As companies rush to recalibrate workplace expectations in the wake of a more distributed workforce, one truth continues to crystallize: flexibility without leadership development is just chaos with good intentions. At ScienceSoft, a US-based software development company with an international presence, Head of PMO Pavel Ilyusenko understands that the success of hybrid and remote work hinges not only on strategy, but on skilled execution—particularly from the managers steering dispersed teams.
While much of the conversation surrounding flexible work revolves around where people work, Ilyusenko shifted the focus to how managers work in our interview. From his perspective, nurturing high performance in a flexible environment means cultivating a new breed of manager—one who mentors, guides, and supports teams without defaulting to micromanagement. In his words, “In remote work, the role of PM becomes the critical one.”
Building a Culture Without Walls
ScienceSoft’s approach to flexible work is far from tentative. The company leans into a hybrid model that empowers employees to work remotely when they need deep focus, or to come into the office for collaboration and meetings. Some team members, particularly those in nearshore and offshore locations, work fully remotely. The decision to adopt such a strategy is not about reacting to trends but rather aligning with the way software engineers actually do their best work.
“The hybrid model supports those needs by giving engineers control over their environment,” Ilyusenko explains. “It helps attract talent regardless of location and scale engineering teams more efficiently.” The result is a workforce that stretches across borders without losing cohesion or culture.
This cohesion, he emphasizes, is achieved through deliberate and frequent communication. The company uses familiar digital tools—Microsoft Teams, Asana, Jira, Confluence—but the real driver of success lies in how those tools are used. “It’s all about not the tools, but the approach that we cultivate within the teams,” he says. Team-building events, regular meetings, and a culture of open communication are baked into the daily workflow, not bolted on as an afterthought.
Mentoring as a Management Mandate
But flexible work, by its very nature, can blur accountability, fracture culture, and erode alignment if left unmanaged. That’s where leadership development becomes not a luxury but a necessity. ScienceSoft’s leadership understood early that success in a remote or hybrid model requires more than process—it demands mentoring.
“We pay more attention to mentoring and professional development of our project managers,” Ilyusenko says. Managers are not just expected to keep projects on track; they’re coached to lead without resorting to top-down oversight. This means building trust, giving autonomy, and staying closely attuned to both team performance and individual needs.
Mentorship isn’t left to chance. It is tracked, assessed, and fine-tuned through a combination of hard metrics and human feedback. Project outcomes such as delivery timelines, adherence to budget, and defect rates are monitored alongside client satisfaction scores like NPS and CSAT. But these metrics are enriched by softer indicators—direct feedback from team members about their managers, insights into leadership development, and even conversations with clients about improvement opportunities.
The result is a feedback loop that supports continuous growth, both for the manager and their team. Ilyusenko’s team doesn’t rely solely on performance data to evaluate effectiveness; they triangulate it with human insight. “We measure their success by gathering feedback from their teams and tracking their growth and leadership skills,” he says.
Turning Consistency into Competitive Advantage
One of the less obvious but more critical challenges in a hybrid environment is the consistency of execution across geographies and roles. ScienceSoft confronts this by standardizing its project management processes across the company, ensuring that no matter where employees are located, the way they approach and complete projects remains uniform.
This consistency creates what Ilyusenko calls “virtual rooms”—cohesive digital workspaces where teams can collaborate seamlessly. Whether an employee is logging in from a home office in Europe or joining a stand-up from a coworking space in North America, they’re operating within the same structure, guided by the same expectations, and supported by managers trained to lead under flexible conditions.
The emphasis on process discipline doesn’t constrain innovation—it protects it. By removing ambiguity from the workflow, ScienceSoft allows teams to focus on problem-solving and delivery rather than coordination and confusion.
The Steady Future of Flexible Work
While other organizations oscillate between in-office mandates and fully remote experiments, ScienceSoft’s path forward is measured and steady. “I would say that things will remain pretty much the same,” Ilyusenko reflects. “Expanding the workforce will require not only local people to be involved, but also people from all over the world.”
This is not inertia—it’s intentionality. By resisting the urge to overcorrect or chase the next big thing in workplace design, ScienceSoft anchors its remote and hybrid strategy in what works: flexibility, communication, mentoring, and consistency. Its bet is that a well-led team, empowered by choice and supported by strong processes, will outperform even the most closely monitored in-office staff.
As companies across sectors continue to navigate the complexity of flexible work, the lesson from ScienceSoft is clear: adaptability alone is not enough. To truly thrive, flexibility must be matched by mentorship. And that mentorship must begin at the top—with managers who are trained not just to manage tasks, but to develop people.
About the Author
Dr. Gleb Tsipursky was named “Office Whisperer” by The New York Times for helping leaders overcome frustrations with hybrid work and Generative AI. He serves as the CEO of the future-of-work consultancy Disaster Avoidance Experts. Dr. Gleb wrote seven best-selling books, and his two most recent ones are Returning to the Office and Leading Hybrid and Remote Teams and ChatGPT for Leaders and Content Creators: Unlocking the Potential of Generative AI. His cutting-edge thought leadership was featured in over 650 articles in prominent venues such as Harvard Business Review, Fortune, and Fast Company. His expertise comes from over 20 years of consulting for Fortune 500 companies from Aflac to Xerox and over 15 years in academia as a behavioral scientist at UNC-Chapel Hill and Ohio State. A proud Ukrainian American, Dr. Gleb lives in Columbus, Ohio.
