Key Points

• Remote work leads to happier and more productive teams.
• There is no reason why distributed Scrum teams can’t be as productive as they would be in person.
• There are some easy-to-implement best practices for remote collaboration.

One of the most important things for any organization in today’s world is to figure out how to best handle remote work. For better or worse, remote work is here to stay, and millions of employees worldwide are happier for it. Enabling a stronger work-life balance, there is a good chance that employees will be even more productive with remote work, as they lose the stress of commuting. 

In the scrum world, where being up close and personal with your team is the norm, working with distributed teams presents a new set of challenges. This isn’t to say that the work can’t get done, but there is no question that teams that are used to working together have to find a new normal. The good news is that there are some quick best practices Scrum teams can adopt to get started. 

What Is a Remote Scrum Team? 

On the plus side, a remote Scrum team isn’t all that different from a team that performs Scrum meetups in person. These teams are usually divided into three parts, with a product owner, a Scrum master, and the development team. The latter generally consists of those who do the actual work, such as coders, testers, and managers. 

For the most part, a remote Scrum team is precisely what it sounds like in that members work in different physical locations. There is no need to have team members located in the same physical office; employees can work from their homes or different distributed offices. With the rise of apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, teams can work in real-time just as they would in person. 

What Are the Benefits of a Remote Scrum Team? 

With access to a global talent pool, no question that distributed Scrum teams can tap into worldwide talent. This means these teams can focus on hiring the best candidate from anywhere, and not just those who can commute to a physical building. The latter can significantly decrease the candidate pool size. 

Cost savings are another big benefit, as remote teams, much as company leadership may hate to admit, lead to savings. In many instances, companies that have transitioned to a fully remote work environment save on office supplies, rent, utilities, and even labor costs in some regions. 

Another significant advantage is the increase in productivity. Whether it’s psychological or not, employees working from home tend to be more comfortable, have fewer distractions, and feel less pressure, which can lead to increased productivity. 

Lastly, there is no doubt that remote work allows for a flexible schedule. This is ideal for parents, anyone with a second job, or those working across time zones. Having teams in different locations means they can also cover a company’s work around the clock, potentially without requiring employees to work outside regular working hours. 

Best Practices for Distributed Scrum Teams

While remote work has numerous benefits that employees love, it’s also essential to have some best practices in place to ensure everyone is on the same page. 

Clear Communication Channels

The first and most important best practice is to make sure that a Scrum team has established clear communication channels. This means more than just Zoom, but also tools like Slack for day-to-day work, as well as apps like Trello, Asana, Monday, or others to help track and check off work as it’s completed. Having a combination of tools that ensures everyone is informed and on the same page is critical for success. 

Strong Team Culture

One of the benefits of working in person is that teams can build camaraderie more quickly than they can over video conferencing platforms like Zoom. There is no question that creating and maintaining a strong team culture will be a major benefit for distributed Scrum teams. 

Every team member wants to feel trusted, be collaborative, and think as if they belong on the team. This means regular video calls, as well as exploring virtual company activities. This could be a virtual Friday happy hour at 4 pm before everyone leaves for the weekend, where the team can just decompress. 

Clearly Defined Goals

Just as in-person teams need clearly defined goals, so too do distributed teams. This means that leadership and/or managers must ensure that everyone on the team is familiar with the goals. This should begin with the onboarding process, where the team’s goals are made abundantly clear. Additionally, teams should focus on performance measurement to assess their progress during sprints. 

Training and Support

If a team is distributed, training modules should be available online to bring them up to speed. Training and support will go a long way in ensuring the success of a distributed Scrum team. Remote work training doesn’t have to be all that different from in-person training, so it should be relatively easy to accommodate.

Technical support must also be in place for remote teams. This can be as simple as ensuring someone from IT is available to help troubleshoot laptop or connectivity issues, such as a VPN not connecting or email not syncing. 

Encouraging Collaboration 

Arguably, one of the most important best practices for a distributed Scrum team is collaboration. This should be encouraged at every level, from management to the ground level. Teams should focus on cross-functional collaboration, utilizing the tools a company makes available. Most importantly, knowledge shouldn’t be siloed, so it needs to be shared as widely as necessary to ensure everyone’s success. 

Evaluate Performance

You can argue that a team is either as good as its successes or failures, but it needs to be measured in either case. How this is handled varies by company, but performance reviews for every distributed employee should be conducted at least twice a year. Additionally, there should be KPIs for the entire distributed team that they must meet, and everyone should be held accountable if these targets are missed. 

Challenges of Distributed Scrum Teams

While there is no question that the benefits of distributed Scrum teams are plentiful, this doesn’t mean no challenges exist. 

Communication Gap

If there is any kind of communication gap between team members, it will become a major issue over time. When teams don’t communicate, things get missed and slip through the cracks. This could lead to frustrations, accusations, finger-pointing, and unnecessary stress. The last thing any Scrum leader wants is a team that doesn’t trust one another and misses its deliverables. 

Silo Working

Piggybacking on the idea of a communication gap, working in a Silo is going to be a red flag for distributed Scrum teams. Remote work can be done alone at times, but doing so without team updates can make things even more challenging. Team members need to collectively determine how to obtain as much real-time feedback as possible to ensure work can continue moving forward. 

Disorganiziation 

Without the real-time, in-person updates that come from physically working in one location, it’s not impossible for distributed Scrum teams to feel disorganized. If there are delays in communicating or if someone is a project blocker because they are waiting for updates from another team, it can wreak havoc on timelines and deliverables.

It’s essential not to let team members become too immersed in their projects without sharing knowledge during video catch-ups with the team. 

Other Useful Tools and Concepts

Are you interested in learning more about Scrum? Then you want to take a closer look at the Scrum Guide. This article is going to give you an inside look at how to master agile projects with a unified team. You can then read more about how to measure success with a Scrum project and the different tools and metrics available to help you do so. 

Once you have finished reading about Scrum, jump into learning more about the major trends of remote work in 2025. There is no question that remote work is here to stay, and your next role might end up being remote, so it will be great to be an expert in the category before you land your next job. 

Conclusion 

It cannot be overstated that distributed Scrum teams can be as successful as in-person teams, provided they put in the right amount of effort. Employees will be happier working remotely, but they also want to ensure that work doesn’t slip through the cracks. Adhering to the best practices outlined here will set up a distributed Scrum team for success. 

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