Working Experience in the Design Phase with a Multinational Remote Team
1. Introduction
As remote work becomes more common, our team had the opportunity to work together with engineers from Vietnam, China, and Korea during the design phase of a system development project. In this article, we share the insights and lessons we gained through cross-border collaboration.
2. Project Overview
Our members were responsible for the high-level design phase.
As part of the system replacement, we created design documents for the new system by comparing the requirements definition with the design documents of the existing system.
The team was Japan-centered, but engineers from Vietnam, China, and Korea also participated, forming a truly multinational structure.
3. Remote Work Environment and Tools
- Chat: Mattermost
- Meetings: Zoom, Gather
- Document sharing: Nextcloud
- Task management: Jira
4. Language and Cultural Barriers
When joining a multinational team for the first time, I initially expected that we might communicate in English. However, in practice, all communication was conducted in Japanese. Engineers from each country had near-perfect reading, writing, and speaking skills in Japanese, and even used honorifics naturally. There were only very rare instances of awkward expressions, but they never interfered with communication.
Furthermore, I did not feel any cultural barriers, such as differences in work styles.
Since all members worked remotely regardless of nationality, we were able to proceed with the project smoothly, without being conscious of national boundaries.
5. Outcomes and Learnings
Working with international members not only reminded me of the importance of language skills and documentation ability but also gave me the opportunity to truly appreciate the value of teamwork—achieving results while respecting each other’s backgrounds.
Through this experience, I became convinced that actively incorporating different cultures and perspectives will lead to better system development in future projects.
6. Conclusion
By working on the high-level design phase with a multinational team, I realized firsthand that “engineers pursue the same goals, regardless of nationality.” This project turned out to be a highly valuable and meaningful experience.
And above all, I thought, “To work internationally, this level of language proficiency is truly necessary. I need to work harder myself!”—a realization that has greatly boosted my motivation for language learning.
