Managing remote engineering teams requires different practices. After leading distributed teams, here are the technical practices that work.

Communication Practices

Async-First Communication

Principles:

  • Default to async
  • Document decisions
  • Use appropriate channels
  • Respect time zones

Tools:

  • Slack - Quick questions, team chat
  • Email - Formal communication, decisions
  • GitHub Issues - Technical discussions
  • Loom - Video explanations
  • Notion - Documentation

Documentation Standards

# Technical Decision Record (TDR)

## Context
Why this decision is needed

## Decision
What we decided

## Consequences
Positive and negative impacts

## Alternatives Considered
Other options we evaluated

Code Review Practices

Review Guidelines

Review Checklist:

  • Code follows style guide
  • Tests included
  • Documentation updated
  • No security issues
  • Performance considered

Review Process:

  1. Author creates PR with clear description
  2. Request reviews from relevant team members
  3. Reviewers provide feedback within 24 hours
  4. Author addresses feedback
  5. Approve and merge

Async Code Reviews

// PR Template
## Description
Brief description of changes

## Type of Change
- [ ] Bug fix
- [ ] New feature
- [ ] Breaking change

## Testing
- [ ] Unit tests added
- [ ] Integration tests added
- [ ] Manual testing completed

## Checklist
- [ ] Code follows style guide
- [ ] Self-review completed
- [ ] Comments added for complex logic
- [ ] Documentation updated

Development Workflow

Git Workflow

# Feature branch workflow
git checkout -b feature/user-authentication
git commit -m "Add user authentication"
git push origin feature/user-authentication

# Create PR on GitHub
# Get reviews
# Merge after approval

CI/CD Pipeline

# .github/workflows/ci.yml
name: CI

on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
    - name: Run tests
      run: npm test
    - name: Run lint
      run: npm run lint

Tooling

Essential Tools

Development:

  • VS Code - With Live Share for pair programming
  • Git - Version control
  • Docker - Consistent environments
  • Terraform - Infrastructure as code

Communication:

  • Slack - Team chat
  • Zoom - Video calls
  • Loom - Async video
  • Miro - Whiteboarding

Project Management:

  • GitHub Projects - Issue tracking
  • Jira - Project management
  • Notion - Documentation

Development Environment

# Dockerfile for consistent dev environment
FROM node:18

WORKDIR /app

COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci

COPY . .

CMD ["npm", "run", "dev"]

Documentation Practices

Code Documentation

/**
 * Authenticates a user with email and password
 * 
 * @param {string} email - User email address
 * @param {string} password - User password
 * @returns {Promise<User>} Authenticated user object
 * @throws {AuthenticationError} If credentials are invalid
 * 
 * @example
 * const user = await authenticateUser('user@example.com', 'password123');
 */
async function authenticateUser(email, password) {
    // Implementation
}

Architecture Documentation

# System Architecture

## Overview
High-level system description

## Components
- API Gateway
- User Service
- Order Service
- Payment Service

## Data Flow

User → API Gateway → Services → Database


## Deployment
- Kubernetes cluster
- Multi-region setup

Testing Practices

Test Coverage

// Unit tests
describe('UserService', () => {
    it('should authenticate valid user', async () => {
        const user = await userService.authenticate('user@example.com', 'password');
        expect(user).toBeDefined();
    });
});

// Integration tests
describe('API Integration', () => {
    it('should create order', async () => {
        const response = await request(app)
            .post('/api/orders')
            .send({ userId: '123', items: [...] });
        expect(response.status).toBe(201);
    });
});

Test Requirements

  • Unit tests - 80%+ coverage
  • Integration tests - Critical paths
  • E2E tests - User journeys
  • Performance tests - Load testing

Onboarding

Onboarding Checklist

Week 1:

  • Access to all tools
  • Development environment setup
  • Codebase overview
  • Team introductions

Week 2:

  • First small task assigned
  • Pair programming session
  • Architecture deep dive
  • Process documentation review

Month 1:

  • First feature implementation
  • Code review participation
  • Team meeting participation
  • Feedback session

Onboarding Documentation

# Engineering Onboarding Guide

## Setup
1. Install development tools
2. Clone repositories
3. Set up local environment
4. Run test suite

## First Tasks
- Fix a small bug
- Add a test
- Update documentation

## Resources
- Architecture docs
- Style guide
- Process documentation

Best Practices

  1. Async communication - Default to async
  2. Document decisions - TDRs and ADRs
  3. Code reviews - Thorough and timely
  4. Testing - Comprehensive test coverage
  5. Documentation - Keep it updated
  6. Tooling - Right tools for the job
  7. Onboarding - Structured process
  8. Regular syncs - Weekly team meetings

Common Challenges

Challenge 1: Time Zones

Solution:

  • Overlap hours for sync meetings
  • Async communication default
  • Rotating meeting times

Challenge 2: Communication

Solution:

  • Clear communication guidelines
  • Multiple channels for different purposes
  • Regular team updates

Challenge 3: Collaboration

Solution:

  • Pair programming tools
  • Code review culture
  • Shared documentation

Conclusion

Managing remote teams requires:

  • Async-first communication
  • Strong documentation culture
  • Effective tooling setup
  • Clear processes and guidelines

Focus on async communication, documentation, and tooling. The practices shown here enable effective remote engineering teams.

Managing remote engineering teams from May 2020, covering technical practices for distributed teams.