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In-person retros are becoming, well, retro. Like an old-school flip phone, they have become a thing of the past as teams prioritize distributed work.
You&rsquo;ve been doing retrospectives with your team for a long time now. You know they are effective but what you may not realize is that you can&rsquo;t just plunk the same retro into today&rsquo;s modern workplace and expect the same results. Otherwise, virtual retrospectives become boring. You can start to forget the importance of retrospectives and the purpose behind them. Distributed teams need an approach to remote retrospectives that mixes the old with the new.
In practice, this looks like utilizing all the tools at your disposal: video conferencing, agenda-setting, incorporating games to have some fun in what can sometimes be a tense setting, and dedicated time for reflection.&nbsp;
<h2>What is a remote retrospective?</h2>
<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/yvILwwyeRs8EFh4Hi1pT" />
A retrospective is based on agile methodology. It typically happens at the end of a sprint and offers an opportunity for a team to reflect on how things went. This evaluation is sometimes referred to as a sprint retrospective and is often used by scrum teams.&nbsp;
Think of the remote retrospective as the 2.0 version for today&rsquo;s modern workplace. It&rsquo;s taking all the things you do as part of your in-person retrospective and pivoting it to a distributed team. This process isn&rsquo;t always seamless, but it is worth the effort to continue to keep your team engaged in their work.&nbsp;
According to <a href="https://buffer.com/2021-state-of-remote-work">Buffer&rsquo;s 2021 State of Remote Work</a>, 41% said the way they collaborate and communicate has changed since they started working remotely. Holding regular remote retrospectives helps to solve any communication and collaboration challenges and reinforces a distributed team&rsquo;s productivity and performance.
<h2>Tips for running a remote retrospective meeting</h2>
The goal of a retrospective is for a team to review a project and pinpoint what worked and didn&rsquo;t work, look for areas of improvement, and create a list of action items. It&rsquo;s not enough to just discuss. The real value lies in taking the steps to do better and enact future change.&nbsp;
For a remote or virtual retro to work you need high levels of participation. Sometimes, these meetings aren't structured in a way that enables everyone to raise their hand. Here, the defaults for in-person meeting interactions don't work. Your team isn't in the same room anymore.&nbsp;
Here are some tips for effectively encouraging retrospective participation:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Meet face-to-face: Video is still the best tool to run any sync meetings. And since the retrospective format is usually pretty thought out and agendas are set ahead of time, you can ensure that this meeting is a priority for everyone involved.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Form breakouts: For larger teams, breakout sessions work best for &lsquo;stop-start-continue&rsquo; types of discussions. Groups then share findings with the larger team.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Use a retrospective tool: At Qatalog, the marketing team uses <a href="https://www.parabol.co/">Parabol</a> to guide our sprint retrospectives.&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Rotate the schedule: Especially for global teams, change the meeting time to each participant&rsquo;s time zone. You can also record the meeting and share it on your <a href="https://qatalog.com/blog/post/what-is-a-work-hub/">work hub</a> for all to view.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Randomize responses: If there is an issue where everyone should voice their perspective, try randomizing the speaking or commenting order. This way, everyone gets dedicated time and it isn't just the same two people leading the conversation.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<h2>Establish team trust and respect</h2>
A remote retrospective should be a safe virtual space where your team can comfortably vocalize their opinions. Retrospectives can quickly become heated and lead to hurt feelings and lower team morale. This is especially true for remote retrospectives when distributed teams are already feeling disconnected and isolated.
Set a respectful and positive tone for your meeting and others will pick up on that and do the same. Here are some ways to accomplish this:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Greet by name: Make a point to welcome each team member to the meeting and ask how they are doing. This creates a courteous environment from the start and makes them feel seen and heard.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Discuss retrospectives respectfully: Guide your team to interact appropriately and criticize gently. Add elements of positive reinforcement such as a fun ice breaker question or an award for a job well done.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Ask your team to prepare talking points: Promote inclusivity and make everyone part of the conversation by asking each of them to contribute their thoughts on the project.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Allow for anonymity: Conduct anonymous polls or ask for feedback submissions ahead of time.</li>
</ul>
We hope this article has inspired you to run a retrospective on your remote retrospectives. A retrospective can be a fun space to gather your team, learn, and reiterate your processes when they aren&rsquo;t working. These are meetings that are important to invest sync time in, because turning feedback into actionable change makes for a productive team.

Your team retrospectives have likely been remote for a while now. Make sure you're running your remote meetings with a strategy and trust built behind them.

How to run a remote retrospective | Qatalog blog

Reinforce your team's productivity and performance with remote retrospectives.

How to run a remote retrospective

When your company has an entirely remote workforce, the key to effective online team collaboration is good communication.&nbsp;
You may not be able to have a weekly stand-up meeting where you all gather in the same physical location, but remote management tools have made it easy to update your team and make sure everyone&rsquo;s on the same page.&nbsp;
But are these tools and meetings actually effective?
There&rsquo;s no denying that there are more digital communication channels available to us than ever before. But research shows that our tools are <a href="https://qatalog.com/blog/post/productivity-tools-killing-productivity/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">actually hindering our ability to get work done. </a>
People are uncertain whether to post an update in <a href="https://qatalog.com/blog/post/qatalog-vs-team-instant-messaging-apps-slack-teams/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">a messaging channel</a>, over email, or within another software tool (like a project management application). In fact, <a href="https://language.work/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">around half of workers</a> (49%) say they&rsquo;re concerned that the information they post to their company&rsquo;s online apps and communications channels will get lost in a sea of updates.
Not to mention that we're all tired of synchronous video meetings at this point, so we need to have an async option that provides visibility into our project context.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/H3tysZjQS6yv0p4CfM4r" alt="undefined" />
So, in a world of synchronous and asynchronous communication channels &mdash; emails, Slack threads, Zoom calls, WhatsApp groups, and more &mdash; let&rsquo;s unpack the tangled web of options for today&rsquo;s remote teams, and look at how a work hub can eliminate the noise that comes with <a href="https://qatalog.com/templates/team-updates/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">sharing updates.</a>&nbsp;
<h2>Why are your team updates getting lost?</h2>
The answer is simple: Noise and mistakes.&nbsp;
When trying to access information on their company&rsquo;s online tools, <a href="https://assets.qatalog.com/language.work/qatalog-2021-workgeist-report.pdf" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">56% of people said they found themselves</a> needing to ask more than one person for help. This is what causes the unnecessary Slack pings and pointless Zoom calls. On average, people report that the mistakes they make are the result of difficulties accessing information on their company's online tools.
With the myriad communication options available through workspace apps, we&rsquo;re no longer dependent on email (only) to share team updates. Email might still get used for the most &ldquo;official&rdquo; communications, but for a quick project progress report, you can turn to a team messaging app like Slack or Microsoft Teams.&nbsp;
Using these apps, you can set up message threads for different teams and topics. For example, your design team can share a project status update about the latest Facebook Ads campaign on one channel, while another channel is dedicated to onboarding new engineers.
The problem is that these threads tend to have a rapid turnover and essential information can easily get lost. Moreover, the ease of communication they provide can lead to a bombardment of messages that will challenge the attention spans of your team members. Imagine that you went on a lunch break and returned to find 200 messages across 3 channels. How do you know which one to read? Where should you start from?
Providing information to employees should be easier than this. Instead of choosing one of the many ways to keep employees in the loop, or choosing all of them and creating a myriad of notifications and distractions, there should be a centralized work nucleus that <a href="https://qatalog.com/blog/post/what-is-a-digital-workspace/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">distributes information to everyone.</a>
<h2>Downsides of having multiple communication channels</h2>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">
Communication blind-spots: When an update is only shared in a certain channel, it may not reach the whole team. If your developers are focused on GitHub or JIRA but you only post your updates in Slack, some team members might not get the update in time or overlook it completely.
</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">
Chaotic message threads: If your company has a culture of exchanging a high volume of messages, important updates get lost in the various thread streams. One study found that employees at large companies are sending over <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/5/1/18511575/productivity-slack-google-microsoft-facebook">200 Slack messages</a> per week on average&mdash;but even 1,000 in a single day is &ldquo;not an exception&rdquo;.
</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">
Dysfunctional cross-functional teams: As a cross-functional team, you&rsquo;re reliant on information sharing between different departments. If key updates get siloed in separate messaging threads it&rsquo;s a challenge for team leads to gather reports and funnel them back up the chain.
</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">
Coordination within a global workforce: Further communication complexity arises when you&rsquo;re working with a global team, transcending different languages and time zones. You can&rsquo;t expect a team member on the west coast of the US to see and respond to an update at the same time as someone in Singapore or Hong Kong.
</li>
</ul>
All of these communication problems come at a cost &mdash; not just to the patience or morale of your team (though these are factors that shouldn&rsquo;t be overlooked), but to the operational efficiency and sustainability of your business.
The costs of poorly managed communication include:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">
Lack of transparency: Missed updates can lead to certain team members or departments being left out of the loop, resulting in both loss of trust and loss of focus&mdash;if some departments aren&rsquo;t working to the stated goals of the company.
</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">
Communication overload: <a href="https://www.inc.com/scott-mautz/a-2-year-stanford-study-shows-astonishing-productivity-boost-of-working-from-home.html">Multiple studies have shown</a> that remote workers are more productive than on-site workers, but this productivity is severely compromised if employees are constantly barraged with messages that they&rsquo;re expected to respond to immediately.
</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">
Wasted time: Poorly-timed or misdirected communications mean that information often has to be sent out on multiple occasions before everyone gets the message. This is an inefficient use of time that also results in frustration for team members who must respond to multiple information requests.
</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">
Missed learning opportunities: If project reports aren&rsquo;t getting through, chances are that team members won&rsquo;t be able to learn from what went right or wrong during the previous cycle. Mistakes will be repeated, most likely at a financial cost to the business.
</li>
</ul>
<h2>How to keep your team informed</h2>
Do we truly understand how to work async?<a href="https://language.work/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank"> 71% of remote workers say</a> that their organization does a good job balancing asynchronous and synchronous work. But this statement is in conflict with some other responses: 70% of organizations default to tools (video, chat, and phone).
Nearly half (48%) of teams would call a meeting before communicating asynchronously. Only 10% default to a visual collaboration tool, while 19% rely on project and task management tools.
So, maybe we don't know how to share information effectively in a hybrid workplace. These tools we've adopted don't fix our communication balance, they just try to patch the existing holes with more avenues for sharing information. A quick fix, but not one that gets to the root of our issue.&nbsp;
<h3>Here are some ways to keep your team in the loop:&nbsp;</h3>
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">
Put messages into context, connected to the right people, teams, and projects. This makes sure it reaches the stakeholders who need to hear it. Just make sure you&rsquo;re reaching them on the right channels&mdash;Slack and emails at least.
</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">
Make every keyword in each message searchable. The more communication tools you have, the harder this might become.
</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">
Label each message to ensure it gets the right level of attention. For example, as an announcement, a blocker, or a milestone. Getting the right visibility is key for information sharing.
</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">
Cascade information sharing automatically on the right channels and in the right context. Imagine if you could write a project update and share it automatically on the related Slack channel and in the inbox of every project member&mdash;without all the copy and pasting, and definitely without arranging an hour-long video call.
</li>
</ol>
<a href="https://qatalog.com/" rel="follow">A virtual workspace such as Qatalog</a> can integrate your messaging apps so updates are shared in the relevant places, and help you achieve all the points above.
You might use other tactics, such as reducing the volume of messages through processes and rules, scheduling synchronous communication (e.g. video calls) only with an agenda, or using data to determine what is being read and which info your teams are searching for. There might be a better way.
<h4><a href="https://qatalog.com/blog/post/what-is-a-work-hub/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">&rarr; What is a work hub?</a></h4>
<h2>Async updates, in-sync employees</h2>
So when you share updates with your team, make it count. <a href="https://qatalog.com/blog/post/qatalog-vs-team-instant-messaging-apps-slack-teams/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">Cut down on the noise</a> in your communications and deliver messages exactly when and where they will support &mdash; not challenge &mdash; your team&rsquo;s productivity.

Why are your team updates getting lost? How to share information effectively. Read more in Qatalog Collaboration blog series.

How do you keep your team updated? | Qatalog

When your company has an entirely remote workforce, the key to effective online team collaboration is good communication.

How do you share updates with your team?

In my last job, I was a regional marketing manager for a public software company. I was working closely with teams across five time zones &mdash;&nbsp;London, Tel Aviv, Berlin, New York, and San Francisco.
In my first week of onboarding, I had about 20 one-to-one Zoom calls, and five one-to-many intro presentations. To access basic data and set up tools to do my job, I had to file multiple tickets for the infamous &mdash; but ever so kind &mdash; IT support team. It took me about three weeks to get started with actual work. It was a draining start.
The level of <a href="https://qatalog.com/blog/post/company-culture-and-documentation-culture/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">organization and documentation</a> didn't improve from there. There were no written goals, <a href="https://qatalog.com/blog/post/how-do-you-search-for-files-at-work/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">files were scattered around</a>, and communication relied on synchronous meetings and noisy Slack threads. I was on the same team as a company veteran who knew how things really worked &mdash; who did what, where to find things, and who to talk to &mdash; so I was eventually able to find my footing.&nbsp;
Were it not for him, I don&rsquo;t know what I&rsquo;d have done. And we&rsquo;re talking about a technology stock that has grown more than 5x in 2020 since IPO.&nbsp;
I was lucky, but most people aren&rsquo;t. And after working in both public and seed-to-series B startups for the last five years, I learned that mine was not an isolated case, but rather the standard.
<h2>Knowledge worker productivity challenges</h2>
<h4>Very few knowledge workers actually know how to work productively, share knowledge, and communicate effectively in their organization, regardless of their role or company size. Knowledge workers also face many productivity challenges in their day-to-day if documentation is not prioritized.&nbsp;</h4>
This year, the seismic shift to remote work made one thing even clearer &mdash;&nbsp;working remotely requires you to know <a href="https://qatalog.com/directory/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">who does what</a>, <a href="https://qatalog.com/blog/post/workplace-search-tools-vs-work-hub/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">where to find things</a>, and who to talk to. If I need a five-minute chat just to find out 'who&rsquo;s on this project' in a 500-person org, that adds up to a lot of time lost.&nbsp;
At scale, it&rsquo;s easy to see how these issues can snowball into missed opportunities to build a competitive advantage. Trying to find information takes the average knowledge worker 59 minutes per day, and <a href="https://language.work/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">seven out of 10 workers</a> report finding the <a href="https://qatalog.com/blog/post/work-isnt-working-press-release/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">information they need to do their job is time-consuming.</a>
<h4>In 2021, setting and maintaining high standards for productivity, collaboration, and knowledge management won&rsquo;t be a luxury anymore. It will separate the next generation of market leaders from the rest.</h4>
Trouble is, best practices for productivity and collaboration are rarely taught within formal training, or proactively shared internally. They become 'hidden' routines that aren&rsquo;t recognized by management or woven into company culture.
There are a handful of best practices for productivity that are commonly overlooked. The most important one is documentation.&nbsp;
<h2>Document to build clarity, confidence, and conviction</h2>
<a href="https://hbr.org/2017/03/great-companies-obsess-over-productivity-not-efficiency" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">Productivity is about doing more with the same</a>. Productivity is the reason why small, tight-knit teams can attract top-tier capital and talent to build things that solve problems at scale, and why they do it faster than others. It can be measured with <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-new-metrics-of-corporate-performance-profit-per-employee" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">profit or revenue per employee</a>.
As good talent becomes scarcer than good capital, productivity becomes even more important. And since it says a lot about the quality of the knowledge created, and how <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/217489/revenue-per-employee-of-selected-tech-companies/">organizations</a> manage it through hiring, training, and talent retention, productivity is a strong proxy of a company&rsquo;s overall performance.
How do you build productivity into your company? In my experience, it all starts with clarity. And the easiest way to make things clear is to write them down.
Documentation is the cornerstone of knowledge creation and the reason why documents, spreadsheets, and slides are the lifeblood of knowledge workers. It&rsquo;s not a coincidence that in 2020, <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-g-suite-now-has-2-billion-users/#:~:text=Google's%20office%20productivity%20suite%2C%20G,users%20of%20products%20beyond%20Gmail.">over 2 billion</a> people are using Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides every month. That&rsquo;s 25% of the world population. And a staggering <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/10/28/microsoft-teams-reaches-115-million-dau-plus-a-new-daily-collaboration-minutes-metric-for-microsoft-365/#:~:text=October%2028%2C%202020-,Microsoft%20Teams%20reaches%20115%20million%20DAU%E2%80%94plus%2C%20a%20new%20daily,minutes%20metric%20for%20Microsoft%20365">115 million</a> are on Microsoft Office every day.
When you document your thoughts, the actions you need to take become clearer, and you make better decisions. On a practical level, there are a few things you can do to embed this ritual in your company operations and culture.
<h2>Build your docs, tasks, and updates with scalable templates</h2>
<a href="https://qatalog.com/templates/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">Templates are a launchpad for creativity</a>, not a constraint.&nbsp;
Templates make it easy for people to get started and get inspired, but the expectations should be higher than 'filling in the blanks'. As you raise your work standard, your templates will need refreshes and upgrades.&nbsp;
How do you get started with templates?
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Identify the core use cases of knowledge creation. Think long-form documents for project plans, project updates, and team processes (e.g. processes for hiring, team weeklies, or new product feature documentation), or tickets for project management tasks (e.g. bug filing, tasks, and to-dos).</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Craft your template structure. Create a consistent and scalable format for them (e.g. introduction, main points, conclusion). <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pyramid-Principle-Logic-Writing-Thinking/dp/0273710516">There&rsquo;s a whole science behind this</a> that works across every type &mdash; and it&rsquo;s unbelievable how well it builds confidence and drives convictions with your team.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Use <a href="https://www.ultraedit.com/company/blog/community/what-is-markdown-why-use-it.html">markdown format</a> (e.g. titles, sub-titles, etc.). Formatting your docs helps you emphasize and clarify key parts of your message, and makes it easy for others to skim or read through what you put together. Your colleagues will thank you for respecting their time and attention.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Brand your templates (e.g. add your company font and logo on the headers). Branding will provide the stamp that 'this is how things are done here. Docs that don&rsquo;t contain any branding are automatically not 'up to the standards'.</li>
</ul>
The best documentation tools for modern teams (like <a href="https://almanac.io/home">Almanac</a>, <a href="https://www.notion.so/Notion-Template-Gallery-181e961aeb5c4ee6915307c0dfd5156d">Notion</a>, <a href="https://help.clubhouse.io/hc/en-us/articles/360016736311-Story-Templates-Overview">Clubhouse</a>, <a href="https://pitch.com/blog/presentation-templates-for-modern-teams">Pitch</a>, and <a href="https://coda.io/gallery">Coda</a>) have built-in template features &mdash; whether you&rsquo;re writing docs, tickets, or slides. We've also built templates for things like <a href="https://qatalog.com/templates/project-summary/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">project summaries</a>, <a href="https://qatalog.com/templates/okr-examples/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">OKRs</a>, <a href="https://qatalog.com/templates/30-60-90-day-plan/" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">and onboarding plans</a>.&nbsp;
In my last job, if I&rsquo;d had templates to follow for my onboarding, goal setting, and document creation, it probably would have taken me one week to start doing actual work instead of three.
<h2>Prioritizing knowledge worker productivity</h2>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Following the shift to remote work, high standards of collaboration and knowledge management will be what separates the next generation of market leaders from the rest.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Very few knowledge workers truly know how to work productively and communicate effectively in the workplace, because these best practices are usually hidden routines not proactively shared.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Productive knowledge management starts with documentation, which drives clarity and conviction &mdash;&nbsp;and is the reason why documents, spreadsheets, and slides are the lifeblood of knowledge workers.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Structuring your docs, tasks, and updates with scalable templates is the easiest way to get started with documentation and setting higher productivity standards in your team and company.</li>
</ul>

How to set standards for productivity & collaboration in your company.

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