Working with people you never meet

Priya is in London, Sam is in Sydney, and you are somewhere in between. When Priya starts her workday, Sam has already finished dinner. There is no moment in the day when a quick shout across the desk is possible — because there is no desk.

More and more first jobs look like this. Everything in this module still applies — clear owners, safety, good disagreement — but remote work adds one giant twist: almost everything must be written down, and you rarely get an instant answer.

The one-day rule of thumb

On a remote team, assume any message may take up to a full working day to get an answer, because your afternoon is someone else's midnight. That single fact should change how you write.

The beginner sends: "Hey Sam, quick question about the report."

Then goes to sleep. Sam wakes up, reads it, and has to reply "What is the question?" — and a two-minute matter has now taken two days, because every round trip costs a timezone.