By far the most important of the ingredients is the team. Not
everyone can work in a remote environment. Not everyone can
manage a remote environment (though I suspect with a bit of time
and learning that a lot of managers could figure out how to make it
work). Therefore, it’s important to assemble a team who is capable
of executing in a remote environment. Here’s what has made the
best remote workers for us:

1. Hire Doers

Doers will get stuff done even if they are in Timbuktu. You don’t
have to give doers tasks to know that something will get done.
Chapter 1: How to Run a Remote Team 5
You’ll still have to provide direction and guidance around the most
important things to be executed, but in the absence of that, a doer
will make something happen.

2. Hire people you can trust

Remote work stops working when you can’t trust the person on the
other end of the line. If you continually find yourself worrying what
someone is doing, then you are spending brain cycles focusing on
something other than the product. Trust is key.

3. Trust the people you hire

The flip side of this is you also need to exhibit trust with the
people you hire. As a manager, you need to learn to manage by
expectations rather than by “butts in seat,” so make sure you can
show trust in those you hire.

4. Hire people who can write

In a co-located office, a lot of information is shared in-person. In a
remote situation, everything is shared via written communication.
Communication is one of the most important parts of remote team.
Therefore, good writers are valuable.

5. Hire people who are ok without a social workplace

It’ll be important to try to create some social aspects with a remote
team. But the truth of the matter is that remote workplaces are
usually less social than co-located ones. People on remote teams
need to be ok with that. And the best remote workers will thrive in
this type of environment.