In case you missed the memo, remote work (or "working from home") is VERY quickly becoming the norm. I used to be an outlier, but that's less true each day.
It hit home for me recently with Majordomo where everything we do is remote. We don't have an office, so even the people in Corvallis work from home. At first, it started that way because everyone works part-time and frankly, we can't afford office space. But now, even if we could, I don't think we'd change the current set up much. Perhaps we'd create a shared space, but we'd primarily stay remote.
Also, I hired an assistant for Furlo Family Homes who lives in Sacramento. We've never met in person, with no current plans to do so. More on this another time.
Given this reality, I read a book called "Remote" by Jason Fried and David Hansson of Basecamp. To learn how to manage a team more effectively.
The benefits of remote work are many, but these are my favorite two:
- Smart people, who get work done live everywhere. Corvallis is a great place, but the talent pool for web development isn't that deep. Using Upwork, we found a guy in Provo who is doing great work, and he introduced us to two other great guys. Being remote will allow us to stay in Corvallis for as long as we want.
- It provides everyone a lot of flexibility to work anytime and anywhere. I'm a morning guy, others are night owls, and it works. I can do some work, then join my family for breakfast and lunch... maybe take an afternoon nap, then finish working in the later afternoon.
The book spends a lot of ink to convince you remote work is fantastic, which it is, but it was too much for someone like me who's already convinced and trying to optimize the effectiveness of a remote team. Still, they gave lots of practical tips. Here were my favorite pieces of advice:
1) You "need a good four hours of overlap to avoid collaboration delays and feel like a team. (p. 91)" I totally agree. The folks I've worked with in India and Singapore are fantastic people, but the minimal time overlap is difficult. The good news is that means the entire US is fair game. We use Slack and Zoom video to communicate with each other.
2) "When someone wants to demonstrate a new feature they’re working on... often the easiest way is to record a screencast and narrate the experience. (p. 96)" I hadn't thought of this before and am now putting it into practice, and it's great! We don't have to coordinate schedules, and they can watch (and re-watch!) when they're ready to do the work. I use Zoom to record my screen (and myself), so it feels more like I'm talking to them.
3) "Put all the important stuff out in the open, and no one will have to chase that wild goose to get their work done. (p. 99)" We use Github for code and Dropbox for everything else at Majordomo. Furlo Family Homes uses OneDrive. Both work great. Why not everything in Dropbox or OneDrive? There's no great reason. Someday I'll consolidate.
4) "To instill a sense of company cohesion and to share forward motion, everyone needs to feel that they’re in the loop. ...[We create] a weekly discussion thread with the subject “What have you been working on?” Everyone chimes in with a few lines about what they’ve done over the past week and what’s intended for the next week. (p. 103)" This is part of a daily scrum 15 min we do which asks three questions: What did you work on yesterday? What are you going to work on today? Do you have anything stopping you? We also use Trello to track what everyone is doing.
5) "Instead of thinking I can pay people from Kansas less than people from New York, you should think I can get amazing people from Kansas and make them feel valued and well-compensated if I pay them New York salaries. (p. 161)" Brilliant! It's what HP did and one reason why some many employees in Corvallis stay for many years. Obviously, this requires margins and volumes that support this cost structure.
Isn't it amazing how technology has made some of the barriers to remote work disappear? With Upwork, Zoom, Slack, Dropbox, and Trello you can be up and running within an hour. By the way, each offers free plans, which is pretty cool.
There are many more tips for hiring, managing, and being a remote worker. The book is very straightforward with many little sections, so you feel like you're reading the book fast. I chose to read it instead of listening so that I could highlight and take notes.
If you're on a remote team or thinking about trying it, I highly recommend reading the book.
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