Rose Jen, a product manager at CircleCI, shares her insights on working within a distributed culture at the company, highlighting the difference between merely allowing remote work and being truly remote-first. Her initial hesitations about communication challenges in a distributed team were alleviated by CircleCI's deliberate efforts to create an inclusive remote work environment. The company, which has its headquarters in San Francisco, focuses on fostering a remote-first culture where remote employees are integral to the team, emphasizing the importance of using video conferencing tools and maintaining comprehensive documentation to ensure all team members feel connected and included. CircleCI also encourages recording meetings for those in different time zones and organizes in-person gatherings for distributed teams to strengthen team bonds. Rose emphasizes that transitioning to a remote-friendly organization requires continuous re-evaluation and adaptation, especially as the company expands globally, which involves adjusting meeting schedules to accommodate diverse time zones.