At ShuttleCloud we are a team spanning all over the world; Three continents, over 9 countries, and four different time zones. Working with such a widespread team brings us some great benefits, but it definitely comes with challenges!
What’s good about a remote team?
We love our Madrid HQ (check out our virtual tour— it’s a really cool office) as much as we love the freedom of remote work. By hiring remotely, we get to work with some amazing talent from all over the world without being bound by geography. We get to do great work with really cool people whilst learning about each other’s cultures and lifestyles.
What are the challenges of a remote team?
To succeed as a remote-friendly company, you need great communication between all teams and a solid organization. Some people may be finishing their day while others are just beginning theirs, which involves a big challenge to keep everyone on the same page. For many businesses, adapting to a remote-friendly culture is challenging but we have found the formula that works for us. How do we make all of this work? Well, it simply is all based on good team communication and organization with the correct use of online tools.
How does ShuttleCloud work, and how do we tackle challenges?
We have several teams at ShuttleCloud: Marketing, Sales, and Engineering and each one has a different way of keeping track of their assignments. Each year we start with a company (yes, the entire company!) meeting in January. We follow EOS (Entrepreneur Organizational System), and set goals for each quarter and the whole year (known as Rocks in EOS). Every quarter, each team meets to check and evaluate its progress to make improvements for the next quarter. Every week, each team meets in a ‘Level 10’ meeting, where we share good news and discuss any challenges we’re facing as well as updates on what we have been working on. The Engineering team also has daily 15-minute standups to keep each other updated on what the members are planning for the day.
What tools do we use to communicate?
To keep the team united and in contact, we use lots of different tools. These help us to stay productive and allow us to work effectively across so many different time zones. The main tools we use are:
ShuttleCloud exists thanks to email, so it’s no surprise that we use it a lot! For us, all important communication goes through email (both internal and external), including document signings, and important external communications.
Slack
Slack is our primary source of communication amongst team members, using different channels for each team and private messages. Some may have two or four channels but others might have more than twenty! We mostly communicate about work, but it is normal to get a message at random hours with fun facts, jokes, or interesting news in channels specific to those Slack messages. We even have a specific channel about games in which we usually share our daily Wordle results. Slack makes our internal communication super easy and helps us stay organized and connected.
Google Drive
Google Drive is another important tool for us. When you’re divided across different time zones and need to work asynchronously, you need to be able to share and work on documents at different times. We also use it to store important documents that can easily be shared and used by other team members.
Without a doubt, remote teamwork can be difficult to manage and even more difficult to communicate with. But with these tools mentioned, at ShuttleCloud we have found the formula that works for us, which allows us to be organized, productive, and communicate with each other without trouble.
We look forward to welcoming more recruits from other parts of the world. Because we love being a team from all over the place! 🌍
