Remote Work: Takeaways & Tips From

1

and the market.

“In thirty years’ time, as technology moves forward even further, people are going to look back and wonder why offices ever existed.”

—Richard Branson (2013)

2

Mozilla, 2015:1050 paid staff

10,500+ active contributors across all continents**

87 languages

13 offices in 9 countries and 6 time zones

Infinite # of wikis* Insert William Gibson quote here

** yes, including Antarctica

The Unevenly Distributed Future*

3

…we’re seeing more of these

Building on this legacy of open source….

4

So what’s the problem?

“I’ve always said, telecommuting is one of the dumber ideas I’ve ever heard. ” — Michael Bloomberg (2013)

5

"People are more productive when they're alone...they're more collaborative and innovative when they're together"

— Marissa Mayer (2013)

Downplays individual thinking time as part of creative process.

Myth #1: Breakthrough Ideas Only Happen in Person

Being remote doesn’t mean you never see your coworkers.

And really….how many breakthrough ideas can a company digest?

6

"If a worker’s motivation is slumping, it’s probably because the work is weakly defined or appears pointless,

or because others on the team are acting like tools.”— REMOTE

Myth #2: It’s Difficult to Stay Motivated / Build a Strong Culture

7

The perfect case for face-time-ism

Welcome to the Brave New World where your work is the first thing to get you noticed

Myth #3: If You Aren’t There, You’ll Be Forgotten

8

Remote work magnifies existing work attributes, while providing lots more benefits.

What attributes?•Communication: intentional, concise, thorough & clear•Organization, punctuality, availability & responsiveness•Risk of overworking•Culture: values, protocols and conflict

Good news: you can manage these factors. And it’s really worthwhile to do so.

tl;dr

9

•In person

•Assign a buddy

•Ensure introductions and protocols are addressed in addition to tools and infrastructure

•But: do not expect all tools to work for everyone.

Tip #1*: Thou Shalt Onboard Swiftly and Thoroughly.

* * These tips are to optimize working remotely; * they don’t cover things like taxes, legal stuff

10

Tip #2: Be Open. Really Open.

•Post work plans, status reports, even goals

•Document discussions in easily-locatable spots

•Plan to say and post similar things on multiple channels

•Be on passive channels e.g. IRC and indicate preferred availability on your profile e.g. phone book page

•Limit 1:1s to individual development vs. tasks & activities

11

Tip #3: Meet In Person on a Regular Basis.

•Interviews

•Orientation

•Hack & Work Weeks

•All Hands

Do it.

12

Tip #4: Build Real Boundaries.

Separate work & home devices & spaces Schedule•“Thou Shalt Overlap” withyour colleagues at least for part of your day

GO OUTSIDE

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/working_home

13

Study of MozillaHoma Bahrami, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business

http://blog.webfwd.org/post/13973466029/code-doesnt-build-software-people-build 

Sync vs. Asynchttp://stormyscorner.com/2015/01/7-reasons-asynchronous-communication-is-better-than-synchronous-

communication-in-open-source.html

REMOTE by 37Signalshttp://37signals.com/remote/

“How I Built a Startup While Traveling to 20 Countries”https://medium.com/digital-nomad-stories/how-i-built-a-startup-while-traveling-to-20-countries-

f0ec3a92bc3c

“Homeless On Purpose”http://lengstorf.com/remote-work-travel/

Diane Tate — @tbiz

Reference Points