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.

Transcript

1. HIGH CONTEXT, LOW CONTEXT Scalable communication in 
 a distributed organization LENA MORITA
2. @mirka Software Engineer at Automattic Co-Director at
 Women Who Code Tokyo LENA MORITA
3. and more!
5. @mirka Uruguay United States Spain (living in UK) Slovakia Romania Japan Philippines MY TEAMMATES BY COUNTRY
6. SIX MONTHS AGO…
7. @mirka HIGH-CONTEXT COMMUNITY • Common values and ideals • Shared history • Everybody knows each other • Similar cultural background • Running jokes and jargon
8. @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
10. MY BEGINNINGS AT
 AUTOMATTIC
11. @mirka OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE • Audience • Longevity
12. @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.”
13. @mirka Remote work can be much more than “WORKING FROM HOME”
14. @mirka FOR AUTOMATTIC REMOTE WORK IS… Replicating the co-located workplace experience Synchronous → Asynchronous
 Verbal → Written
15. SCALABLE COMMUNICATION
16. @mirka ADVANTAGES ASYNC, WRITTEN COMMUNICATION • Public by default = No silos • Newcomers have access to historical context
17. @mirka A framework for thinking about SCALABLE COMMUNICATION is useful for any organization,
 remote or not.
18. @mirka SYNCHRONOUS COMMUNICATION can be very useful, but is expensive.
19. @mirka In an async, written context, COMMUNICATION = EMITTING INFORMATION
20. @mirka 1. Lifespan 2. Audience 3. Mode EMITTING INFO HOW AND WHERE?
21. @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
22. @mirka WHO WOULD WANT THIS INFORMATION? AUDIENCE • Only a specific person (private) • Only my immediate team • Topic-based narrower broader
23. @mirka PUSH OR PULL? MODE FEED
 Timely information that is mainly useful now. WIKI
 Evergreen information that is retrieved when needed.
 Anyone can edit.
24. LOW-CONTEXT
 COMMUNICATION
25. @mirka LOTS OF SHARED CONTEXT HIGH-CONTEXT COMMUNICATION • Easier • Faster • More fun! But not scalable
26. @mirka NOT MUCH SHARED CONTEXT LOW-CONTEXT COMMUNICATION • Takes empathy • Takes more time • Affords less “personality” But scalable
27. @mirka 1. Topic 2. Structure 3. Rhetoric CALIBRATE IS THERE ENOUGH CONTEXT?
28. @mirka HOW FAMILIAR IS MY AUDIENCE? TOPIC • Imagine being a newcomer, or yourself in six months • Hypertext is your friend
29. @mirka DOES IT SUPPORT DIFFERENT CONTEXTUAL NEEDS? STRUCTURE • Provide a TLDR • Clear structure with subheadings • If you have an “ask”, be clear about it
30. @mirka ARE MY EXPRESSIONS STRAIGHTFORWARD? RHETORIC • Be careful: Slang, acronyms, colloquial expressions • Restrain the impulse to be “clever”
31. @mirka Async & written Public by default Low context SCALABLE
 COMMUNICATION
32. THANK YOU!