Best Remote Work Microsoft Teams Setup
Transform Teams into your remote work command center with the right apps and practices
Essential Apps for Remote Teams
Productivity & Planning
- • Planner - Task management and project boards
- • To Do - Personal task tracking
- • OneNote - Collaborative note-taking
- • Whiteboard - Visual brainstorming
Communication & Collaboration
- • Approvals - Streamlined decision making
- • Forms - Quick polls and feedback
- • Power Automate - Workflow automation
- • Viva Insights - Wellbeing and focus time
File Management
- • SharePoint - Document collaboration
- • OneDrive - Personal file storage
- • Stream - Video content management
- • Files - Centralized file access
Agile & Development
- • Scrumrobo - Async standups and retros
- • Azure DevOps - Development workflows
- • GitHub - Code collaboration
- • Jira - Issue tracking
Channel Architecture for Remote Teams
#general
Company-wide announcements, celebrations, and general discussions.
#team-[name]
Team-specific discussions, daily standups, and project updates.
#project-[name]
Cross-functional project collaboration and milestone tracking.
#water-cooler
Casual conversations, virtual coffee chats, and team building.
Remote Work Best Practices
Communication
- • Default to async communication
- • Use video for complex discussions
- • Document decisions immediately
- • Set clear response time expectations
- • Use @mentions strategically
Meetings
- • Always have an agenda
- • Record important meetings
- • Use breakout rooms for small groups
- • Share screens and collaborate on docs
- • Follow up with action items
File Management
- • Use descriptive file names
- • Organize in logical folder structures
- • Set appropriate sharing permissions
- • Version control important documents
- • Archive old projects regularly
Wellbeing
- • Set clear work boundaries
- • Take regular breaks
- • Use focus time features
- • Encourage camera-off time
- • Promote work-life balance
How Scrumrobo Powers Remote Teams
Async-First Approach
Replace daily standup meetings with structured async updates that work across time zones.
Cross-Time Zone Collaboration
Everyone contributes when they are most productive, not when meetings are scheduled.
Reduced Meeting Fatigue
Move routine updates to async format, save meetings for complex discussions and decisions.
Better Visibility
Stakeholders can check progress anytime without scheduling status meetings.
Security & Compliance for Remote Work
- Enable multi-factor authentication for all team members
- Use conditional access policies to control data access
- Regularly review and update sharing permissions
- Implement data loss prevention policies
- Train teams on secure communication practices
- Use private channels for sensitive discussions
- Enable audit logs to track team activities
Measuring Remote Team Success
Productivity Metrics
- • Task completion rates
- • Sprint velocity
- • Code deployment frequency
- • Customer satisfaction scores
Engagement Metrics
- • Meeting participation rates
- • Async update completion
- • Collaboration tool usage
- • Team satisfaction surveys
Wellbeing Metrics
- • Work-life balance scores
- • Burnout indicators
- • Focus time utilization
- • Team retention rates
Optimize Your Remote Team with Scrumrobo
Enable async collaboration and reduce meeting overhead for distributed teams.