Remote work has become a new objective reality around the world. Due to the pandemic, many companies have switched to remote mode. This work has many advantages. Yes, you can work from anywhere in the world where there is a good connection and powerful Wi-Fi. Also, you can spend your time and money on something other than home-office-home trips.

There is no need to carry food vessels with you every day. You can spend more time with your family. In remote mode, you can make an environmental work schedule that suits you.

And one of the first sectors to have largely embraced the remote work culture has been the IT sector, especially the developers' community. Today, we can see businesses hiring dedicated teams sitting in offshore locations and working remotely on their projects. 

However, ensuring that the teams are in their best form and have successfully adapted to the remote work culture is indispensable. Businesses are putting out SOPs, best practices, and several other guidelines to ensure their teams are at peak performance.    

Still, wondering how to ensure that your remote development teams have efficiently adapted to remote mode? We have collected several life hacks to help you properly organize Remote Development Teams.

#1. Use time tracker software for development team management

 Most IT teams work according to the Agile software development methodology and use JIRA: a product developed by  Atlassian that allows you to track errors and flexibly manage projects. It is the most useful app for development team management.  JIRA has the standard form of a board with columns:

• To Do: tasks to be done
• In Progress / in development: tasks that are currently being worked on
• In Testing: column for testers
• Done: when the work is completed, everything is checked, the code goes to production

Installing trackers can not just help you keep a tab on the work and productivity of the remote development teams, but project managers managing remote teams can also manage feedback, check project timelines, and even gain accurate insights for business growth or process discovery initiative.   

#2. Use Git for the Development Team

It is a set of console utilities that track and fix changes in files (most often, we are talking about the source code of programs, but you can use it for any files). Sometimes you need to back up to the previous version. For this reason, it is very useful to have Git- the control of versions.

With it, you can compare, analyze, edit, merge changes, and go back to the last save. This process is called the control of versions. It is extremely useful when several specialists work simultaneously on one project. Without Git there will be a collapse when the developers copy all the code from the main folder and do what was planned with it. Try to return all the codes back at the same time. There are visual clients if you need a command line in your work.

A command line is required for full version control. At the same time, many operations can be done without it. Using visual clients Tortoisegit or Gitkraken. They support standard operations: commits, creating branches, and showing differences in versions. With Gui clients, you can visualize the branching of commits.

#3. Debugger API for remote software development team

An API debugger- one of the most useful software for remote software development teams.  Debugger helps you to understand the interaction of services. For example, check what number of responses the request returns. Postman is the most popular program for remote development teams.

It has a clear interface. It is possible to write reconnections and scripts that will be displayed immediately after the request. When you check the mistake in a browser, do not forget to clean your cache. CleanMyMac X is the best solution for your Mac. So you can see the actual information. 

#4. Try IDEs and code editors

IDE highlights simple mistakes. The programmer does not need to memorize all the methods of classes. IDE has a built-in code analyzer. The analyzer helps to write code. But you need knowledge of the programming language or the software development framework.

The most popular are Arachnophilia, Bluefish, Apache Netbeans, SeaMonkey and Visual Studio code.

#5. Explore Traffic Analyzer 

Client service applications interact with a large amount of traffic. During failures, the cause can be detected in the data and queries themselves.

Wireshark is needed when you plan to integrate new protocols with third-party services - it helps you to study the features of working with the protocol.

#6. Add devices to PC or laptop

You need an additional monitor or keyboard. The second monitor for the remote developer is a must. In any case, everything you need to work efficiently should be there. This is imperative to ensure workplace productivity is maintained while they are working from home. 

For those managing remote development teams, ensuring that your employees are well-equipped can create a balanced outlook for work. Whether it is providing the hardware or the software licenses, everything should be in place to avoid any issues.  

On An Ending Note... 

Working in a remote environment has become a norm today. And various studies have even proved that employees that are working from home turn out to be more productive compared to those working from offices. And any business can leverage the advantages of this model for the future of work. All they need to do is follow the best practices listed above and provide their remote development teams with an environment to grow and work freely.