As some employees go back to the physical office, many startups and small businesses have decided to permanently make the move to remote work. Along with this decision comes the opportunity to more carefully examine work habits, and adjust to fit the new normal. And, as a startup project manager, it's imperative to learn healthy and productive remote working habits to succeed in your role.

In this blog post, I will share with you four tips to improve team communication and boost productivity in a remote environment.

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1) Schedule a daily check-in or standup

• Standup is often the only opportunity to get your entire team together, face to face (or voice to voice). It’s so important for team building, problem solving, and sharing information.

• If you have a geographically dispersed team in multiple time zones, it’s recommended to make the meeting “camera optional” to accommodate those in earlier time zones who may not be ready for video in the early morning.

• Communicate expectations regarding standup early and often and invite feedback to make sure everyone is heard.

2) Dedicate one day a week to “no meetings”

• Zoom fatigue is real! Advocate for yourself and your time by selecting one day a week to break from meetings, calls, and/or video.

• Plan your time and workload for no meeting days to boost productivity.

• Work with your manager and team to make sure your clients are covered on your no meeting days.

3) Use Slack channels for project and team related communication

• It’s easy to have side conversations in Slack that turn into mountains of information. Avoid double work and situations where key people are left out of conversation by establishing a standard operating procedure to set up a dedicated Slack channel anytime a new project begins.

• Communicate early and often to the team that all related communication should happen inside of team or project channels.

4) Schedule recurring One on Ones with your manager

• In a remote environment, one on ones are especially important as time with your manager can be difficult to come by. Leverage this time in your favor, and always document everything - just in case. It can be easy to be lost in the shuffle when remote, and you don’t want all of your hard work to go unnoticed.

• Schedule ones on ones weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly depending on circumstances. Biweekly is a good starting point. Be proactive about setting these up, particularly if you have a very busy manager or a manager who is disengaged.

• Create an agenda for the meeting to discuss concerns, suggestions, expectations/goals, and progress.

• Document meeting details in writing and always followup on action items, even if your manager seems to have forgotten.