| Good at working independently and managing their own time. Excellent communication skills, especially via text-based media. Proactive about communicating status, progress, and blockers; and about reaching out when they need clarification on goals and requirements. Takes ownership of a project instead of acting as a contractor who requires a detailed spec and will implement it without thinking it through. Easy to get hold of and diligent about indicating when they won’t be available. Able to collaborate effectively without physical proximity. For overseas workers there are also concerns about language barriers and cultural barriers. Edited to add: these qualities are also important in people who work face to face in an office. But people who are in-office, if they’re missing a couple of these qualities, can be still be highly effective with a bit more supervision. Remotely, any one of them can spiral into a major problem much more quickly. |