Over the past four years several truths have emerged that need to be acknowledged by anyone who either seeks to set up or work in such an environment. The goal of any work environment should be effectiveness and efficiency.

Companies should prioritize software and systems for the geographically distributed support workers they seek to employ. Employees should embrace productivity and mental health to stay sharp in a challenging work environment.

Here are five truths that I have come to appreciate as a fully remote software developer working with a geographically distributed team.

Working remote has its share of challenges, but it can be a rewarding and life altering change if done correctly. I could write pages about personal productivity tips on how to be successful when you are not working in an office, but today I want to write about bi-annual and quarterly in person sessions and their value.

What is your job as a technical software team manager? How can a top performing individual contributor transition into technical leadership? Many more in-depth articles and books have been written, so in this article I’ll briefly cover what I think makes a successful Technical Engineering Manager.

To maximize the value of remote work, each team member should focus on maximizing the time spend on Core Work, ensure that Communication is efficient and utilize the most efficient tools and systems for everything else.

I’ve pieced together this guide for my own team from a number of articles I’ve read over the past 10 months. If you are interested in creating a guide for your team, I strongly encourage you to read the source material and customize a guide that works for your team.

Slack is a powerful tool, but if used incorrectly it can become a huge distracting mess.

One of the primary goals of good Slack use is to expose as many conversations publicly for both collaboration and information purposes. By leveraging public channels, and composing longer easier to scan messages you can minimize follow-up questions and increase team awareness.

Second, to maximize focus for the distributed team, you should prioritize asynchronous communication and minimize message notifications. By batching messages, using discussion threads, and replacing short responses with emoji reactions you can dramatically reduce notifications and enable you and your team to focus on higher priority core work.