If you are considering applying for the remote product manager position, it is worth noting that this job implies some collaboration challenges which directly affect the quality of the final product. And here are a few to watch out for:

#1. 24/7 availability

Being of sound mind and lucid memory, you voluntarily agree to indefinite working hours and 24/7 communication: be ready to answer audio/video calls, exchange e-mails or text anytime and everywhere.

I understand you sometimes need to have a nap, go skiing or set the sails. And you may want to set up your voice mail to give your ears some rest and unbend the mind… But then do not be surprised listening to the message about Vesuvius going to explode by the moment Pompeii is already gone.

#2. Distributed team

You need to make sure the short- and long-term goals are met. But neither a perfect product roadmap nor a backlog helps if your team is not a gang that lives and breathes the product they build. Do your best at a full scale, both as product and people manager.

It is truly exciting to realize that you can build a great team in spite of different time zones, languages and mentalities — not just the professionals you can count on but your allies toward the goal.

Be a multifaceted person: a leader, a friend, communication hub, advisor, and psychologist.

#3. Stakeholders are in the galaxy far, far away

They are somewhere not here, untouchable, unreachable, and busy, busy, busy.

Change it. Find a way of interacting with stakeholders to make it feel like they sit in the same office. Build a schema that enables an effective collaboration:

- Build trustful relations, use personal touch;

- Set up communication channels and rules, etc.

#4. Customers’ tears do not wet the shoes

When a suffering client is in another corner of the planet and is not standing at the door of your office, this may not hit you much. But it has to.

Develop this feeling in yourself — the empathy. Feel the pains as bright as your customers do. This will give you an impulse to find the right solution.

#5. Transparency for everyone

Make sure you made it clear for everyone involved: your product development strategy, roadmap, and tactic plans. Everyone has to understand his or her personal contribution to the overall success.

Opposite to the onsite product managers, you do not have the walls to pin the charts or a whiteboard to share thoughts and brainstorm and plan the things together with your team, and eventually, you can’t see your colleagues all the day long and ‘sniff’ it when something is going wrong.

You have to learn to do all of these online, making sure everyone understands how it works and what’s the benefit of knowing and using it.

I have a great confidence that remote product management can be as effective as its onsite twin. The trick is to have enough motivation and strength to forget the distance and play ‘virtual reality’ with everyone involved in your product development game.