The pandemic has globally shifted our mindset on how we can do project delivery. From projects that had team members on site full time were forced to alter their approach at least in the interim. But what have we learned through the last couple of years in terms of our ability to effectively deliver projects remotely. Not every organization or customer is ready, willing or able to take on a remotely-delivered project but if your organization is considering switching to a remote-first approach, here are some things to consider.
What are some reasons to go remote? Cost for one. Your implementation costs can go down significantly if there is no travel required. Depending on how you contract your travel (most do pass-through expenses to the customer) it can make a real difference to the cash that your customers will need to pay out for the project.
Throughput is another driver. Typically travel can take up a significant amount of team member time and adds to the mental and physical wear and tear through the life of the project. Team members working full time at the home/office compared to team members travelling every other week will have a vastly higher throughput capacity.
Innovation is something that comes when we are presented with a challenge. When the world was forced to go remote at the outset of the pandemic the amount of innovation that took place was remarkable. People finding elegantly simple solutions to overcome the challenges of not being able to be in person. Communication and collaboration tools are at the heart of a good remote delivery and organizations who are prepared and willing to work with these tools will find it much easier to move to a remote delivery model.
This may not apply to every one of your team members but with remote delivery comes the flexibility of being able to work from virtually anywhere which can help lead to higher employee satisfaction and ideally retention. Autonomy to determine your place (and possibly hours) of work can be a huge attraction for workers in organizations willing to offer that flexibility.
Remote project delivery is not for everyone, and not for every industry. But given the advancements in the tools and mindset shifts in the last couple of years, organizations who are not already fully embracing a remote delivery mindset should really give it some serious consideration.