How do you maintain a balance between deep work and collaboration in a remote-first world?

In this episode of Distributed, Host Jack Hannah sits down with Blake Irvin, Observability Engineering Lead at SumUp, for his insights into how developers and teams thrive remotely. Blake shares how SumUp approaches distributed work, the importance of clear communication, and why protecting focus time is critical. From balancing asynchronous and synchronous collaboration to using tools like Honeycomb, Incident.io, and Tuple, Blake offers a practical look at what makes remote teamwork successful.

Highlights:

• Reducing friction - how to choose between synchronous and asynchronous communication
• Why meaningful connections during work hours can transform team dynamics
• Blake’s strategies to protect focus and unlock deeper, more meaningful work
• How the right tools can create a culture of seamless collaboration even in distributed environments

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) – Kicking Things Off With Blake Irvin

(05:00) – Balancing Focus and Communication in Remote Teams

(10:00) – Ways to Communicate that Protect Your Team’s Flow

(15:00) – Tools That Help Bridge Communication Gaps

(20:00) – Async vs. Sync: Picking the Right Approach for Your Team

(25:00) – Why Meeting in Person Still Matters for Remote Teams

(30:00) – Scaling from Startup to Millions of Users

(35:00) – Why Pairing Is Transformational for Teams

(38:00) – Building Collaborative Culture with the Right Tools

(40:00) – The importance of experimentation

Referenced:

37signals blog post: Group Chat: The Best Way to Totally Stress Out Your Team

Paul Graham’s essay: Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule

Honeycomb.io for distributed tracing

Incident.io for collaborating on incident response

Tuple’s Pair Programming Guide

Where to connect further:

Connect with Blake Irvin on LinkedIn and GitHub

More about SumUp

Follow @tuple

Want to hear more? Check out distributed.fm

Connect with Jack Hannah