There isn’t a simple dichotomy of remote versus co-located work, instead there are several patterns of distribution for teams each of which has different trade-offs and effective techniques suitable for them. While it’s impossible to determine conclusive evidence, my sense is that most groups are more productive working in a co-located manner. But you can build a more productive team by using a distributed working model, because it gives you access to a wider talent pool.
The Many Shades of Remoteness
The first thing to get straight is that there isn’t a simple dichotomy between co-located and remote teams. There’s many different varieties, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. To make it easier, here are a few didactic landmarks.
A single-site team, is a team where everyone is co-located in the same physical location. Ideally this means you’re all within a few steps of each other, able to quickly collaborate without having to arrange anything, and easily able to see what everyone else is up to. Many teams like a single team room to do this, as it maximizes the ease of communication. Even the presence of cubicles gets in the way — many agile coaches have stories involving screwdrivers.
A multi-site team has two or more co-located groups at separate locations within a larger team, perhaps with some formal sub-team boundaries and responsibilities. A good example of this is a development team split between Melbourne and Xi’an.
Satellite workers occur when you have most of the team co-located, but a few members working remotely, either from home or in another office.
A remote-first team is one where everyone works in a separate location, usually from home, and thus all communication occurs online. Most open-source projects are remote-first, and this experience has encouraged many startups to use it.
Remoteness varies by degree. It’s often been observed that just splitting a team…
