5 Must-Read Remote Work Playbooks to Transform Your Team

Imagine this: your team is spread across time zones, yet everyone is aligned, productive, and engaged. In other news from La La Land…

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But not so fast. This isn’t just a dream — with the right approach, it really is possible. One part of that approach is having a playbook, a special guide establishing remote work processes that ensure efficiency and smooth interaction.

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What playbooks are and why they’re crucial

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Playbooks are detailed instructions for work processes. They set clear standards, make processes transparent, improve communication, help you adapt to change, reduce stress, and increase employee engagement.

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Below, we'll look at five examples of excellent remote work playbooks from major companies.

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Zapier

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Zapier is a platform for automating workflows with apps.

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📖 What's in the playbook

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The company’s Ultimate Guide to Remote Work is a 180-page guide covering all the key aspects of building and managing remote teams. Study it to learn about building processes, speeding up work, creating a comfortable environment, and preventing burnout.

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💡 Insights we found interesting

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• Characteristics of a top-notch remote worker: Remote work isn't right for everyone. Those who thrive tend to have a can-do attitude, the ability to prioritize, tactful correspondence, reliability, and an active support system.
• A week in their shoes. In order to find the right person for a position, you first need to spend at least a week doing the job yourself. This will help you understand the role on a deeper level. You’ll need to write an accurate, compelling job post and then evaluate candidates.
• Principles of healthy communication. Tips on minimizing useless internal correspondence, building strong remote relationships, and even hosting a corporate retreat.
• Pictures of Zapier employees’ remote workspaces from around the world! Just because they’re interesting to look at.

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Read Zapier’s playbook here.

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GitLab

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GitLab is a global DevOps platform with 1,500+ employees in 65 countries. It’s been remote since its founding in 2011 and has documented its wealth of experience.

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📖 What's in the playbook

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The Remote Playbook is an online text and video guide that governs GitLab’s operations. It covers literally every aspect of remote work, from creating an inclusive culture to managing asynchronous processes and looking after employees’ well-being.

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The authors compare the pros and cons of remote and hybrid work models and share a checklist for transitioning to remote. The guide includes tips on hiring, onboarding, and training employees as well as maintaining mental health.

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💡 What we found interesting

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• Handbook-first approach. At GitLab, experimental solutions are documented in the handbook before they’re applied across the company.
• 10 remote and hybrid models. Descriptions of a range of models from which you can borrow ideas for your teams.
• Head of Remote. GitLab has a dedicated role in the strategic development of remote work.
• Department-specific guides. GitLab recognizes that individual teams have their own needs, so design, finance, HR, legal, etc., maintain their own mini-guides.
• Life tips. The guide even covers topics like how to work while traveling and how to combine remote work with childcare.

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Read GitLab’s playbook here.

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Atlassian

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Atlassian is a leading developer of team collaboration tools such as Jira, Confluence, and Trello.

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📖 What's in the playbook

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Atlassian’s Team Playbook is a collection of “plays” — activities for addressing common team challenges and starting important conversations. For example, Sprint Retrospective is used to summarize results, and Team Health Monitor is used to assess team health.

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💡 What we found interesting

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• Practical activities for adapting to remote work. Atlassian describes six plays that make remote work smoother: Project Poster, Inclusive Meetings, Stand-ups, "4Ls" Retrospective, Learning Circle, and My User Manual.
• Interactive quizzes. Not sure which plays would be most useful for your team? Take the quiz and find out.

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Read Atlassian’s playbook here.

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Favro

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Favro is a project management platform that focuses on agile methodology. It initially had a hybrid model but later switched to all remote.

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📖 What's in the playbook

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Favro’s Remote Work Playbook contains 30 tips and practices for creating a successful distributed team, from building a culture of trust to preventing burnout.

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The authors believe that since close supervision is almost impossible in a remote organization, it’s best to focus on results by using OKRs and managing the value stream. They also recommend cross-functional teams to allow fast reactions to change and faster rebuilding than with large, fenced-off departments.

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💡What we found interesting

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• The checklist for improving online communication covers everything from video calls to asynchronous communication and retros.
• Practices for employees. Casual meetings, health walks, and online games, plus tips on setting boundaries between work and the rest of life.
• Informal interactions on social media. Favro suggests leaders be open and write more personal posts on platforms like LinkedIn to build trust with teams.

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Read Favro’s playbook here.

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Thoughtworks

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ThoughtWorks is a consulting company that develops software and technology to transform digital businesses.

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📖 What's in the playbook

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The Remote Work Playbook is a concise guide that covers the key points of transitioning to remote work in 14 pages.

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💡 What we found interesting

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• Tips for organizing onboarding: from getting to know your team to daily mentor meetings and training sessions on key processes.
• Strategies for remote team engagement: virtual games or remote sports (10-15 minutes daily or 1 hour weekly).
• Social practices for remote work: online meeting etiquette, building trusting relationships, maintaining flexibility and sensitivity.

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Read Thoughtworks’s playbook here.

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Which guide is best?

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