech companies about tips for managing a remote team in Vietnam. After all, successfully building up an offshore tech team is just half the battle. Firms still have to manage them with the utmost efficiency. 

This could be extremely difficult due to the differences in culture, language, and work ethics. So we have listed 5 ways businesses can ensure their offshore team management is substantially better without any compromise. 

Tip #1: Implement A Clear Structured Way Of Communication

Implementing clear communication is one of the best tips for managing a remote team as it ensures transparency and overcomes the lack of physical presence.

Therefore, we recommend implementing various digital tools to facilitate greater communication with the offshore members, which can be categorized into 3 different dedicated channels:

Formal Channel

Serving as the backbone of communication, this channel establishes the foundation of business communication where important business decisions are made. 

We often have 2 options for this, Gmail or Outlook, as they are the universal business communication platform while also mainly used by Vietnamese companies for work discussions in a formal tone with employees, employers, clients, and partners. 

Nevertheless, it is worth noting that you need to provide company email addresses for the offshore development team and give clear usage guidelines.

Casual Channel 

If the formal channel is the place where every official decision is announced, the casual channel, on the other hand, enables members to have quick conversations, regardless of work-related or casual chatting. Moreover, it also helps build up relationships and increase cohesion among members of your team.

We recommend using Skype and Zalo as they are the most popular chatting platforms in Vietnam.

Project Tracking Channel

Due to the nature of software development, firms will need a more efficient communication method that also allows tracking of the workload and processes of various projects. Therefore, companies should establish a separate channel and use Slack, Trello, and Github to manage the workflow project-by-project with ease. 

Tip #2: Assign A Team Leader As The Communication Bridge

Having a strong leader in your Vietnamese remote tech team is crucial. Not only will he/she be the one who directly manages your offshore members, but also is the communicator to ensure everyone is on the same page. 

Besides, as the leader will lead the conversion for the whole offshore team in every meeting, firms can clearly and promptly discover hidden problems arising among members of their remote team and then come up with appropriate solutions.

In a nutshell, a team leader makes sure the remote team's opinions are heard by the headquarters and vice versa. If your offshore tech team is currently working without a clear-assigned leader (or the team leader is not in Vietnam), we still recommend having one member from the team handling all these supporting communication tasks. 

Tip #3: Daily And Weekly Team Meetings

Daily or weekly team meeting is one of the essential activities that help business leaders keep track of all tasks their team is working on. Moreover, it is also a great way to increase members' morale, productivity, and engagement, and reduce attrition, which affects business outcomes.

This is the same also for remote working. But to compensate for the lack of face-to-face interaction in the software development team, video meetings should be taken into consideration. 

You can divide your team according to the projects they are participating in and then set up project-based video meetings to make sure you don't miss out on anything. We recommend Monday mornings should be the best to organize the video meeting as not only can leaders review previous works but also assign new tasks to their team. 

On the other hand, choosing the right tools is important. The remote team will need a reliable platform that can run smoothly no matter how many people log in to the meeting. And although there are several available options, Google Meet or Zoom will be your best bet since they provide various features such as recording, commenting, screen sharing, etc. 

Tip #4: Initiate Visits and Business Trips To Meet Your Team Directly 

When talking about tips for managing a remote team, businesses often overlook the value of meeting their offshore tech team directly. However, it sometimes is even more effective than any other tips when it comes to boosting leadership presence and improving employees' performance. 

As Vietnamese business culture values seniority and hierarchy, the boss's presence is essential when employees tend to look up to their boss to execute tasks. That means, frequently visiting the remote tech team can encourage the offshore team's work performance as members will work their best to search for recognition.

On the other hand, it is worth noting that taking business trips and working side-by-side with your remote team also can be useful in building up a high sense of belonging, which has actually proved to be one of the reasons leading to a whopping 56% increase in employees’ job performance.

Tip #5: Set KPIs And Create Milestones 

Everyone knows the importance of goal setting when starting a project. Clear goals let businesses know how to make proactive decisions to influence the outcome. Nevertheless, how to make sure your remote team is walking on the same goals? And how to know they are making a process?

The simplest way to measure offshore team productivity and performance is through KPIs. With short-term tasks or projects, having clear KPIs will help leaders easily track the workload every member is handling. 

But when it comes to long-term projects and goals, setting up milestones will be better. It not only gives you visibility on the project process but also your team members' process as well. In addition, it can help you to figure out potential bottlenecks, and then come up with solutions in advance.

Managing A Remote Team Requires More Than Just Commitment

As offshore software development will require business leaders to work with one or multiple remote teams from different locations across the world, managing them also becomes complicated.

We hope our experience-based tips above can significantly provide you with some great ideas. If you are interested in how to work with remote teams successfully, do contact us for an in-depth discussion.