Remote Work Guide
How we work seriously from anywhere.
Last updated: May 14, 2026
Why this guide exists
We are a serious company doing serious work for serious companies. Alephic is an engineering-driven services firm. Our engineers build side-by-side with some of the world's largest enterprises, and our value depends on being present with those clients: listening, co-designing, and shipping systems that work in their context.
We work remotely because it lets us hire great people, protect focus, and move quickly across time zones. That freedom only works when everyone treats it like a professional operating model, not a loose arrangement.
The deal
Remote work is a gift. It saves commutes, gives people more control over their days, and lets us build a company without pretending all the best people live near the same office.
The gift has a cost: you have to be more deliberate. You are in the office, and your office happens to be your home. That means you are available, prepared, visible when the moment calls for it, and explicit about what you are doing.
Some expectations are rules. Some require judgment. A doctor appointment is fine. The cable company coming once is fine. A pattern of disappearing during the workday is not. Remote work gives you room to manage life. It does not make the company a background activity.
What makes remote work hold together
While separate guides cover specific tools like Slack and Linear, this document focuses on the habits that make remote work hold together at Alephic.
Clear communication
Say what matters, in the place where others can find it.
Accessible documentation
Capture decisions, context, and handoffs before they vanish.
Purpose-built remote tooling
Use the systems that make work visible across time zones.
What’s expected of you
Remote work comes with a few non-negotiables. These are the commitments every Alephic team member makes.
Camera is always on on calls
If we’re on Zoom we are on camera. Internal Slack huddles can be more informal.
Professional remote work setup
You should have a good quality camera, microphone, lighting, etc. If there are things you need that you don’t have, we’re happy to buy them — just ask.
Available and working during normal business hours
Your home is your office and should be treated that way. The magic of working from home is that you can walk downstairs and say hello to your kids when they get home, or take a break by walking around the neighborhood. But working means you’re not doing childcare or home maintenance.
Travel is a part of the job
We are in the services business, which means we’re on the road with clients pretty often. That doesn’t mean you can’t have extenuating circumstances that cause you to miss a trip, but the expectation is that you are available for the reasonable travel we set for the team.
Friday Wins is mandatory
Every Friday at 5pm Eastern we do a wins call — what we call Friday Wins. You should be there, on camera, and engaged with your teammates.
Use Slack the Alephic way
Slack is how remote work becomes visible. You are expected to work in public channels by default, over-communicate status, make blockers obvious, use threads and mentions intentionally, and manage your notifications so teammates can reach you during the workday. DMs are for sensitive or truly side-channel topics, not normal project work. If a conversation gets too complicated for chat, get on a call and bring the outcome back to Slack. See the Slack guide for the full set of conventions.
How we work together
The goal is not to make remote work feel like an office. The goal is to make the work visible, the handoffs clear, and the important conversations easy to find later.
Work in public by default
Put work where teammates can follow it without asking for a recap.
Most work should happen where other people can see it. Public channels and open documentation create memory: what we decided, why we decided it, what changed, and who owns the next step. Remote teams lose power when work disappears into private threads.
Escalate when text is too slow
Move to a call when text stops helping, then bring the decision back.
Remote does not mean message-only. When a thread starts looping, a decision needs judgment, or the emotional temperature rises, get on a huddle or a call. Then write the outcome back where the team can find it. The tool is not the point. The work is.
Craft communication with precision
Write and speak with the same rigor you apply to code: concise, unambiguous, and purpose-built.
Write and speak with the same rigor you apply to code: concise, unambiguous, and purpose-built. Share progress before someone asks. Name blockers while they can still be fixed. Be explicit when you need action, input, or a decision, and say when you need it. Start with the ask, following our “Ask > Greet” principle from the Slack guide. Respect deep work cycles by being honest about urgency. This is how both maker and manager schedules can survive inside the same company.
Own the work and the handoff
Every initiative has a designated owner who drives progress and ensures outcomes.
Every significant initiative needs an owner. The owner drives progress, communicates status, and makes sure the work lands. Handoffs need names, dates, and interfaces clear enough that the next person can move without reconstructing the whole story. Autonomy works when ownership is visible.
Show the work before it is polished
Share work early enough for teammates to shape it.
Share work while it can still change: prototypes, drafts, tests, rough edges, and half-formed ideas. Remote work gets slow when everyone waits until the polish is done before showing the thing. We discover by building, not by discussing the ideal build forever.
Value communication as core competency
Communication excellence is as critical as technical excellence in remote environments.
Just as we wouldn’t compromise on technical excellence, we insist on communication excellence. In an office, weak communication sometimes gets patched over by proximity. Remote work removes that crutch. Clear expression is part of the job.
Friday Wins
Friday Wins was born in the early days of Percolate, when we needed a time at the end of the week to figure out who would be on call for the weekend. As the product got more stable, it morphed into an opportunity to bookend our week and celebrate our work and our teammates.
We don’t have a lot of all-company meetings — in fact, this is the only regularly scheduled all-hands we have — and it’s an opportunity to see the faces of coworkers, thank them for their help, and congratulate one another on a job well done.
How we structure remote work
Our project management, documentation, and operational security practices are built for a remote-first company where client work moves quickly and context matters.
Project collaboration and coordination
We manage projects through clear task definition, transparent progress tracking, and centralized discussions in our designated project management tool. We set clear goals, name owners, define handoffs, and give teams autonomy in execution. Refer to the relevant company documentation for detailed guidelines on our approach to project management in Linear.
Documentation as a core work product
Comprehensive, accessible documentation is critical to remote success. It scales knowledge, supports onboarding, ensures continuity, and enables effective asynchronous collaboration. Writing is how we clarify our thinking and make the company smarter over time. Our documentation is:
- Fit for context: Tailored to its purpose (tutorial, how-to, reference, explanation).
- Clearly written & concise: Adhering to Alephic's vigorous, active, specific, and structured writing style.
- Discoverable & up-to-date: Easy to find, categorized, and regularly reviewed for accuracy. Documentation is a living artifact.
We use AI as a creative co-pilot for drafting and refining documentation, always ensuring human oversight for accuracy, voice, and ownership. See our Writing Guide for Alephic's comprehensive writing philosophy and style.
Remote security awareness
Each team member is responsible for maintaining a secure remote work environment. This includes protecting company and client data, adhering to Alephic's security policies, and being vigilant against potential threats. Secure practices are integral to our operational integrity. In addition to general information security best practices:
- Always use a laptop privacy screen when out of your personal office.
- Never discuss client work without written consent.
- Use 1Password for all passwords.
- Organize client data in a way that keeps them separate. (Some clients may require us to delete all their data at the end of an engagement.)
- Take care to conceal client data when sharing materials via email, chat or screen sharing. Don't reveal one client's materials to another.
- When relevant, keep client materials confined to the devices (laptops or phones) they provide.
Rituals and connection
We spend less accidental time together than an office company does. The time we do spend together has to count.
Healthy rhythms and intentional rituals
- Establish boundaries: Define and communicate general working hours. Protect personal time, but understand that we build for global clients who rely on us for products that can run 24/7/365.
- Prioritize breaks: Regular breaks are essential for focus and well-being. Step away from your screen to recharge.
- Optimize your workspace: Where possible, create a dedicated workspace that minimizes distractions, supports focused work, and promotes good ergonomics.
- Async Check-ins & Updates: We use written check-ins for routine updates: what moved, what is next, and where someone is blocked. Visibility should not require a meeting.
- Cycle Planning & Reflection: We work in defined cycles or project sprints, with clear kickoffs to document accomplishments and learnings, shared broadly to foster collective understanding.
Connection and engagement
- Show up when we are together: Remote companies do not get accidental hallway time. Join company rituals with attention; do not treat them as background audio.
- Occasional In-Person Meetups: When the team gathers, be there when you reasonably can. Face-to-face time helps us build trust, argue through hard problems, and enjoy each other outside a ticket queue.
If this is not a fit
- Be honest before joining: If the expectations in this guide make the job unattractive, Alephic is probably not the right place for you. That is fine. Better to know before we start.
- Assume good intent, then address the issue: In text-heavy work, misunderstandings happen. Clarify directly. Give feedback quickly. Receive it seriously.
- "Talk With AI First": Use our AI tools and knowledge bases first to find information or answer questions. This builds self-reliance and saves teammates from answering the same questions repeatedly.
- Embrace Continuous Learning:Stay proficient with Alephic's core tools and be open to adapting as our technologies and practices evolve. This field changes quickly. We expect people to keep learning.
This guide is a living document. We will iterate and refine it as Alephic grows and learns. Your suggestions for improvement are always welcome.