Remote Engineering Culture: Building High-Performing Teams

TL;DR: The best remote engineering teams treat async communication as a feature, not a compromise. Replace daily standups with async check-ins, make documentation the default, and measure output—not hours. When you get this right, remote teams outperform co-located ones. The shift to remote work exposed a critical fault line in the tech industry. On one side are companies that treat remote work as "office work, but on Zoom." On the other are organizations that rebuilt their culture from the ground up to leverage the specific advantages of distributed teams.

At OneCube, we've observed that the difference between a chaotic remote team and a high-performing one isn't the tools they use—it's the culture they build. It’s about moving from synchronous surveillance to asynchronous trust.

Here is our blueprint for building and scaling a world-class remote engineering culture.

1. The Core Principle: Async-First, Not Just Async-Friendly

Many companies claim to be "async," but their culture tells a different story. If your engineers need to be online at 9 AM EST to answer Slack messages instantly, you aren't remote; you're just distributed.

High-performing teams prioritize deep work. They understand that software engineering requires long periods of uninterrupted concentration.

• The Rule: Real-time meetings are reserved for high-bandwidth discussions—brainstorming complex architecture, delivering difficult feedback, or social bonding. They are never for status updates.
• The Ritual: Replace the daily standup call with an async check-in using tools like Geekbot or a simple Slack thread.

2. Writing is Thinking

In an office, you can get away with verbal explanations. In a distributed team, if it isn't written down, it doesn't exist.

Top remote companies like GitLab and Doist operate on a "Handbook First" mentality. This means:

1. Documentation is not an afterthought; it is the work. A feature isn't "done" until its documentation is updated.
2. Public by Default: Technical discussions happen in public channels or open documents (RFCs), not in private DMs. This prevents knowledge silos and allows junior engineers to learn by "listening in" on architectural debates.

OneCube Insight: We encourage teams to adopt ADRs (Architecture Decision Records). These are lightweight text files kept in the repo that record why a technical decision was made (e.g., "Why we chose Postgres over Mongo"). This provides historical context for future hires.

3. Management: From Monitoring to Unblocking

The biggest mistake new remote managers make is trying to replicate physical oversight digitally. This leads to "green dot" surveillance, where engineers perform busyness rather than doing work.

Effective remote management requires a fundamental shift:

• Measure Output, Not Hours: Trust is built on delivery. Care about the code shipped, the RFCs written, and the bugs squashed. Do not care about when they logged on.
• Structured 1:1s: These meetings are sacred. They should focus on career development, personal connection, and unblocking hurdles. They are not for status updates.
• Onboarding as a Product: Remote onboarding must be self-serve and meticulously documented. A new hire should be able to deploy to production on their first day by following a written guide, without needing to tap a senior engineer on the shoulder.

4. Scaling: What Breaks and How to Fix It

As your remote team grows from 5 to 50, communication channels will become noisy. The "Slack Firehose" can drown out actual work.

• Tame the Noise: Enforce strict communication discipline. Use threads. Discourage "Hello" messages without context.
• Designate DRIs: In async discussions, decisions can stall. Assign a Directly Responsible Individual (DRI) for every project or decision. Their job is to gather feedback and make the final call.
• Disagree and Commit: Once a decision is made and documented, the debate ends.

5. Hiring: "Culture Add" vs. "Culture Fit"

"Culture Fit" is a dangerous trap in remote hiring. It often translates to "someone I'd enjoy having a beer with," which leads to bias and homogeneity.

Instead, hire for "Culture Add". Look for traits that your team currently lacks but needs to succeed in a distributed environment:

• Written Communication: Can they explain a complex technical concept clearly in writing?
• Autonomy: Do they have a history of working without constant supervision?
• Time Zone Discipline: Do they respect the async boundaries of their colleagues?

Conclusion

Building a remote engineering culture is intentional work. It requires resisting the urge to micromanage and instead investing in the infrastructure of trust: clear writing, transparent processes, and autonomy.

When you get this right, you don't just get a team that works from home. You get a team that works better, faster, and happier than any co-located office ever could.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I prevent my remote team from feeling isolated?

Schedule regular social touchpoints that aren't about work—virtual coffee chats, optional game sessions, or "watercooler" Slack channels. The key is making these optional and low-pressure. Also, invest in occasional in-person gatherings (quarterly offsites) to build relationships that sustain remote collaboration.

What's the biggest mistake companies make with remote engineering teams?

Trying to replicate office culture digitally. Constant Slack messages, "cameras on" Zoom policies, and daily standups waste time and destroy deep work. The fix is going async-first: reserve real-time meetings for high-bandwidth discussions only, and default to written communication for everything else.

How do I onboard new engineers remotely?

Treat onboarding as a product, not a process. Create a self-serve documentation system where a new hire can deploy to production on day one by following written guides. Assign an onboarding buddy for questions, but don't make them dependent on synchronous handholding. If your onboarding requires constant meetings, it's broken.

How do I know if my remote engineers are actually working?

You don't—and you shouldn't try to. Measure output, not hours. Focus on code shipped, PRs reviewed, and problems solved. "Green dot" surveillance destroys trust and pushes your best engineers to companies that treat them like adults. If you can't trust someone to work without monitoring, you have a hiring problem, not a remote work problem.

Should remote teams have "core hours" or be fully async?

A hybrid approach works best. Establish 3-4 hours of overlap (e.g., 10 AM - 2 PM in a common timezone) for sync meetings and real-time collaboration. Outside core hours, default to async. This accommodates different time zones while preserving space for the high-bandwidth conversations that still benefit from real-time interaction.

References

• GitLab Remote Work Guide: The Remote Playbook
• Architecture Decision Records (ADRs): ADR GitHub Organization
• Basecamp on Async Communication: How We Communicate
• Zapier's Remote Work Culture: The Ultimate Guide to Remote Work
• Automattic's Creed: The Automattic Creed