What are the most effective time management tools for remote teams?

I'm biased here as I work for PMS company, but it's incredible the value that the teams I work with have seen from leveraging ClickUp. My greatest advice would be to vet a variety of different solutions and, once you find the right one, INVEST in the implementation. Shelfware is valuable to no one, and an ineffective implementation can turn the greatest tool in the world into a useless app.

Whichever PMS you choose for your organization, you will want to train some change champions to facilitate learning sessions and get your employees comfortable using the system. There will always be some degree of resistance to change in the workplace, but you can get ahead of it by piloting with a select group of highly-motivated employees.

Slack: Enables real-time messaging, file sharing, and integration with other tools. Microsoft Teams: Combines chat, video conferencing, and file sharing within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Zoom: For video conferencing and online meetings. Google Workspace (formerly G Suite): Includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Calendar for seamless collaboration.

I am still surprised at the number of people not using a PMS for their small team or even individual work. They are cheap or free (eg. if you have a Teams account you have either To Do, Planner, Azure Boards or all three already) and the visualization of seeing all your work but also the physical timing of when projects can be done is project-level life changing. They are must-use programs - especially those with a board feature - for someone who struggles with work life balance or finding time between meetings to do work, but are most beneficial to folks with multiple remote direct reports or who struggle (or your team struggles) to meet deadlines you yourself set when asked for a date by a project sponsor or leader months ago.

Monday.com is a really effective and user freindly project management tool! I use it with my team and it helps to create a lot of consistent processes and workflows. Working on the brand side of the organization, some workflows that are useful for my team include content, advertising, and social media workflows. Training for a software like this is important. Specific Monday.com champions were identified to lead the charge. These champions implemented monthly Monday.com meetings open to my full team. The time would be used for trainings, to answer any questions, and go over updates on the software. Whatever project management tools you use, make sure you train and test regularly to optimize the efficency of the tool!

Clockify is a great app. It's also customizable and free. It's easy to track time and create a clear view of where it goes. It can also be integrated with Outlook.

The use of time tracking apps with a remote team needs to be done with diligence and care. Implementing one can seem like "big brother" and micromanagement. The mission must be to help the team to be more productive by understanding how to reduce wasteful company processes, not individual challenges. Starting out with something like, "We are going to track everyone's time to truly understand how much time we are spending in meetings. From those results we can better understand which are really needed." From there, you can expand into other categories.

a time tracking app is a powerful tool for remote teams striving to boost their performance and efficiency. Here's why it's a game-changer for remote work: Accurate Measurement: Time tracking apps provide an accurate record of how much time is spent on various tasks, projects, or clients. This level of detail is essential for understanding where your team's time is going and making informed decisions. Data Analysis: Beyond just tracking time, these apps allow you to analyse the data. You can gain insights into which tasks consume the most time, helping you identify areas where efficiency can be improved.

Time tracking apps have revolutionised the way we manage our time and work. Whether you're a freelancer, a team leader tracking project progress, or just someone trying to understand how you spend your day, these apps offer an accurate and efficient solution.

I use Harvest and it is one of the best I have used. I recommend it to everyone that asks what time tracking tool I use to invoice my clients. It provides detailed time allocations and generates invoices.

Hands down it has to be Slack. The amount of email that has been eliminated in my daily routine is wild. It's nice to keep email for large projects or external communications. Slack allows quick chats and calls to keep things moving. On top of the productivity it creates it's also fun and keeps people connected. Fun channels offer a nice way to recreate the break room conversations in a remote workplace.

Team communication is crucial in any organization as it facilitates collaboration, efficiency, and effective decision-making. Using a communication tool like the Band app can streamline this process in several ways: by centralizing discussions, scheduling, file sharing, and ensuring privacy. It boosts collaboration and efficiency. Great resource to have in your toolkit.

Email/inbox management tools (tagging/collaborating/prioritizing) are effective for teams as well. In Accounting and Finance, the AP team can get incredibly bogged down with a perpetual flow of emails and requests/inquiries. Using an inbox management tool such as Hiver/Front can create some structure and balance to a chaotic process.

Communication is key. And trust your team. This seems basic, but our Project Management and Creative team have a Word document that the PMs update every night with the creative person’s name and the jobs in-progress and due the next day or that week. It goes out to all teams the next morning. It gives a high-level overview of what each creative person is working on and when it’s due. Very helpful.

I see MS Teams as a one-stop shop communication tool for all team communications. It's a workspace for meetings, real-time collaboration and communication, and file and app sharing.

I enjoy using the pomodoro technique, but find I need to adapt it as I don't often have 25+ min of uninterrupted time available. Instead, I shorten the time to a period that I have available. I find the technique helpful in two main ways: 1. For tasks I don't like doing, I know I can make myself do anything for a short period of time, and then I've made progress (and often completed) a task that I may have otherwise avoided. 2. If it's a task that I really enjoy doing, I can sometimes get caught up and spend way too much time on it, to the detriment of my other work. A timer gives me the freedom to get 'lost' in the work but pulls me out before it negatively impacts my whole schedule.

The Pomodoro Technique is a great way to manage time effectively. Those 5-minute breaks after every 25-minute of work, is essential for mental well-being. It boosts not only wellness, but also increases productivity at work. Whenever I see anyone getting overwhelmed, I tell them to use the Pomodoro Technique as you can break the tasks into more manageable chunks. The best way is to use a timer to track work. And don't forget to hydrate 😊

Pomodoro technique works great across all levels of an organization. Find a company that supports balance. It will pay off dividends for you every single day. Setting meetings as either 25 min or 45 min instead of 30 min or 60 min enable the team members to have time to catchup on emails, take a personal call, get a bio break, or just put their feet up for a second. It is a very helpful method to enable the team with structured time management.

Certainly, here's a personal story from my experience to illustrate how the Pomodoro Technique can be a game-changer for remote teams: I found myself struggling to maintain focus and productivity while working remotely. The endless distractions of home life and the lack of colleagues around made it challenging to stay on track. That's when I decided to give the Pomodoro Technique a try. I started using a simple Pomodoro timer app on my phone, and the results were remarkable. Breaking my work into 25-minute intervals made tasks feel more manageable. Knowing I had a defined, focused period to work on a task pushed me to concentrate deeply. It was astonishing how much I could accomplish during those uninterrupted 25 minutes.

The Pomodoro Technique is a fantastic time management method that helps increase productivity and focus. It's a simple and effective way to prevent burnout. I've personally found it to be a game changer in my daily routine, allowing me to tackle tasks with renewed energy and efficiency. Give it a try if you haven't already; you might be surprised at the positive impact it can have on your productivity!

Lead by example in setting work-life boundaries. If you don't want your employees to feel like they have to answer emails late at night, don't be the one to send them late at night! You can use scheduled send functions instead if the matter isn't urgent.

Lead by example. Be fully present when in a meeting. Be fully present when writing an email. Be fully present when out of office. Show you care and let what will be, be, with those who choose to expect people to work 24x7. It is your choice how you respond to their style and through thoughtful relationships, you can help a workaholic understand that you have an integrated life and feel more healthy because of it.

I agree with the comment that one should show example. Think how urgent something is and then ask. Sometimes self-care isn’t about doing other things, it simply is about not loosing perspective and maintaining calm attitude.

It's integral to be inspired and have accountability when it comes to self-care. Forming a remote community with co-workers can be tough and I think this works best when it comes from the top-down. When an organization budgets for supporting the team's health, there's a measurable ROI in terms of healthcare plan spending. Does your company encourage fitness? meditation? taking PTO? These are things employees look for and is a great strategy to boost productivity, as well as attracting and retaining talent.

While this may seem to be only an adjacency to the initial question of "What are the most effective time management tools for remote teams?", I believe it is the fundamental foundation that leads into all the other answers above... TRANSPARENTLY STRUCTURING & CONSISTENTLY COMMUNICATING CORPORATE GOALS (OKRs). Effective time management stems from a clear understanding of priorities, deadlines and defined accountability (around decision-making & resources). Get this fundamental correct, effective time management follows.

Being remote, I have utilized many different strategies, and here is what works best (for me): -Power Breaks: I take a 5 to 10 min break every hour. Just get up, walk, stretch or get on my phone (with a timer). -Snacking: every 3 hours, I will take a 15 mins snacking break or do dishes or something outside of work. This gets me into a different mindset which gives my mind a break and then back to it. -Schedule EVERYTHING: On my teams calendar, I schedule everything including by lunch breaks and any time I have to dedicate to something else. -Say No: Don't accommodate work requests in times that you have blocked off for family. Keep the focus on family. Lastly, prioritize as follows: God, Family, Work. Hope this helps.

Incorporating a knowledge management system is essential for remote teams, aiding in efficient information organization and retrieval. Implementing standardized workflows and leveraging automation tools like Zapier or Integromat can significantly streamline processes, minimizing errors and enhancing productivity. Additionally, fostering a culture of regular feedback and performance reviews within the team can promote accountability and motivation and ultimately improve time management and overall team efficiency.

I find it striking that leadership modeling the behavior they want to see isn't listed here. It's by far way more impactful than any app, software, or individual employee practice. If you want to see junior employees responsive and accessible during core hours of the day, leaders need to do that first. If you want to see junior employees setting meaningful boundaries to be able to engage in self-care, manage home responsibilities, and prevent burnout, leaders need to be doing that first. And if you want to see junior employees embracing new collaborative or communication technology, leaders have to do that first too.

Use calendar to book appointments and also focus time which you need to work on specific tasks. Set your working hours in your calendar so that people remotely booking meetings are aware if the time is outside your working hours.