Remote Working Approaches That Worked (And Some That Didn’t)

During the pandemic many people experienced remote working for the first time, but they experienced it in a way that was, inevitably, rushed and forced.
As organisations, governments, and individuals continue to deal with the aftershocks and try to work out what the future of work looks like, I want to share practical tips drawing from nearly two decades of working remotely in multiple organisations.
We’ll look at topics including:
How to decide if remote working is right for you
Common pitfalls of remote working and how to mitigate against them
Specific techniques for managing remote teams
How companies can create a shared sense of purpose with an all-remote workforce
Whilst primarily aimed at remote workers and managers, I hope the talk will also contain helpful advice for anyone in a management/leadership role, even those not dealing with an entirely remote team. Although I think that remote working amplifies some challenges, many of these exist in non-remote environments too.

Transcript

1. www.container-solutions.com
2. www.container-solutions.com Remote Working Approaches That Worked (And Some That Didn’t)
3. Working in offices • 1726: The Old Admiralty Office opens as the first purpose-built office • 1729: The East India Company uses office space to manage an empire remotely • ~1800: Office boredom and toxic company culture begin to emerge Sources: https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/old-admiralty-building 
 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23372401
5. In 2009 “40% of some 386,000 employees in 173 countries have no office at all” Sources: http://www-01.ibm.com/industries/government/ieg/pdf/ working_outside_the_box.pdf
6. https://www.wsj.com/articles/ibm-a-pioneer-of-remote-work-calls-workers-back-to-the- office-1495108802 The 105-year-old technology giant is quietly dismantling its popular decades-old remote work program to bring employees back into offices, a move it says will improve collaboration and accelerate the pace of work.
7. https://www.wsj.com/articles/ibm-a-pioneer-of-remote-work-calls-workers-back-to-the- office-1495108802 The 105-year-old technology giant is quietly dismantling its popular decades-old remote work program to bring employees back into offices, a move it says will improve collaboration and accelerate the pace of work.
9. http://allthingsd.com/20130222/physically-together-heres-the-internal-yahoo-no-work-from-home- memo-which-extends-beyond-remote-workers/ Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.
10. https://www.wsj.com/articles/ibm-a-pioneer-of-remote-work-calls-workers-back-to-the- office-1495108802 The 105-year-old technology giant is quietly dismantling its popular decades-old remote work program to bring employees back into offices, a move it says will improve collaboration and accelerate the pace of work.
11. https://fortune.com/2023/05/05/openai-ceo-sam-altman-remote-work-mistake-return-to-office/ I think definitely one of the tech industry’s worst mistakes in a long time was that everybody could go full remote forever, and startups didn’t need to be together in person and, you know, there was going to be no loss of creativity. — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
12. Why this talk? • Tesla made headlines after reportedly firing people who chose to work from home during COVID-19 lockdowns, and in 2022 remote work was taken off the table almost entirely at both Tesla and SpaceX • Tim Cook is also cracking down on employees who don’t come in 3 days a week https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/25/tesla-plant-firings/ https://www.space.com/elon-musk-spacex-tesla-no-remote-work https://fortune.com/2023/03/24/remote-work-3-days-apple-discipline-terminates-tracks-tim-cook/
13. Why this talk? https://hms.harvard.edu/news/close-proximity-leads-better-science
14. @charleshumble • Have done most things in IT from desktop support to CTO • First managed a team in 1997 • Have been full-time remote since 2011 • Became InfoQ’s chief editor in 2014 and joined CS as theirs in 2020 • Write music as 1/2 of Twofish
16. Remote working upsides • If you are an introvert, or autistic, not having to always interact with people face to face can be liberating • Working remotely means that you can flex your work around your life more
17. Remote working upsides • No commute • Amazing peace and quiet, meaning you can really concentrate and do proper deep work • A work environment that you can tailor to your own personal needs
18. But … • Being able to flex your work time around your life also means you need to be very, very disciplined about actually doing work
19. Mitigations • Some sort of time management system
20. Omnifocus
21. Pomodoro • Helpful when you need to blast through something (like email): • Choose a task • Set a timer for 25 minutes • Work on the task until the Pomodoro rings • Take a short break • Every 4 pomodoros, take a longer break
22. https://tim.blog/2019/03/28/neil-gaiman/ I’m allowed to sit at my desk, I’m allowed to stare out at the world, I’m allowed to do anything I like, as long as it isn’t anything. What I love about that is I’m giving myself permission to write or not write, but writing is actually more interesting than doing nothing after a while. Neil Gaiman
23. Video: 1982: Pebble Mill at One: Roald Dahl https://www.facebook.com/ bbcfour/videos/474640292909006/ Separate Office
24. • Amazing peace and quiet, meaning you can really concentrate and do proper deep work
25. • Amazing peace and quiet, meaning you can really concentrate and do proper deep work • Hmmm….
26. Hmmm…
27. Well defined interactions are key to effective teams, and this is especially true for remote work situations. Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais
28. Mitigations • You probably need a company-wide communication policy
29. Mitigations • You probably need a company-wide communication policy • “Do not disturb” is your friend
30. Deep work • Bill Gates famously conducted “think weeks” twice a year
31. Deep work • Bill Gates famously conducted “think weeks” twice a year • It was during a 1995 think week that Gates wrote his famous “Internet Tidal Wave” memo that turned Microsoft’s attention to Netscape
32. • If you are interested in exploring this topic more, I recommend reading Deep Work by Cal Newport
33. But … • No commute means less time for reading/ listening to podcasts/whatever it is you do on your commute • Less exercise: you won’t be walking to the bus/ train/office
34. Mitigations • Schedule time for yourself to, for example, go for a walk/run every day
35. Mitigations • Schedule time for yourself to, for example, go for a walk/run every day • Get a fitness tracker
36. A big win for remote work • A work environment that you can tailor to your own personal needs • I have worked in some truly terrible offices
38. Sign me up • Look into how much it might cost: ◦ Is your computer up to the task? Do you have a decent monitor? Keyboard? ◦ Do you have/can you get high speed internet? ◦ How much is a good office chair?
39. Mental health • Burnout is a real, serious issue • Loneliness can be a real problem • Make your social life (and your family) a priority • Pets can help
41. Mitigations • There is a growing body of evidence that getting out in nature really helps • Intentional organisational design can make a difference here as well
42. Make remote work work • Upsides for a remote company: ◦ Your overheads are low ◦ If you get your hiring right your employees are happier and more productive ◦ You can hire the best people because location is largely irrelevant
43. ›› https://www.martinfowler.com/articles/remote-or-co-located.html A remote team may be less productive than that same team if it were co-located, but may still be more productive than the best co-located team you can form. Martin Fowler
44. Hiring • Location isn’t entirely irrelevant: ◦ Some countries have very complex tax regimes you need to understand ◦ Not all locations have decent internet (even in the UK!) ◦ Timezones can be a problem at scale
45. Hiring • Interviewing remotely is particularly hard: ◦ Have a probation period of, say, 3 months ◦ For key hires fly them somewhere and meet in person ◦ Have a really robust onboarding process
46. Trust • A remote environment has to be a high trust environment • I’m also reasonably certain that you need strong psychology safety to make remote working work well • Trust at an organisational level means sharing data such as forecasts and finances, and being open if the company may be in trouble
47. Communication: meetings At CS and C4 we’ve found the following meetings useful: ◦ In-person meetings both at a company and departmental level ◦ Monthly all-hands ◦ Sprint demo/retro ◦ Stand-ups / daily huddle
48. Meeting rituals • Check in • Meetings should be conducted on video if at all possible • The core protocols are helpful here https://www.infoq.com/minibooks/high-performance-teams
49. One on one meetings • One on one meetings are sacrosanct • A one on one is not a status meeting • Try to keep notes in a shared document
50. Tools • Slack for IM • Google Meet for video conferencing • Google Docs for remote collaboration • I also like private retrospectives
51. Scaling up As you scale a remote organisation a problem is: “How do you keep everyone aligned and working towards the same company goals?”
52. Scaling up • Remote work requires a strong written culture, particularly with teams spread across time zones • This becomes more important as the company grows
53. Over-communicate • Text-based communication makes it hard to detect nuances in tone or urgency • Problems can also arise from cultural differences in phrases • Don’t make it hard for people to find meaning in messages: make messages self-contained
54. Ultimately, in a remote-work world it is essential to be very clear all the time about what you are working on, why you’re working on it, how your work is being completed, and when it should be completed by. Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais
55. Wrapping up • For both employee and employer, remote work requires intentional design to work well • Separate home from work: through physical separation, for example • Prioritise mental health: social life, exercise, taking breaks
56. Wrapping up • Both the company, and its managers, need to exhibit transparency and be prepared to be vulnerable
57. Books that influenced me
58. Thanks for listening LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charleshumble/ 
 Masterdon: https://mastodon.social/@charleshumble Email: charles.humble@container-solutions.com Writing: https://muckrack.com/charles-humble Podcast: https://blog.container-solutions.com/tag/hacking-the-org Music: http://www.twofish-music.com/