Posted on: September 30, 2025
Intro. Remote and distributed look similar on paper — people aren’t in the same office. In practice, they’re different worlds. Remote is “work from home.” Distributed is “work across borders, time zones, and cultures.” Mistaking the two creates chaos fast.
Time zones. You no longer share a common workday. With teams spread across the Americas, Europe, and Asia there may be no universal slot. Make overlap time count, push the rest into tools, and track everything.
Example. West Coast customers + Siberia devs (≈15h difference). A short daily slot in early Seattle morning, plus strong offshore coordination, was enough to keep delivery smooth.
Information flows. You can’t “walk over and ask.” Design the flows so nothing falls through the cracks — this is your lightweight communication plan.
Scaling starts here. Opening a new site and hoping for the best rarely works. Design the model before the first login; otherwise growth just multiplies chaos.
Cultural differences. We all speak English — but we don’t all work the same way. Broad strokes to illustrate the point (generalizations, not labels):
Two challenges: make communication effective across styles, and make sure concerns are heard so the team can move forward.
What helps: strong local representation at every site. Each location should feel like a team, not two isolated engineers on monitors. Appoint a respected local lead who unites people, understands context, and escalates across the portfolio when needed.
Examples. A blunt “this won’t scale” can be heard as “kill the project.” A senior client in Asia may expect a superior–subordinate dynamic. Recognize intent, respect context, and translate between styles.
Recap. Distributed ≠ remote. To make it work at scale:
None of this is about heavy process. It’s about reducing uncertainty so a distributed team still feels — and ships — like a team.
Written by Ilya Komakhin