For decades brainstorming has been our go-to method for ideation, yet it holds back our success when the environment doesn't encourage everyone to contribute. Instead, try brainwriting—writing ideas on paper and letting teammates iterate on them. It improves not only the quantity of ideas you get, but also the quality.

When managing a remote team, usual practices apply, but there are some additional considerations you should think about. You need to be sure not to make any blunders that would affect the productivity and happiness of your staff. Here are eight common mistakes managers of remote teams make that you should try to avoid.

Teams are systems made up of individuals with different strengths and weaknesses. When people are cooperating on a team—whether in software development or football—sometimes those strengths and weaknesses can be complementary, and other times they can be out of alignment. Be sure to draft the player your team needs.