/Remote

The Remoteness Of Remote Work

- Kailash Nadh tl;dr: “We transitioned to being fully remote during the first pandemic in 2020. It worked out great in the first year, started losing its sheen in the second year, and became detrimental to creativity and collaboration by the third year. It failed for us in the most critical areas. We then made the collective decision to switch to a “hybrid” mode, where about 10% of us involved in creative and decision-making endeavours now come to the office three days a week while 90% of us continue to be fully remote. The hard lesson is that effective, long term remote work requires specific skill sets and DNA to pull off.”

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How To Communicate Like A GitHub Engineer: Our Principles, Practices, And Tools

- Ben Balter Allison Matlack tl;dr: “How we communicate” guidance, we established eight guiding principles: (1) Be asynchronous first. (2) Write things down. (3) Make work visible and overcommunicate. (4) Prefer GitHub tools and workflows. (5) Embrace collaboration. (6) Foster a culture that values documentation maintenance. (7) Communicate openly, honestly, and authentically. (8) Remember, practicality beats purity. The authors also detail how GitHub uses its own platform for planning, discussing, and documenting work.

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Remote Work Requires Communicating More, Less Frequently

- Ben Balter tl;dr: Remote work demands a shift in communication style, emphasizing more content but less frequent interaction. This approach involves richer, more thoughtful exchanges like long-form writing or videos, rather than constant, interrupt-driven interactions. Asynchronous work allows for reflection, research, and synthesis, improving the quality and clarity of communication. It's likened to "gzip compression" for human communication, enabling greater throughput with fewer "packets." Tips for effective remote communication include choosing the right medium, writing clearly and comprehensively, recording engaging videos, and communicating proactively and asynchronously. This method leads to less time talking about work and more time actually doing it, optimizing for efficiency and flow.

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How to Optimize the Remote Employee Experience in 2022

tl;dr: (1) Invest in Tools for Easier Team Collaboration. (2) Improve Internal Communication. (3) Establish a Meeting Protocol. (4) Allocate Time for Team Bonding. (5) Introduce Company Culture from the Start, so new employees feel integrated. And more. 

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What Great Hybrid Cultures Do Differently

- James Stanier tl;dr: "Hybrid work only works when all employees are treated as remote employees. To do this, companies need to do five things: embrace asynchronous communication, make communication boundaries clear, champion documentation and the production of artifacts, share information widely, and provide the right tools for employees to succeed." Each are discussed in this post. 

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My 4G Setup For Working Remotely From Anywhere

- Suraj Nath tl;dr: "After getting locked in for almost 2 years due to COVID-19, I wanted to spend time with nature, away from busy city life, and breath fresh air. My parents own a farm, so it felt like a perfect place to spend a few weeks. The only issue is that I don’t have wired internet connectivity in the Farm." 

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Remote, Hybrid, Or In-Person?

- Fred Wilson tl;dr: "All change has good and bad downstream effects. The broad-based adoption of remote work is allowing people to balance work and home life in ways that are extremely beneficial to them. But team morale and the broader cultural needs of companies have suffered and we need to recognize that... A hybrid model that provides continued flexibility while creating a lot more face time is the long-term answer."

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Average Software Engineering Salaries By Country in 2022 [Comparison Of 20+ Countries]

- Tracy Phillips tl;dr: "The best-paying countries are the US, Israel, and several European countries. However, even within a country, there can be big differences, as developers in major cities tend to get better paid than developers living outside of urban areas." The 20 countries are list here. 

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Pinterest’s Model for the Future of Work

- Jeremy King tl;dr: "We are going to ask our employees to be in the office a maximum of 25% of their time. For the balance of that time, employees can be wherever they want, either in or out of the office. We really want to earn employee’s in-office time and be incredibly intentional about when we ask folks to travel."

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How To Build Remote Teams Properly

- Vadim Kravcenko tl;dr: Vadim splits the topics into four categories: (1) Onboarding. (2) Day-to-day business, discussing methods that make life easier when you don’t see your employees every day. "Small things that may seem unimportant but have a huge impact." (3) Culture, people feel happy and engaged. (4) Results, making sure the team delivers and pushes the company forward.

featured in #311