Remote Work And Distributed Teams
When I led the API Platform organization at Groupon from Seattle, my teams were spread across four locations and three time zones: Seattle, Santa Clara, Chicago, and Bangalore. Same codebase, same programs, and a shared on-call rotation.
This setup wasn’t accidental. There were clear business reasons behind it.
Like it or not, the US labor market is costly, and even within the US, costs vary—Santa Clara isn’t Chicago. Balancing cost and talent availability shaped how we structured the teams.
It wasn’t just about cost, though. Our teams supported the business in North America, EMEA, and, on a smaller scale, South America and APAC. Proximity to customers and key stakeholders still matters, even in a globalized world.
Expertise and know-how also played a role. We prioritized people experience over physical location.
But a setup like this comes with challenges. A 12-hour time difference between the Pacific West Coast and Bangalore isn’t trivial. Communication, culture, and knowledge sharing could easily suffer—or you risk burning out the team with 16-hour workdays.
We had to get creative and remain flexible. Here’s how we made it work:
1- Local leadership. Each country had its own manager. This was non-negotiable. Local leaders ensured cohesion, alignment, and regular feedback. They also supported individual development at a level that would’ve been impossible otherwise.
2- One team, not many. From day one, I made it clear: we were a single team, spread across locations. Ownership was assigned based on skills, collaboration needs, and growth opportunities—not geography.
3- Respect for time zones. We designed mechanisms to minimize late-night meetings and off-hour disruptions. While regular travel helped build connections and facilitate brainstorm in person, we balanced it with practicality and costs.
4- A shared on-call rotation. The 12-hour time difference became an advantage. On-call shifts covered local working hours, eliminating 3 AM pages and ensuring uninterrupted support.
5- The right set of tools. Slack, Asana, GitHub, and Wikis became essential to keep enable asynchronous collaboration and keep information flowing.
6- Adaptability. We relied on feedback, data, and pulse surveys to refine our mechanisms.
This experience solidified my belief in the value of remote work and distributed teams. Accessing diverse talent—no matter where they live—unlocks potential you simply can’t achieve with rigid, location-based policies.
A few months ago, a former engineer from the team in India sent me a message saying, "I don't think I will ever find a team as good as GAPI (Groupon API)". I'm sure he will, but that message still touched me. And I don't think it was an accident.
