Remote Working: References and Resources

Managing a distributed team is hard. And it's not easy working with a manager, or with colleagues, you've only met on video meetings. These challenges impact individuals as much as they are influencing companies to reassess their policies, cultures, and expectations from traditional ways of working.

The list of resources on this page will be useful in a variety of circumstances:

if you are a manager responsible for a distributed team.
an individual wanting to improve your effectiveness when working independently.
a CEO/CTO/CIO or other C-level executive trying to get your head around how much face-to-face time you need with your employees, and how much time you think they need with each other.
an HR Manager trying to navigate a thick fog of emotions while being empathetic to creating company policies that are fair to everyone.

The materials are organized by their sources. There are playbooks that are more prescriptive, articles that describe how-to methods, opinionated blog posts, and a (highly recommended) book that attempts to tie together the big picture of managing a fully remote company with details of using online tools to collaborate. Each source includes some commentary to help you decide where to start or if a particular item is worth your time.

It's unlikely that any one source will give you all the answers. If you're trying to improve an existing and already functioning remote working model, then you may be able to pick-and-choose ideas from blog posts and articles. If you're starting from scratch, the book and playbook references are likely what you'll need. You know your situation so choose materials that fit the scenarios on your team or in your company the best.

Something to point out, the references from 37Signals are different from others. Jason Fried (CEO) and David Heinemeier Hansson (CTO) operate a remote only company and have written extensively on their management approach. If you're looking for novel ideas and a different take on remote work, deep-dive into what 37Signals have to say.

37Signals

37Signals develops and sells the Basecamp project management system, HEY email and calendar, and the ONCE set of applications; millions of people rely on their software to run their businesses. The company operates on a completely remote basis and they have a lot to say about the benefits of working this way. They've written a book and many blog posts about their viewpoints and remote working methods. Their approach is (partly) summarized by idea #11 from the 37Signals Website:

Don't emulate the office
Work remotely, not locally apart. Don’t just have the same meetings on Zoom, have fewer meetings. Rather than discussing everything in real-time, communicate asynchronously instead. Rather than feel the need to know where everyone is, let go and trust more. Don’t try to emulate the office and everything it stands for — stand against it.

Remote: Office Not Required
https://www.amazon.com/Remote-Office-Required-Jason-Fried-ebook/dp/B00C0ALZ0W/

How We Structure Our Work and Teams
https://basecamp.com/articles/how-we-structure-our-teams

We landed on this process after a decade of refinement. Just like we’re always iterating on our product work, we’re also always iterating on how our company works. We consider our company a product too.

Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters
Shape Up is a free online book describing the 37Signals design, delivery, and project methodology. It goes hand-in-hand with their way of managing projects as a remote only company.

https://basecamp.com/shapeup

This book is a guide to how we do product development at Basecamp. It’s also a toolbox full of techniques that you can apply in your own way to your own process.

Whether you’re a founder, CTO, product manager, designer, or developer, you’re probably here because of some common challenges that all software companies have to face.

It's not remote if you have to go to the office
https://world.hey.com/jason/it-s-not-remote-if-you-have-to-go-to-the-office-f76dce6e

To be clear, there's nothing wrong with being required to work in an office. If that's the policy, and you like the company, office, and commute, it may, in fact, be the best fit.

The Presence Prison
https://world.hey.com/jason/the-presence-prison-69608e0f

Everyone’s status should be implicit: I’m trying to do my job, please respect my time and attention.

Google

Google's People Innovation Lab took a more scientific approach to remote work and managing distributed teams. Their research analyzed the make-up of meetings involving two or more buildings, cities, and timezones. A set of 1-page playbooks were written for Distributed Employees, Buddies of Distributed Employees, Managers, and Leaders.

Working together when we’re not together
https://blog.google/inside-google/working-google/working-together-when-were-not-together/

At the same time, we did hear from Googlers that working with colleagues across the globe can make it more difficult to establish connections — in many senses of the word. Coordinating schedules across time zones and booking a conference room for a video chat takes more logistical brain power than dropping by a coworkers desk for a meeting over coffee. The technology itself can also be limiting — glitchy video or faulty sound makes impromptu conversations that help teammates get to know, and trust each other, seem like more trouble than they’re worth.

Google Asked 5,600 Employees About How They Work. Tight-Knit, Productive Teams Do 3 Things Differently
https://www.inc.com/betsy-mikel/google-asked-5600-of-its-employees-about-their-work-tight-knit-productive-teams-did-3-things-differently.html

But if your video and microphone are always muted, people can't see or hear if you're engaged in the meeting. Gilrane recommends that you put in a little extra effort to reinforce that you're listening.

What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html

After looking at over a hundred groups for more than a year, Project Aristotle researchers concluded that understanding and influencing group norms were the keys to improving Google’s teams.

Google Distributed Work Playbooks
http://services.google.com/fh/files/blogs/distributedworkplaybooks.pdf

Google Distributed Work @Google Playbooks (the Place, People, and Practices)
https://blog.google/documents/53/FINAL_External_Distributed_Work__Google_Playbooks.pdf

Microsoft

Microsoft calls their approach hybrid work which considers how people work in-person, remotely from another office, at home, and when using online methods. Their "guides," which are written to be shared with customers, are extensive in considering scenarios when people request changes to their work locations and schedules.

How Microsoft approaches hybrid work: A new guide to help our customers
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2021/05/21/how-microsoft-approaches-hybrid-work-a-new-guide-to-help-our-customers

There’s no doubt that this shift to a more flexible approach to work will be an enormous undertaking for every leader and every organization. That is certainly true for us as we create a plan to implement a hybrid work model for our more than 160,000 employees across the globe.

What is Hybrid work?
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/hybrid-work-from-home

Hybrid work describes when people work together, both online and in person, at any time from anywhere — at home, remotely, or from an office.

Hybrid Workplace Flexibility (HWF) Guide
https://clouddamcdnprodep.azureedge.net/gdc/gdcNr7VEG/original

All employees have a work site, a work location, and work hours. A hybrid workplace assumes a mix of workstyles across all three dimensions for our employees as well as within our organizations.

Hybrid Work: A Guide for Business Leaders
https://clouddamcdnprodep.azureedge.net/gdc/gdcSwn4Qe/original

Hybrid work requires a deliberate, thoughtful approach. Leaders need a strategy that activates the whole organization and puts forth a plan to embrace new cultural norms with technologies designed for the hybrid world – ones that bridge the digital and physical, ensuring every employee can engage and contribute, regardless of where, when or how they’re working.

ThoughtWorks

ThoughtWorks is a technology consultancy of cross-functional strategists, designers, data engineers, and developers. They specialize in Agile methods for project management and application development.

The ThoughtWorks playbook considers infrastructure needed for remote work, virtual communications, ways of working, and managing stakeholder expectations. A 4-stage timeline is outlined to go-remote.

Martin Fowler, Chief Scientist at ThoughtWorks, authored the blog article. It’s contains a very practical and sensible list of do’s and don’ts for collaborating on video calls.

The remote work playbook
https://www.thoughtworks.com/content/dam/thoughtworks/documents/whitepaper/tw_whitepaper_remote_work_playbook.pdf

For remote working to be sustainable, it is critical that we consider the employee experience; becoming deliberate about how we engage, motivate and support our employees.

How to do effective video calls
https://martinfowler.com/articles/effective-video-calls.html

As we got more comfortable with video, we took more opportunity to collaborate with video meetings rather than trying to get everyone together in one place.

Trello / Atlassian

Trello is a Web-based kanban style board for managing projects using Agile methods. The product was initially developed by Fog Creek Software.

Atlassian, the developers of the Jira and Confluence Agile project management applications, purchased Trello which is now part of their suite of SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) products.

As you might expect, companies of project management software used by millions of people have something to say about working remotely. The articles here are practical references to consider.

Dispelling remote work myths: tips & best practices
https://trello.com/guide/remote-work/tips-best-practices

Effective remote work starts at the top. When company culture leaders correct non-remote friendly behaviors and put inclusive processes in place, the effects trickle down into a successful experience for everyone.

The 10 biggest misconceptions of remote work
http://blog.trello.com/company-remote-work-myths

It’s time to put stereotypes to rest. For the naysayers of remote work, here are 10 debunked myths about this growing sector.

Managers: here’s a 7-step practical guide to leading a remote team
http://blog.trello.com/how-to-manage-a-remote-team

It might feel difficult, even unintuitive, at first, but it’s our job as managers to create a great place to work.

Embracing remote teamwork
https://www.atlassian.com/team-playbook/examples/remote-teamwork

Explore self-guided workshops called Plays that can help your remote team create new rituals that improve communication, alignment, and team empathy.

GitLab

GitLab is a software development tools company used for large projects and within larger sized companies. Software developers use GitLab tools to build and deliver applications using secure and compliant methods.

The Remote Playbook
https://about.gitlab.com/resources/downloads/ebook-remote-playbook.pdf

Remote forces you to do the things you should be doing way earlier and better.