Remote work sounds cool on paper. No office rent, ppl working in their PJs, “global talent pool” (LinkedIn loves that phrase). But the truth? Half the time your Slack is full of unread threads, someone disappears during a Zoom call cuz “internet issue,” and you’re wondering if anyone’s actually working or just playing Fortnite with their mic muted.
So yeah, building a remote team that actually gets sht done* is tricky. Here’s what I’ve learned (the hard way).
1. Hire people who can self-manage
Remote is not for everyone. Some folks need a boss hovering or they’ll drift. You want ppl who take initiative, not the ones who vanish for 6 hrs and pop back with “sorry was fixing my Wi-Fi.” Ask in interviews how they organize their day, or just check if they’ve done freelance/remote before. Big difference.
2. Over-communicate (but not to death)
Silence is deadly in remote. No updates = ppl assume nothing’s happening. We started doing short daily check-ins (async, like on Slack, not 20 Zooms pls). Keeps everyone visible without wasting time. But don’t swing the other way either. Too many meetings kill productivity faster than bad coffee.
3. Clear goals > fancy tools
You can drown in tools: Slack, Asana, Trello, Notion, Jira, whatever. None of them matter if goals are fuzzy. Like, “launch feature X by Friday” is clear. “Improve product” is not. Write stuff down. Remote teams can’t rely on hallway convos to fill the gaps.
4. Time zones are not just a meme
Everyone jokes about “good morning from New York, good night from Bangalore.” But seriously, time zones can destroy momentum. We solved this by having at least 2–3 overlapping hours daily for the whole team. That window is sacred — meetings, quick syncs, whatever. Outside that, async rules.
5. Culture doesn’t build itself
Remote can get lonely. No water cooler, no random lunch chats. If you don’t create space for casual stuff, ppl will drift apart. We tried silly things — meme channels, Friday game nights, even just “share your pet photo” threads. Sounds corny, but it works.
6. Pay people fairly
Don’t treat “remote” as an excuse to underpay. If you want good talent, pay them well, regardless of location. Otherwise they’ll bounce to someone who does. And yes, ppl talk on Reddit, Glassdoor, wherever. Bad rep spreads fast.
7. Trust but track
Trust is key, but you can’t run blind. We don’t do creepy screen monitoring (ew), but we do track outcomes. Did the feature ship? Is the client happy? That’s what matters. Hours spent online don’t mean much if nothing moves.
8. Document EVERYTHING
On-site teams survive on quick convos. Remote teams survive on docs. Meeting notes, SOPs, even small decisions. Cuz when Bob from design is asleep in another continent, you can’t just ping him. Docs are like the team’s brain.
9. Celebrate wins, even tiny ones
Remote makes it easy for work to feel invisible. Celebrate launches, shout out good work in team channels, send random Amazon gift cards. Small stuff keeps morale alive. Otherwise ppl start feeling like they’re just typing into the void.
