Remote work in IT stopped being unusual a long time ago. However, assembling a distributed team is one thing; making it work without falling apart at the first deadline is entirely different.
Remote work is embedded in our tech processes. To understand why it works for us, I spoke with colleagues—both managers and developers—who build the product from all corners of the globe.
This article will be useful for anyone managing distributed teams or planning to go remote and wants to gain firsthand experience.
A Bit About the Company
A brief note about my workplace: EXANTE is a global trading platform that allows you to trade in over 50 global markets from a single multi-currency account. Our clients include professional traders and institutional investors.
Today, EXANTE has over 700 employees around the globe, and nearly 200 of them are IT specialists. Our team is spread across 36+ locations, including Ireland, Argentina, the US, Vietnam, and Tajikistan, and that's just a partial list.
We rent coworking offices in the most popular locations, including Tbilisi, Belgrade, Almaty, and Limassol. Going there is optional, not mandatory. Still, it’s nice: the company provides soda, coffee, and lunch. At home, you have to handle that yourself.
Statistics show that about 30% of colleagues work from offices, while the rest prefer to work remotely. Even where an office exists, it’s still up to the employee. That said, Friday meetups and company events gather a lot of people—they help everyone stay connected even when each of us is in our corner of the world.
Right now, we don’t have any teams located in the same place, let alone in the same time zone. But that wasn’t always the case.
How It All Started: The Origins of the Remote Format
The company leadership has always held modern views: from the beginning, employees received laptops, allowing them to work from home. If they wanted, they could take one or two remote days per week—this flexible format was encouraged even when it was still new to most. However, the small development team that all started with worked in one office.
System architect Yakov Kozlov, who joined us more than ten years ago as an Erlang developer, was one of the first to transition to remote work.
Yakov Kozlov, System Architect:
When I got the offer, one of the conditions was relocating closer to the office. During my probation period, I took a couple of remote days and commuted to the office for the rest of the time. After six months, I moved to the city where the office was, but it turned out to be inconvenient. Around that time, our second child was born, and living in a big city with small children is a challenge.
The team’s working format was flexible: you could take a couple of remote days. Over time, Yakov’s schedule increasingly diverged from the others'.
Yakov Kozlov, System Architect:
Gradually, I almost stopped going to the office. One day I came in, and no one was there: everyone was working remotely. Then it was my turn to work from home, and we started missing each other. At best, we’d cross paths once a week. Then I approached my manager and proposed switching to full remote work. He said, “Let’s try it.” And since then, I’ve been working remotely for more than eight years now.
The experiment was a success. Since then, the company has followed this principle: work wherever it’s convenient, but the office always stays open.
Anton Omelyanenko, Director, Software Development:
You can work remotely, but being in the office offers some advantages. Of course, there are downsides—you have to get yourself ready and commute—but there’s food, and it’s interesting.
Remote work isn’t just about working wherever and however you want. It’s the art of setting up processes so that everyone moves in the same direction, even from different continents.
How we achieve this is what I’ll explain next.
Distributed Teams: Why We Chose This Path
From a business perspective, the biggest advantage is being able to hire the best without being limited to a single location. The company doesn’t care where an employee is physically located—what matters is their skills and experience.
Richard Forss, CTO:
A huge benefit of remote work is that you can hire people you otherwise wouldn’t be able to attract. The ability to hire globally gives us access to the best talent. The entire world is our recruitment pool.
But it’s not just about hiring—distributed work is built into the company culture.
Lena Sivova, Head of QA:
Two factors are essential for me. First, it’s the ease of balancing personal and work life. This significantly reduces stress. In our remote format with a flexible schedule—without trackers or surveillance tools—it’s much easier to live: you can go to the doctor when needed, enrol your kids in activities, or work from a café.
Second, independence. We often say we want responsible teams—people who are driven and motivated. Proper remote work supports that. When no one’s watching your every move, but you still get up in the morning, sit down at your computer, and start working. We subtly but consistently nurture responsibility and internal motivation.
Still, remote work isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Many colleagues consciously choose to work from offices, because it’s easier and more comfortable for them.
Anton Omelyanenko, Director, Software Development:
There are several reasons I go to the office. Discipline is one of them. It’s easier to focus and get into work mode at the office. And afterwards, it’s easier to disconnect. When you’re at home, that transition is more complex.
Richard Forss, CTO:
I like being in the same room with people where you can feel the atmosphere. I can walk up, talk, see reactions, and experience live interaction. Although I officially work remotely, I frequently visit the company offices.
I’m not saying working from home is ineffective, but for me, personal communication, eye contact, and body language offer a whole different level of interaction.
Having offices is an integral part of EXANTE’s culture. However, the nature of distributed teams remains: we don’t have teams where everyone is in the same city or even the same time zone.
Over more than 10 years of working this way, we’ve learned how to build processes for distributed teams. But can every employee work remotely? Of course not.
Challenges and How We Solve Them
Every work format has its specifics. Distributed teams face their share of challenges in communication, management, and maintaining a cohesive rhythm. Here’s what challenges we face—and how we deal with them.
Communication
A common problem in distributed teams is communication breakdowns.
When someone gets a task and works on it without a quick way to ask questions or clarify details, it’s easy to get stuck. It’s especially hard for people who haven’t met their teammates in person—remote work adds a layer of distance.
How we solve it: The manager takes the initiative. We’ve established the practice that if someone gets stuck, we solve the problem together on a call, no matter how long it takes.
Yakov Kozlov, System Architect:
If I see in a daily stand-up that someone is stuck, I say: let’s have a coffee call. We’ll sit together for two or three hours, discussing, thinking it through, and solving the problem together.
This doesn’t suit everyone, so we’ve started paying more attention to people’s temperament in interviews—how well they can carry a conversation, how open they are.
Richard Forss, CTO:
I’d always prefer a developer to ask for help rather than stay silent and not complete the task. People are afraid to ask for help, thinking it’s a sign of weakness. But it’s not—it’s something managers must encourage.
In addition to online solutions, we regularly organise offline meetups where developers, QA, managers, and department heads come together in one location. Recently, the Platforms team met in Baku, the Web team in Belgrade, the Backend team went to Egypt, and the Post Processing team to Korea.
Each meetup lasts about a week, consisting of three days of work sessions and one day for team-building and socialising. We adjust release timelines to enable teams to focus on sharing experiences during these meetings.
Richard Forss, CTO:
Teams work better when they’re physically together. It’s essential to bring colleagues from different locations together at least once a year. Nothing replaces live interaction.
If an offline meeting isn’t happening soon, we try to build personal rapport through short video calls.
Lena Sivova, Head of QA:
We recommend setting up a short video chat if you’re working with someone new and haven’t met on calls yet. In QA, for example, we have informal group calls once a month. In neighbouring teams, it’s even more frequent, and we always invite new people.
Face-to-face interaction and visual contact make future collaboration much easier.
Time Zones
When people work across time zones, new complications arise, and it becomes harder to coordinate.
Yakov Kozlov, System Architect:
In one team, we had a 12-hour time difference between colleagues. Nick was in Indonesia, and Dima was in Canada. One was going to bed just as the other was waking up. We only crossed paths at daily stand-ups.
How we solve it: We agree on “golden hours”—usually four hours a day in UTC when everyone is available. These hours are discussed even during the job offer stage.
Lena Sivova, Head of QA:
Fixed time slots help a lot. People can plan their lives around them: if you move to Bali, you shift your calls to the evening, move to Europe—it’s the morning. Yes, sometimes you have to compromise—get up earlier or stay up later—but that’s the reality of work.
Yakov Kozlov, System Architect:
Remote work teaches you that people won’t always be available. You must be able to cover for each other while keeping your promises: if you agree to join a call, please show up. And use everyone’s time efficiently.
Lena Sivova, Head of QA:
The most immense happiness is when a team magically ends up in the same time zone. Once, half the team moved to Bali while the other half stayed in Europe—and it just so happened that one group would start the day and the other would pick it up in the evening.
To structure interactions, we actively use Slack threads and interactive boards, such as Miro.
Yakov Kozlov, System Architect:
Staying focused during meetings is crucial. We record agreements in Miro—it’s interactive, and you can see how the board evolves from meeting to meeting. But that requires training—you can’t just say, “go use it.” You have to show how to use it correctly.
Onboarding
Having a new person join the team is always both exciting and stressful for both the team and the newcomer. With remote work, it’s especially important to make the process smooth and clear.
How we solve it: Lots of personal interaction. The manager stays in close contact with the newcomer. If specific questions come up often, we organise meetups to share experiences.
Yakov Kozlov, System Architect:
I always try to be there: to explain, guide, and show the path, even if it takes a lot of time.
Lena Sivova, Head of QA:
In QA, we use delayed questions: team members can ask something at any time and receive an answer later in the day. This helps mentors avoid burnout and helps newcomers feel supported.
Management and Performance
How do you know if someone is coping with remote work? This question never gets old.
Anton Omelyanenko, Director, Software Development:
We hire people remotely and evaluate them based on results. If someone isn’t performing, they don’t pass the probation period. Only those who can truly work independently stay on.
How we solve it: In daily stand-ups, everyone shares their plans and difficulties. If a manager or mentor sees someone lagging, they step in at the right time.
Yakov Kozlov, System Architect:
It’s essential to set an example: how to think, and how to work. That’s part of mentorship—teaching people not just to follow tasks, but to think with you.
We don’t track time or hours—only results.
Yakov Kozlov, System Architect:
Remote work gives you time freedom but demands accountability for results. Mentorship is like teaching someone to drive: first, you go together, then you provide them with the wheel.
Richard Forss, CTO:
I trust my team. They genuinely care about the company’s success, and they’ve never let me down.
Informal Knowledge
In an office, the «kitchen» plays an important role—it’s a place where you can accidentally learn about other projects, problems, and solutions. In remote work, those touchpoints hardly exist.
How we solve it: Regular offline team meetups. Even if they’re rare, they’re critical for sharing knowledge.
Yakov Kozlov, System Architect:
Remote work doesn’t eliminate the need to meet: technical meetings, team meetups, and even online events—all help preserve a knowledge-sharing culture.
Unexpected Benefits
Besides the obvious perks for the company and employees, distributed teams offer an unexpected bonus—expanding the cultural code.
It’s fascinating to see how colleagues change when they move to new countries—and how eagerly they share cultural insights and experiences.
Lena Sivova, Head of QA:
We often discuss local quirks and language things. There are always photos in the chats of what someone saw and where they went. This is an unexpected but very pleasant side effect of distributed work—you learn so much more about the world and the people around you.
Tips for Building a Distributed Team
In the end, I asked my colleagues: What’s the most critical advice they would give to someone building a distributed team? Here are the principles they shared:
1. Strong Managers on the Ground
Lena Sivova, Head of QA:
The skills of line managers are fundamental—team leads, test leads, and everyone who works closely with the teams. They’re responsible for onboarding, engaging new hires, and integrating people into processes.
Yakov Kozlov, System Architect:
Remote work requires active involvement from the manager. And it’s important that those responsible for these processes are actually invested in remote work. You can’t let the formation of a distributed team run on autopilot—the rituals and workflows are very different from traditional “office” setups.
2. Transparent Communication
Richard Forss, CTO:
Make sure employees feel involved, that they understand what they’re doing, and that you know what they’re doing.
It’s not about total control—no screen monitoring or spying. Everything is built on clear goals, well-defined sprints, concrete results, and accountability for those results.
Lena Sivova, Head of QA:
In remote work, you have to voice expectations more often. It’s critical for both work and onboarding, especially if someone is going through tough personal changes at the same time.
3. Regular Offline Meetups
Anton Omelyanenko, Director, Software Development:
Always offer employees the opportunity to travel between offices.
We tell people from the start: we have offices in ten cities around the world—pick any, visit. There will be snacks, Coca-Cola, or a beer waiting for you. So, travel and change your environment—it helps you work and recharge.
4. Emotional Hygiene
Lena Sivova, Head of QA:
I recommend that all newcomers read chat messages in the meme robot voice.
It helps remove unnecessary emotional colouring. Most remote work conflicts don’t come from real problems, but from how we interpret someone else’s emotions, especially when we haven’t met in person yet.
Conclusion
Building and managing processes in a distributed team is no easy task, but it’s achievable. I hope you found something helpful in this article for yourself and your teams.
Every approach has its nuances, and our experience is just one of many ways to organise remote work.
I’d love it if you shared your tools and life hacks in the comments: what works best for you when managing or working in distributed teams?
