Building a remote development team presents unique challenges. Trying to build a cross-functional team, full of various personalities, virtually can lead to communication disasters. Fortunately, through planning, smart hiring, training, and communication, project leaders can build and lead virtual development teams successfully.
At GitHub, Brian Douglas' official title is developer advocate, but the one he prefers to use is "Beyoncé advocate." This is partly because he views the 40 million GitHub users and the Beyhive, Beyoncé's enormous and passionate fan base, similarly. He says his role at GitHub is to "go to bat for the hive"—helping people answer questions and find resources to help them develop on GitHub better.