From AudioMob’s Chief Technology Officer, some Best Practices for Leading Distributed Teams

Presenting at Web Summit 2022, Wilfrid Obeng, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of AudioMob, talked about managing remote teams efficiently. AudioMob is an ingenious start-up that provides in-game audio ads to developers, allowing them to generate earnings without disturbing the gameplay experience for users.

According to Wilfrid, the biggest challenge of remote work is adjusting to the distinct circumstances and personalities of every team member.

Kindly consider the variation in time zones.

Wilfrid stresses the significance of taking into account the different time zones of team members when scheduling meetings to ensure that they are held at a comfortable time for everyone. Additionally, meetings can be made more effective and less stressful by keeping them concise.

Using audio recordings may be helpful in such scenarios. To communicate our ideas instead of scheduling a meeting, we can rely on screen recording tools like Loom that enable us to share our thought process through video.

Develop a comprehension of the team’s requirements.

There are different perspectives on remote work. Based on his experience, Wilfrid believes that certain team members are more efficient when working in an office environment than when working remotely. While some may find it challenging, others welcome the chance to work from home whenever possible.

Therefore, the strategy is to set a shared objective for the team.

Wilfrid noticed that his sales team were sociable and enthusiastic about interacting with clients face to face. In contrast, his engineering staff preferred a home office with multiple screens and a quiet environment to work efficiently. Commuting was a source of anxiety for several teams.

As AudioMob adopted a remote work approach, they strived to fulfill several employee needs and preferences, shifting to a hybrid workplace model that blended in-office and remote work.

Productive remote work necessitates maintaining unimpeded communication channels.

According to Wilfrid, the heavier reliance on written communications has resulted in challenges in comprehending certain messages, possibly leading to misconceptions as it lacks the advantage of observing the facial expressions, tone and body language of the other person in a digital conversation.

To tackle this issue, he has implemented more frequent team meetings and reserved at minimum two days each week for face-to-face interactions.

When the UK went into its initial lockdown, AudioMob made a rapid and smooth shift to a remote work setup. Despite being in operation for just three months, the team has succeeded in collaborating without having ever met personally. They have improvised along the way to evolve and strengthen the team.

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