How to Work Faster in a Remote Team

Remote work at Zapier shows that freeing employees from a shared office lets them move faster, but the real advantage comes from intentional processes. The team moved most internal updates from inbox clutter to a private blog and Slack, trimming hours spent on email. Only critical emails like applicant feedback and new-hire announcements remain, so every message that lands in the inbox is high-value.

Choosing the right tools amplifies that speed. Zapier relies on Slack for chat, Trello for project tracking, and Quip for documentation, while past tools like iDoneThis and Hackpad served similar purposes. Matthew Makai from Twilio confirms that mastering a suite of async tools lets distributed writers iterate faster than they could in a co-located room.

Flexibility in schedules lets individuals work when they're most productive. Employees like Walter Chen and Joe Stych describe using post-lunch naps or extended evenings to keep energy high, while global time-zone coverage creates a 24-hour development cycle that hands work off across continents without delay.

Eliminating the commute adds dozens of hours each week that go straight into output, and questioning every meeting uncovers massive time waste. Teams that replace low-value meetings with concise blog updates reclaim thousands of hours annually, as shown by iDoneThis's shift to a focused show-and-tell format.

Finally, the written nature of remote communication forces people to think before they hit send, leading to clearer, more concise interactions. That extra pause reduces miscommunication and speeds decision-making, reinforcing the overall productivity gains of a well-designed remote workflow.