Hack together a highly effective method for communicating in your tiny team. Set up for free in minutes, awesome productivity!

We're a tiny team of two (and sometimes three) working remote. This is our communication hack that has made us soooo productive. Honestly it's great, it just needs sharing.

Note - I'm posting this on Indie Hackers because I am working on the assumption you're a smallish team of developers and designers like we are.

Step 1 - Schedule a daily call

Every day we speak in person at 9am. Every day we know we get 45 minutes of quality conversation. Before, we had Slack open and we tapped away for hours each day but the video call compresses all that typing into one, high quality conversation.

We use the call to review work we did yesterday and plan what we're doing today. Then we discuss any concerns or AOB (like company stuff) and that's it.

The call orientates me for the day really well. It's my safe harbor before I head back out there to fight the good fight (or failing that, code something).

Step 2 - Make videos

Loom and Vimeo both offer super simple screen recording tech. Use it to create short videos for sharing with your team mate.

For bug fixing, this has been unbelievably valuable. Instead of trying to explain or log the bug in some tracking system, just record what happens with a commentary over the top and share it.

In Memo, you can share these videos actually in the body of the message which is super nice.

For new features we're working on the same applies, the little videos are THE most efficient way to communicate what you worked on to get feedback.

The key to it is embedding that video into the message you send using Memo and then you can leave comments and discuss the changes as necessary all inside your existing communication workflow.

Step 3 - Ask questions

In tiny teams there isn't very much 'task assignment' going on like you would in a large team with a manager but we do have 'asks' of each other.

We've found the best way to get the info you need from one another is just to ask but in a way that doesn't distract the other person (unless it's super urgent like your app is on fire).

Slack doesn't work because it pings you, a phone call interrupts you and emails are, well, emails are just rubbish really.

We ask questions in Memo and Memo pulls out the question so it is highlighted in the reply. My team-mate can then answer those questions as and when it's convenient.

The best bit is, they persist as 'unanswered' until they are answered so it doesn't get in the way of him asking me questions or sending me a message.

The result of this approach to communication has been absolutely trans-formative and I cannot recommend it enough. It might not work for everyone, it is a fairly specific set of circumstances but one I figure probably applies to a good number of us Indie Hackers.

We are more productive, we get less frustrated with each other and having our own little protocol on how we communicate makes life simple because you know what to expect.

I'd love to know what works well for you in your team too.