Guiding principles for building a high-trust, asynchronous, and effective distributed team.
Focus on creating actual value and shipped deliverables rather than performative work or excessive chatter.
Clear PRs and measurable impact matter most. Your completed work is your most powerful advocate.
Write with the reader in mind. Provide complete context so others can respond unblocked in their own time.
Open source your thought process. Invite critique and collaborate transparently without attaching self-worth to ideas.
Maintain a measured tone, especially in text where nuance is easily lost. Always assume positive intent.
Hide your ego, highlight the risks. Under-communicate ego. Early warning systems prevent catastrophic failures.
Build trust by doing what you say you will do, when you say you will do it, without needing to be prompted.
Context switching has a heavy cost. Respect others' focus blocks and aggressively guard your own time.
Own your task end to end. Don't wait for permission to unblock yourself or to solve obvious issues.
Find the right problem you can solve, then craft a solution that is simple, robust, and beautiful.
Trust will be earned, not claimed. Action creates trust; we build it through consistent delivery and integrity.
If it's not written down, it didn't happen. Avoid siloed knowledge in private DMs. Build a resilient, searchable single source of truth.
We do our best work when we are rested. Respect your own boundaries, log off completely, and do not expect immediate replies outside of working hours.
Give feedback early, kindly, and directly. In the absence of in-person body language, we must be proactive in helping each other grow.
If a decision is easily reversible, don't wait for a meeting to get permission. Make the call, document your reasoning, and learn from the results.