Remote Teams vs. Distributed Workforce: Understanding the Differences

The terms “remote teams” and “distributed workforce” are often used interchangeably, but subtle differences exist between them. It’s not an exact science, and likely everyone has their views; this is how I think about them.

Remote teams are teams where all team members work remotely from different locations but are not distant, generally onshore or nearshore. Onshore teams work from locations within the same country or city as the company’s headquarters, and nearshore teams are located in countries close to the home country and share the same or +1/-1 time zone.

The most popular operational modes are:

Fully remote. A fully remote team is one where all team members work from different locations (onshore or nearshore), and no central office or physical workspace exists.

Partially remote (hybrid) is a model where some team members work in the office on certain days and remotely on others. 3 (home) + 2 (office) or 4+1 are popular combos, and companies often accommodate a rotating or co-working space office for partially remote teams. Positions with 2+3 or less at home are flexible work rather than remote.

Distributed workforce, on the other hand, is a broader term encompassing any team or workforce spread across different locations, whether remote or not. A distributed workforce may include remote teams, but it can also have teams that work in other offices or areas within the same city, country, or even globally.

The most popular operational modes are:

• Globally (fully) distributed. All workforce work remotely from at least 10 countries and 5 time zones. The closer you come to having 24/7 coverage, the closer you are to being a fully distributed workforce.
• Partially-Distributed. Some team members work remotely in a partially distributed workforce, while others are based in a central location. Regional Distribution is a popular partial distribution model, where team members are distributed based on their site within a specific region or time zone. Often 2 time zones with 3 countries.

Additional quite effective but less commonly used operational modes (team topologies) are:

• Project-Based Distribution. In a project-based distribution model, team members are distributed based on the needs of specific projects, usually in one country (or city) that differs from the company’s headquarters.
• Distributed Sub-teams. In a distributed sub-team model, teams are divided into smaller sub-teams spread across different locations. For example, a company may have a QA team based in one place while the engineering team is in another.

I don’t view outsourced teams or freelance teams under B2B transactions as remote teams or distributed workforce, as they aren’t your employees but partners. Such partnerships do not pose managing challenges.

Sync vs Async work

The main difference between synchronous (sync) and asynchronous (async) work is the timing of information exchange (communication and collaboration) among team members.

In synchronous work, team members work and communicate in real time. Synchronous work allows for quick decision-making, immediate feedback, and a sense of team cohesion. Often, in a remote (not distributed) setting where the team is sharing the same or close-by time zone, teams will have a must-be-online time box during which synchronous work takes place. 10:00 am — 4:00 pm is a trendy box for this. Examples of synchronous communication include video calls, phone calls and instant messaging.

In asynchronous work, team members work on their own time, with communication and collaboration happening at different times. If you have 24/7 coverage clocking out on Friday and clocking in on Monday might feel overwhelming as there will be results of 2 days of produce to catch up on. A common situation is to start your day by overviewing pull requests, code review comments and other information produced while you were sleeping. It’s very different from being able to pull information when you need it. Examples of asynchronous communication include email, team messaging apps, project management tools, and shared documents.

The operational mode of sync work requires more immediate response and coordination, focusing on real-time decision-making and collaboration. In contrast, the operational mode of async work emphasises communication and cooperation that can happen at different times, with less urgency and more flexibility.

A remote or distributed workforce is not a one-size-fits-all solution; just like any product, process or system, it’s not the best or perfect fit for every conceivable company. However, it is an excellent match for many companies that should be embracing remote or distributed operational modes.

The Business Value

A global talent pool and talent attraction are the most substantial values that are particularly beneficial for early-stage startups. Getting a higher ratio of quality engineers per dollar is a strong differentiator.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion; being able to attract talent from anywhere, you naturally end up growing representation in a way that is hard to pull off if you are trying to hire all of the skills from a couple of cities or countries. You get a richer demographic representation with a distributed workforce.

Async work will force a company to be good at certain things faster than it might be otherwise. A good example is getting great at writing things down so that everyone can find and use them.

Different opinions from different cultural groups are a superpower long term. For example, a French company wanting to enter the African market can utilise their remote (African) employees to understand how to gear their product towards those customers and account for cultural differences. Such value predominantly exists with a distributed workforce and is highly effective in marketing and sales activities, as it removes a whitewashed, single way of thinking.

Biggest Challenges

In-person connection matters; it should be considered a key ingredient in the all-remote (distributed) recipe. All remote does not mean it is never in person, and two are entirely compatible. It’s essential to value human connection, as it accelerates trust, creativity and growth. The all-company retreat is a way of addressing this need. The companies often organise more frequent retreats at a smaller level, whether city or country based, to connect specific teams in person.

Remote companies should invest a lot upfront in orienting new joiners towards not just the company, product and customer as well as the remote operational model by providing specific examples, tutorials and opportunities to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of using a lot of tooling that support the teams in getting things done. Being able to self-organize in remote environments is a skill that especially young employees often need to gain.

For junior employees, growth and development are rooted in osmosis, being in person and being able to look over someone’s shoulder, especially junior ones. Such a learning mode can replicate advantageously with today’s tools dedicated to this purpose. It was a lot harder 5 to 7 years ago, and this works particularly well in a software company. This notion takes more work to replicate in many other types of companies virtually. Supplementary, having a distributed workforce expands the number of people you can learn from.