Scalable communication in a distributed organization
For a globally distributed company, remote work is not about “working from home” per se, but about working in a way that is unconstrained by geography or time zone. Scalable communication is crucial for this style of work.
@mirka HIGH-CONTEXT COMMUNITY • Common values and ideals • Shared history • Everybody knows each other • Similar cultural background • Running jokes and jargon
@mirka EXTREMELY HIGH CONTEXT! MY PREVIOUS JOBS • 3-person, all-Japanese agency where we had a similar sense of humor and taste in music • 2-person agency with my significant other
@mirka FOR AUTOMATTIC “WHY” REMOTE WORK? • Things can be built remotely (OSS). • When building for a diverse user base, it’s better for the workforce to be diverse. • Only way to hire from the global talent pool. “Talent and intelligence are equally distributed throughout the world. But opportunity is not.”
@mirka WILL WE NEED TO RETRIEVE THIS INFORMATION? LIFESPAN • Zero — Calls, meetings • Less than a few weeks — Slack, chat • More than a month — Blog, wiki, or any agreed-upon, searchable repository
@mirka PUSH OR PULL? MODE FEED Timely information that is mainly useful now. WIKI Evergreen information that is retrieved when needed. Anyone can edit.
@mirka DOES IT SUPPORT DIFFERENT CONTEXTUAL NEEDS? STRUCTURE • Provide a TLDR • Clear structure with subheadings • If you have an “ask”, be clear about it
mirka
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