Compare Co-located vs. Remote Teams: A Guide for Decision-Makers

In today’s evolving business environment, the structure of your project team can significantly impact the outcome of your endeavors. Understanding the inherent trade-offs becomes crucial for informed decision-making as clients weigh their options between co-located and remote teams.

At Atomic Object, our deliberate choice for a co-located team structure stems from a deep commitment to delivering unparalleled value to our clients and nurturing a vibrant company culture of learning and excellence. This strategic decision results from a thorough evaluation of the benefits and challenges associated with co-located and remote work models.

Strongly favor a co-located team when developing new, innovative products, critical infrastructure software, or applications requiring intensive stakeholder interaction.

In practice, we have tailored our co-location approach to combine the best of both worlds—collaboration and flexibility. By spending at least 60% of our project time in a shared space, we have frequent, meaningful in-person interactions, fostering stronger team bonds and more effective collaboration. This baseline ensures regular face-to-face engagement and allows flexibility, accommodating personal work preferences and needs. During crucial project phases, teams commonly increase their time together to maximize synergy and productivity. It's common for many of our teams to be fully co-located, embracing the collaborative energy that comes from working side by side daily.

Co-located vs. Remote Team Comparison Matrix

To clarify these distinctions, we present a comprehensive comparison of key attributes associated with co-located and remote teams:

Co-located vs. Remote Team Analysis

It’s evident through this comparison that co-located teams excel in areas like communication, collaboration, team cohesion, project management, innovation, and retention. These attributes are all crucial for the successful execution of complex projects.

In fact, in 2008 when Ambysoft performed research on the success of different team distribution models, the co-located teams outperformed remote teams in every development paradigm. Their survey found that project success decreased as the distance between team members increased.

Access to talent is essential, and Atomic Object’s offices are strategically located in regions with rich access to top talent. Our Career Accelerator, an accelerated professional development program for newly graduated computer science majors, helps us build our team of world-class software developers. Fair pay, strong benefits, continuous learning, ownership opportunities, and a sense of belonging help recruit top senior practitioners and help us grow an amazing team. Our retention of employees outperforms the market because of the added benefits of team cohesion and social bonds.

Understanding the Trade-offs

Understanding the trade-offs between co-located and remote teams is essential for clients poised to make strategic decisions about their next software design and development partnership. At Atomic Object, our strategic choice for a co-located model underscores our dedication to creating exceptional client outcomes through enhanced teamwork, communication, and culture.