As the manager of Google’s People Innovation Lab (PiLab) team, which researches making work better in and outside of Google, I regularly find myself performing what’s called “Distributed Work;” collaborating with teammates who aren’t based in San Francisco with me. It’s not unusual in a single day to be emailing with Googlers in Tokyo or Boulder for a quick chat or setting up weekly meetings via video chat with people in our New York offices. Coordinating these meetings can be difficult. Teammates in Asia often have to get up earlier than usual to join video chats and we try not to ask our East Coast colleagues to stay too far into their evening for meetings with the teams in Mountain View, California. Outside of logistics, building relationships with teammates I don’t casually bump into in the hallway is a bit challenging. It feels natural to ask about after work plans or swap movie reviews when you’re meeting face to face, but it takes more effort to form that bond when you’re mostly seeing each other on a video screen. With nearly 100,000 Googlers spread out over 150 cities in more than 50 countries, I suspected other teams face similar situations, and they are: