London

June 28–29, 2027

New York

September 15–16, 2026

Berlin

November 9–10, 2026

Rebuilding the kitchen: Human connection in distributed engineering teams

This is a practical, leadership-focused talk for managers who want their remote teams to feel connected, aligned, and human – not just productive.

Speakers: Natalia Nazaruk

Register or log in to access this video

Create an account to access our free engineering leadership content, free online events and to receive our weekly email newsletter. We will also keep you up to date with LeadDev events.

Register with google

We have linked your account and just need a few more details to complete your registration:

Terms and conditions

 

 

Enter your email address to reset your password.

 

A link has been emailed to you - check your inbox.



Don't have an account? Click here to register
June 03, 2026

Distributed teams don’t need more tools – they need shared spaces. This talk shares practical leadership patterns for rebuilding trust, visibility, and human connection through intentional social and collaboration spaces in remote engineering teams.

When teams went remote, we didn’t lose productivity or tools.
We lost the shared, informal spaces where trust, learning, and real connection used to form.

Distributed teams rarely fail loudly. They drift quietly.
Effort becomes invisible. New joiners miss context. Leaders sense something is wrong, but nothing is obviously broken.

In this talk, I’ll show how engineering leaders can intentionally rebuild those shared spaces in fully remote and cross-country teams. Not by adding more meetings, but by designing social and collaboration spaces that replace informal, in-between moments.

Using a simple metaphor of shared spaces, I’ll share practical leadership approaches for rebuilding trust, visibility, and human connection across time zones and cultures. All examples come from real experience leading distributed engineering teams through growth and structural change.

This is a practical, leadership-focused talk for managers who want their remote teams to feel connected, aligned, and human – not just productive.

Because culture isn’t lost in remote work.
It’s just no longer accidental.

Key takeaways

  • How to intentionally scale team culture as distributed teams grow.
  • How to design shared social and collaboration spaces that replace informal, in-office moments in remote teams.
  • How to make work and effort visible without introducing micromanagement or extra meetings.
  • How to maintain trust and human connection across time zones and cultural differences.