Why and how to meet your remote team in person

Meet your team in person at least once, ideally in the first few months. After a couple of days together at a whiteboard, video calls and reviews run more smoothly, because you know who is behind each name. You can travel to Serbia or bring the team to you. I usually go myself, because then you also see where and how they work.

What a visit gives you

Remotely, you mostly know someone as a name in Slack and a face in a call. After a few days together, people ask each other questions more readily. I think how low the bar is for a "stupid" question decides a large part of how fast a remote team works.

A visit is also the moment for what is awkward at a distance, such as an architecture session at a whiteboard or an honest one-to-one with each developer.

You also see the workplace. We work from offices in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Niš. The ones in Novi Sad and Niš are in a Science Technology Park. Seeing for yourself how your developers work tells you more than a description on a website.

When a visit pays off most

Do not go in the first week, because the team does not know your codebase yet and there is little to discuss. After six to eight weeks they know where it hurts and they have real questions. That is a good moment.

The start of a major new phase, such as a rebuild or a new product, also works well: you discuss the architecture together before any code exists. Avoid the middle of a release, because nobody will have time for you.

Going to Serbia

Serbia is in the same time zone as the Netherlands and the rest of Central Europe, so you join your team's rhythm without jet lag. Dutch and German citizens, for example, need no visa for visits of up to 90 days in a six-month period, and can use an ID card. The Dutch government's travel advice adds that your passport or ID card must still be valid for at least three months when you leave Serbia. Check the rules for your own nationality before you book.

Plan two or three days for a first visit. This is how I would split them:

1. Day one: introductions, a look around the office and an afternoon going through your backlog with the team.
2. Day two: an architecture or planning session in the morning and one-to-ones with each developer in the afternoon.
3. Day three, if you have it: working on real tickets together and closing with agreements on paper.

If you want to see more than one office, add a day.

Bringing the team to you

Sometimes it is more useful for the team to come to you, for example to meet your other teams, your product people or your customers. Serbian citizens with a biometric passport can stay in the Schengen area without a visa for up to 90 days per six-month period.

Since 10 April 2026 the EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) has been fully operational. It registers non-EU nationals who travel to the Schengen area for a short stay, so allow some extra time on the first trip. A travel authorisation for visa-exempt travellers, ETIAS, is also coming. It is not in operation yet, and the EU will announce the start date several months in advance. Before you book, check whether it has been announced.

Mind the difference between visiting and working. In the Netherlands, for example, employees from outside the EEA generally need a work permit to work there, even for stays of up to 90 days. Other countries have their own rules, so check in advance what your plans require. Also agree with us who pays for travel and accommodation.

What to put on the programme

Do not turn it into a holiday, but do not plan a week of eight hours of meetings a day either. This is what I would put in:

• a session on the architecture and the biggest technical risks
• a retrospective on the collaboration so far, with you in the room
• one-to-ones, including with the quietest developer
• time to sit together on the normal work
• one dinner together, with nothing else on the agenda

Prepare it together: ask the team a week in advance which topics they want to discuss. That puts more on the table than your own list, and you hear what they find difficult about working with you.

After the visit

Write down the agreements the same week and put them where the whole team can see them, otherwise nobody remembers a month later what was decided. After that I would go roughly once a year, or at the start of a major new phase.

Between visits, a good start for every new developer does more than an extra trip, see onboarding a remote developer. Public holidays, language and other practical matters are covered in working with developers in Serbia. You can plan a visit to our offices with us through contact.

Sources

• Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: visa regime for the Netherlands
• Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: visa regime for Germany
• Netherlands Worldwide: travel advice Serbia (Dutch)
• EEAS: travel and study (Serbia)
• European Commission: Smart Borders (EES and ETIAS)
• business.gov.nl: work permit in the Netherlands