Some people think that working with a team across nearly as many time zones as it has members would be a detriment to that teams productivity. That perhaps having a more centrist approach to work and development is the crucial ingredient to success. Here at MidVentures, we say, bull.

Having a team that is not in the same physical location does not mean a single negative thing, aside from that you will need to work a bit harder to stay in sync. Not that everyone here is away, we are still centered in Chicago, but we span several continents and many US states. We love the integrated cycle of work and development that this allows us.

You can Skype a meeting, and then when you wake up, someone in development has uploaded the latest code for testing. Give that a run through, and then let the design guy know about the needed changes, but before the programmers wake up, of course. This method is beyond powerful, allowing us to build things harder, faster, better, and stronger.

So here is to distributed teams, and all the great tools that make them work.