Remote Collaboration

Managing Research Software Projects

Greg Wilson

2026

Learning Objectives

  • Identify the specific failure modes of distributed research software teams.
  • Explain what async-first management means in practice.

Failure Modes of Distributed Teams

  • Review latency: PRs waiting over two days discourage contribution.
  • Synchronous-first culture excludes anyone who cannot attend the meeting.
  • Invisible contribution: review and triage leave less trace than code.
  • Trust has to be built deliberately without incidental contact.
  • Data-access constraints: code may travel but data may not.
  • Seasonal absences from teaching, fieldwork, and conferences vary.

Async-First in Practice

  • Async-first does not mean no meetings.
    • Meetings are for things that genuinely need real-time discussion.
  • Decisions are written down before they are acted on.
  • Code review responses are expected within two days.
    • Two working days.
  • Status updates are written, not spoken.
  • Questions asked in writing get answers in the same thread.

Mixed-Mode Meetings

  • Virtual meetings broaden participation across geography and career stage.
  • But in mixed-mode meetings, people in the room dominate by default.
  • If you cannot have everyone in person, have everyone remote.
  • All-remote meetings are usually shorter.
    • And fairer, if the moderator does their job properly.

What about AI?

  • LLM meeting summarizers can produce accurate action-item lists
  • LLM summaries flatten nuance and lose hedging language
  • Relying on LLM summaries loses the social texture that reveals struggle

Communication Audit (10 min)

  1. What is the longest a pull request or issue comment has gone without a response in the last three months? What time zone was the contributor in?
  2. When are your regular meetings scheduled? Which contributors can’t attend at that time without rearranging their workday?
  3. Where are decisions made? Are they accessible to contributors who weren’t in the meeting?
  4. Which contributors haven’t engaged in the last month? What do you know about why?

Design a Communication Structure (10 min)

Design a communication structure for a team with contributors in at least three time zones. (Use your own project, or use Jess’s team: Toronto, Rabat, Warsaw, and Seoul). Specify:

  • How often synchronous meetings happen and when (rotate or fixed?).
  • How decisions are made for things that can’t wait for a meeting.
  • What the expected response time is for code reviews and issues.
  • How contributors who miss a meeting find out what was decided.

Compare your structure with a partner’s. Identify one thing they included that you missed.