Article · ~20 min read

Struggling to Thrive as a Large Team Working Remotely? This Exec Has the Field Guide You Need

First Round Review Free Intermediate

Built from running a large fully remote team, this is a tactical field guide to keeping distributed people aligned and accountable without hovering. It gets specific about cadences, documentation, and the norms that stop a remote team from drifting. Read it when your team has grown past the point where you can hold everything in your head.

  • Write down norms before the team outgrows informal ones
  • Set a deliberate cadence of check-ins, not constant ones
  • Documentation is how a remote team stays aligned

The question it answers

  1. How do I keep an offshore or remote dev team accountable across time zones?

Read with it

  1. Basecamp's battle-tested, opinionated system for shipping meaningful work in fixed cycles without endless backlogs, a primary... Basecamp / 37signals Book · free online book Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters Ryan Singer
  2. The definitive manifesto for building a 'calm company', remote-friendly, sustainable, and free of chronic overwork, from a team... 37signals Book · ~232 pages It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson
  3. The essay that explains why one badly-placed meeting can destroy a founder's entire day of building, and what to do about it.... paulgraham.com Article · short Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule Paul Graham
  4. This is the canonical case for running distributed work well, written by the founders of Basecamp who built a remote company... Basecamp Book · About 256 pages Remote: Office Not Required Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
  5. YC is openly skeptical of a remote co-founder (they discount the plan if a linchpin is distant), which makes this the most... Y Combinator Video · 35 min Best Practices for Managing a Remote Team Y Combinator
  6. This is the operating manual behind the answer's core rule: don't run a remote team on vibes. GitLab runs 1,600+ people across... The GitLab Handbook Article · 25 min read Asynchronous communication for remote work GitLab
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →