Hybrid teamwork in a post-covid world

Working with and managing distributed teams with the hybrid model

So if you're looking at my leadership playbook it looks absolutely prehistoric. Office showcases, team lunches and in-person workshops are relics of the pre-covid era and we've all had to play catch-up.

Leading the Lending design team at SoFi was my first foray into fully remote and then hybrid team management. Our designers were all located in San Francisco while I was contantly on the road and eventually in Napa CA about 2 hours commute each way.

I don't send a single meeting invite without an agenda

Luckily have had a lot of experience with distributed teams having been part of the very first Xi'an agile teams at REA back in 2012 and working with an extremely distributed team at both RDC and SoFi where all business and engineering partners were typically not in the same city.

In person time needs to be all about human time

With a hybrid model, focus your in person time for connecting with your team. When we only came into the office once a week at SoFi there were no meetings for the whole day. Scheduled our 1:1s, separate time for going over personal development plans, reviewing designs and some collaborative design time. No point staring at the green dot when you're in the office. Lots of coffee/boba/tea/beer on in-person days.

Make it clear how & when your team can reach you

Slack, email, DMs, text messages, chats, comments. The information flares out quickly. Always tell my team they can email to get a reply by end of day, slack to get a reply within an hour and text message or call my phone if it's urgent. Regardless of circumstances, my team can contact me whenever they need (whereas I wont contact them outside 9-5). Other tips for managing information:

Slack is short term memory, email is long term memory

• Slack is short term memory, email is long term memory
• Less in favour of synchrounously sharing via slack as it's so time sensitive.
• Move critical decisions or async information to google docs or confluence so it can be referenced
• As soon as a slack thread inevitably spirals, move it to documentation where it can be tracked by everyone
• Structure async feedback collection in figma by setting expectations on what you need feedback on specifically and where
• Make it easy to follow your figma by laying out sections where you want specific feedback

Block out as much continuous time as possible

Applies generally, but especially for designers we want as much uninterrupted time as possible when remote. Coming in to the office to then be interrupted all day to join zoom with remote colleagues is not much fun either. Bundle your meetings in the morning or before lunch so you can be fresh and focused after some food.

Making meetings work

Been sitting on a blog post about meetings for years; my general apathy towards meetings could definitely be an email but there's a few key tricks to improving them in person and remotely:

• I don't send a single meeting invite without an agenda and have definitely rejected ones without
• Be clear about the goals and objectives for the meeting
• Include as much information in the invite, even if attendees only read it one minute before the meeting
• Make clear why people are invited, the outcomes and their involvement
• Depending on the mix of virtual and in-person, host has to ensure the latter doesn't slip in to a silo
• Speak to the camera and those in-person
• Ensure everyone's opinion is gathered before you as the leader or manager share your opinion

Celebrating your people remotely

For every workaversary or promotion, we create a figjam or miro and have everyone sign it. We've also created a card and asked everyone to send their message via slack which is printed and pasted into the card. Both are a distributed, digital solution for a classic analog/in-person activity. This way everyone can get involved and treats them equally.

Making distributed brainstorming work for everyone

The classic design studio or design sprint has embraced distributed participants but increasingly they've become remote first around a digital first solution. Some of the tips and tricks we employed to keep things feeling communal.

• Host is always prepared and controls the space with an agenda
• Digital board (miro, figjam, google workspace) is primed and ready ahead of time
• Include all participants, their names and title for context
• Send materials ahead of time including framing the user problem(s), digest of research and strategy / internal drivers
• Kick off with an ice-breaker but keep it brief
• Align on the problem to solve then give everyone some time off camera
• Re-convene to upload your sketches and ideas to miro/figjam
• Ensure everyone gets to walk through their idea and converge on solutions
• Clearly define follow-ups and actions

Make zoom a billboard

After had made zoom backgrounds a thing, one time was presenting to a wide team and linked to mobile prototypes. Put the QR code on my background and as the meeting wore on more people realised and opened the prototype. As we walked through how the new experience would solve problems, they were trying it out in real time.

Encourage your people to step away from the laptop

This one might be a little controversial, but take the time to take a break but remain engaged. During an all-hands webinar or broadcasted meeting, get away from the laptop and listen in. I once hit the pool and watched a one hour company webinar and returned to work refreshed.

Connect with people you don't know

As an extrovert this is easier for me, but when in the office I sought out people I didn't know, said hello to everyone I saw and leaned in to meeting as many people as possible. Eating lunch in the common areas and trying to connect with new faces.