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Season 3 · Episode 138 Technology
Leading remote teams across nine time zones
CTO Oliver Bennett on writing-first culture, async decisions and the meetings his team refuses to cancel.
GuestOliver Bennett — CTO, Fieldnote
Episode 138 Leading remote teams across nine time zones
0:00 52:05
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Show notes
Fieldnote has never had an office. Its 85 people work across nine time zones, and CTO Oliver Bennett has spent five years figuring out what makes that work.
Jordan and Oliver talk about writing-first culture, how decisions get made when nobody is online at the same time, and the small rituals that keep a distributed team connected.
What we cover
- Writing as the backbone of a remote company
- Proposal documents and decision deadlines
- Which meetings to keep and why
- Fairness across time zones
Key takeaways
- Fieldnote defaults to writing: every decision has a document.
- Async works best with a clear 'decide by' date on every proposal.
- The weekly all-hands is the one meeting they never cancel.
- Time-zone fairness means rotating who gets the inconvenient slot.
Timestamps
About the guest
Oliver Bennett
CTO, Fieldnote
Oliver Bennett is the CTO of Fieldnote, a fully remote software company with 85 people across nine time zones. He previously led engineering teams at two agencies and writes about remote work and technical leadership.
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