At GitLab, known for supporting remote work, project managers had the highest number of resignations across all roles in 2023. According to their internal report, the reason wasn’t burnout. It was a growing lack of influence.
Source: GitLab Remote Work Report 2023
In remote setups, project managers often lose
the very tools they need to lead: presence, speed, and authority. They’re still
busy, but their role shifts from driving progress to forwarding updates.
The Loss of Control in Remote Teams
In 2024, Adobe reorganized its product and
design teams during the Figma integration. Their report noted a 21% increase in delivery delays when a
team was led by a remote-only project manager.
[Source: Adobe Q1 2024 Analyst Briefing]
This wasn’t about time zones or communication
skills. It was about timing and access.
When a project manager isn’t physically present, it becomes harder to track
blockers, align priorities, or make fast decisions.
Remote PMs send updates. In-office PMs step
in.
Remote PMs follow up. In-office PMs intervene.
The Illusion of Control via Slack
Slack, Notion, Asana. They all help manage
projects. But when a PM is only using tools to coordinate tasks, they risk
becoming a status relay, not a
decision-maker.
A 2024 McKinsey survey of 700 PMs found that 42% of remote project managers said they
had “low influence” on
engineering and product delivery timelines. Among on-site managers, the number
was just 9%.
[Source: McKinsey Global Executive Survey, May 2024]
Slack messages don’t build urgency.
Async updates don’t replace real-time decisions.
Project management becomes message management.
GitHub. What Changed When PMs Came Back
GitHub made a shift in 2023. Instead of
letting PMs work fully remote, they launched a system called “embedded PMs.”
These managers worked side-by-side with engineering teams during key product
phases.
The result was measurable:
·
17% improvement in delivery speed
·
22% increase in engineering team satisfaction
[Source: GitHub Internal Blog via The Verge, Sept 2023]
The change wasn’t in tools or process. It was
in presence.
When PMs sat with their teams, they were part of decisions. Not just chasing
them.
The Real Problem. No Visibility, No Momentum
Remote PMs often miss the signals that drive
good management: hesitation in voice, unspoken disagreement, a developer losing
motivation, a team falling behind before it’s visible in a chart. Slack hides
all of that.
As a result, remote PMs keep sending reminders.
But reminders don’t fix unclear ownership or late decisions.
They just delay the real problems.
That’s why product-driven companies like
Amazon, Stripe, and Apple keep key PMs either on-site or hybrid. It’s not about
tradition. It’s about speed and control.
Many PMs working from home believe they are managing projects. But they may
just be maintaining order.
The question is not how many tools you use.
It’s how often things move because of your leadership, not just your
coordination.
If you're a remote project manager and you're
only present in Slack, ask yourself:
Are you setting direction?
Are you unblocking teams?
Are you driving decisions?
Or are you just... reminding people?
Remote
project management, hybrid
project management, remote
engineering collaboration, asynchronous
project coordination, and digital
tools for project managers are becoming standard in global teams. But
they come with new challenges like reduced visibility, weaker leadership
impact, and misaligned timelines. Organizations that want to scale need to
rethink how they structure remote
leadership, especially in critical roles like product and project
management. These shifts affect everything from team productivity to product delivery success rates.
Final Advice
Remote project managers need
to do more than check progress. They need to create progress. If you're a PM working remotely,
don’t measure your impact by message volume. Measure it by how often things
move because of you, not just through you.
If your influence ends when the message is sent, you're not leading. You're
supporting. And while that support is helpful, it’s not enough to ship critical
projects.
To succeed in a remote or hybrid setting, you
need to build presence, even without being in the room. That means real
ownership, clear accountability, and acting early. Not just reporting late.
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Farhad
Hafez Nezami
Tech
& Sports Entrepreneur | Growth Strategist
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