Building a Culture of Remote-First Collaboration

When we started Zekroz, we knew we wanted to tap into a global talent pool. But building a distributed team comes with its own set of challenges. How do you maintain culture? How do you ensure everyone is aligned when they are thousands of miles apart?

The 4-Hour Overlap Rule

One of the first policies we implemented was the 4-Hour Overlap Rule. Regardless of where you are in the world, every team member must have at least 4 hours of overlap with their core team. This ensures that:

• Code reviews happen promptly.
• Sync meetings are productive.
• Unblocking happens in real-time.

Async by Default

While overlap is important, we operate on an Async by Default mindset. We document everything. If it's not written down, it didn't happen.

Tools We Use

• Slack: For quick, ephemeral communication.
• Notion: For long-form documentation and project specs.
• Linear: For issue tracking and sprint planning.
• Loom: For video updates and demos (a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million).

Trust and Autonomy

Remote work dies without trust. We hire adults and treat them as such. We focus on output over hours. It doesn't matter when you work, as long as you deliver high-quality work and support your team.

Building a remote culture isn't easy, but it's worth it. It allows us to work with the best people, regardless of their zip code.