Yes, documentation is quite crucial! There are actually lots of elements that we developed over the year to manage the full remote -- and we started as true remote / any timezone from the ground up 10 years ago, so quite a lot went into it over the years. Most of the handbook itself comes from that - and as you have noted it has gotten quite thick ;p
But I think if I had to narrow it down to one core element, it's to focus on making all the processes as asynchronous as possible. Ie, limit chat & meetings to the strict minimum, and replaced them with async discussions on tickets, PRs, forums & checklists tools like https://www.listaflow.com/ (we have even gotten rid of the sprint meetings! no more 3am meeting for anyone, even when in the Pacific :) ). Also we come from the free software / open source world, so quite a lot is inspired from it.
If you're interested in discussing more, don't hesitate to reply & ask questions here, or email me at xavier AT opencraft DOT com.
But I think if I had to narrow it down to one core element, it's to focus on making all the processes as asynchronous as possible. Ie, limit chat & meetings to the strict minimum, and replaced them with async discussions on tickets, PRs, forums & checklists tools like https://www.listaflow.com/ (we have even gotten rid of the sprint meetings! no more 3am meeting for anyone, even when in the Pacific :) ). Also we come from the free software / open source world, so quite a lot is inspired from it.
If you're interested in discussing more, don't hesitate to reply & ask questions here, or email me at xavier AT opencraft DOT com.