Managing a remote team got easier once we focused on communication rules, not communication volume

Managing a remote team has made me think that the issue usually is not that people are not communicating enough.

It is more often that the team has no shared system for communication.

For example:

• status updates happen in random places
• decisions live in private chats or disappear in meetings
• nobody knows what should be async
• escalation only happens when something is already late
• visibility depends on who remembers to ask

For managers here: what communication rules or operating norms have made the biggest difference on remote teams?