diff --git a/_posts/2025-04-20-remote-culture.md b/_posts/2025-04-20-remote-culture.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7473643 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2025-04-20-remote-culture.md @@ -0,0 +1,92 @@ +--- +layout: post +title: Remote culture from experience +excerpt_separator: +categories: + - Life +tags: + - Learning +--- + +Take this post with a **teaspoon** of salt. It reflects my own experience in remote organisations, your mileage may vary. +With that out of the way, lets get started. + +TL;DR: + * Focus on your onboarding, it has to be meaningful and crafted with intention + * A newcommer should have sessions about the company, market, and strategy + * Their first week should have meetings that touch all the important parts of the company + * Their sessions should have a clear agenda, and clear owners + * They can have a buddy assigned to help them navigate their first week / work + * Document everything, knowledge should be shared and there shouldn't be "that person that knows about it" + * Documentation needs to be a part of the work process and the definition of done + * Everyone should contribute to documentation without fear - by editing directly, or asking questions + * Promote good culture, encourage people to connect + * Allow virtual coffees or virtual meals + * Trust your employees to do their job and take the right decision + +To give some context, I have been working remotely since COVID-19. Granted it's not long, but 5 years and three companies later I have seen a few things: + * Org-1: A fully in-office company that moved to WFH + * Org-2: A fully remote company that was setup from day 1 like that + * Org-3: A remote-first company that has an office you can visit if you want + +In the spectrum of synchronous-asynchronous, they also fall into slightly different places: + * Org-1: was fully synchronous, people were expected to work their timezone hours + * Org-2: was mostly synchronous, but had many people in different timezones in EU and some in North America. There was also lots of personal life flexibility, meaning asynchronous work also happened + * Org-3: was mostly synchronous too + +I am writing this post because I keep seeing post after post of CEOs and People managers saying that returning to the office is the most important thing in the world. +The whole attitude seems to be like: _be there or be square_. + +The most recent example I came accross was a post that said that for any intern or person at the start of their career, they *need* to be in the office for those "watercooler moments". +The claim being that those are the best networking moments, and the moments where the intern can learn. + +But more generally, the arguments I see revolve around something like "increased bandwidth", "company culture", "the perks of being in an office". + +While I don't dispute that there is more bandwidth when people talk in person, a lot has to be said about good culture, +and learning. Remote companies can be great places to work in, and provide valuable learning experineces. + +The remote company only sees it's flaws enhanced, and that is why it needs to work hard to have good processes in place, +and make sure everyone is aligned. + +This doesn't mean that *all* companies should be remote. But it does mean that when companies want to be remote, they can't just move their people into their own homes and hope for the best. + +Out there, there are great software companies that are fully remote, that we can take inspiration from. +If they can be extremely successful under that model, why can'hope for the best. + +Out there, there are great software companies that are fully remote, that we can take inspiration from. +If they can be extremely successful under that model, why can't others? + +Look at: Automattic (Wordpress et al.), GitLab, Dropbox, Github, HashiCorp, etc.. + +Gitlab, for example, even provides [documentation](https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/culture/all-remote/) about how they are remote. + +Help is available, you can learn from others, and if in doubt ask for help. + +## Onboarding + +## Documentation + +## Culture +[draft - onboarding] + +Onboarding new talent into the company is a crucial part of its growth. +The goal is for them to hit the ground running because as a company we want them to provide value quickly. +However, we look at onboarding tasks as a checklist, and a hindrance on other productive members of the team. +We don't give onboarding nearly as much attention as we should. + +This is espeically noticeable in remote companies, obviously. Noticeable because our face-to-face time is limited, +and the bandwidth we have for communication is smaller than in the office. +This should **not** serve as an excuse to move back to the office, it should serve as motivation to **improve** +the onboarding process. Where should we put our efforts in? + +I think good onboarding hinges on three pillars: the intro meetings, the tools for the job, the documentation. + +The intro meetings + +The intro meetings should me more than a hello to colleague that works in a specific team / area. +Ideally they should have a standard that gets improved after each new hire. +The intro meetings should aim to build business and development context in the new hire. +This means talking about: + * the company, its history and how we got to the current day. + * our clients, current and prospective + * strategic vision and goals