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After working remotely for over a year now I believe working remotely is the way that almost all companies especially those in (software or web development) should structure themselves. After reading 37 Signals new book, this just further reinforced my belief in remote is the future and the way forward.
Some great highlights and insights were:
- Of all the people in this world why would you hire only people located in the vicinity of your office? It doesn't make a lot of sense to limit the potential pool of talent you can have work for you. Stop thinking hiring only local. Not everyone wants to live in a big city (especially me). Your biggest barrier will be time zones.
- Offices are not the most conducive places to get work (especially development) done. How many times have you heard people say I need to get this done, I’m going to work from home today. Your best productive work happens out of the office.
- In todays modern world time is your most valuable resource. Working remote allows flexibility for workers to do those things that enrich their lives e.g. going for a bike ride/walk/swim during daylight hours or going to a school assembly to see their kid perform.
- With the internet and all the forms of communication it affords it’s never been so easy to co-ordinate a work force separated by 100s or even 1000s of kilometres. But it highlights the need for good software to be used for work task management. A spreadsheet isn't going to cut it. My favourite tool at the moment for task management is Trello
- Management needs to get away from the idea that most time in the office, equals best worker. Instead quality of output is the most important measurement.
- Management needs to walk the talk and also work remotely themselves to better understand the issues their staff will face.
Remote: Office Not Required is well worth the read if your interested in changing your company to work remote or you work remotely yourself. I've gained a few insights into better ways to work remotely and plan to share my tips and advice on working remote.
Grab the book here: http://37signals.com/remote/