4 ms·

I work with a bunch of remote employees. My general policy is that I want them to be available to say "hi" and talk about the day at the start of the day (9am)

I work with a bunch of remote employees. My general policy is that I want them to be available to say "hi" and talk about the day at the start of the day (9am) in my timezone, and to give me a status update at the end of the day (5.30pm, ish) in my timezone. (The morning "hi" is a standup, really.) I expect them to reply on Slack or by email in a reasonably prompt fashion (eg. within 1 hour) during regular office hours in my timezone, and if there's something that urgently needs doing (a bugfix, digging out some info because there's a meeting depending on it, etc) then I expect them to snap to it. As to their actual work, as long as the eight hours get done, deadlines are met, and we don't fall behind, it is a source of absolute indifference to me whether those eight hours of work are done during regular office hours or if they have an entirely different job they need/want to do during the day and can only do work for me at night. That's for remote. If someone is physically located with the rest of a team and is doing side projects whilst their colleagues around them are doing real work, and potentially they're not responsive to work queries, then that seems fairly wrong. Of course you have a conversation first with someone before you fire them!

zzalpha 9y ago
I want them to be available to say "hi" and talk about the day at the start of the day (9am) in my timezone, and to give me a status update at the end of the day (5.30pm, ish) in my timezone As a manager I gotta ask... Why both? Why not just one stand up/status update and move on? Or do they serve different functions?
- bshimmin 9y ago
  The latter really just to let me know if there have been any particular disasters during the day, or if there's anything of note to report. I care more about the former, to be honest - and even that, to an extent, only to reassure me that everyone is alive and actually available to do some work. Of course it varies a little day by day and task by task - some things need more careful planning and coordination. I should clarify that I mention eight hours only in the nominal sense of meaning that they get the requisite allocated work done - if they are able to work quickly and it only takes four hours, well, more power to them. I feel like I'm pretty relaxed about this stuff, but I guess from the downvotes others disagree...
4c2383f5c88e911 9y ago
I don't want to diss your way of managing remote teams, but the "in my timezone" part is incredibly absurd, except if your remote teams are very close. If you have a 5-hour offset, asking for someone to be available from 4am, or until 10pm sounds quite abusive. Now of course there should be a large enough common time window for several work interactions, but asking people in different timezones to have the exact same availability as you is wrong.
- bshimmin 9y ago
  The biggest timezone gap we have is 3.5 hours, and they find it supremely convenient because they do other work in their morning. My company is based in the UK and we can only really work with people who can work in a moderately convenient timezone, at least on this sort of basis. If I hired a developer in San Francisco, I'd work with them in a different way, obviously. Nobody is being abused, don't worry!
  - 4c2383f5c88e911 9y ago
    So you fall in the "close enough" category (UK being especially convenient since there’s nothing close on the western side), good to know! I was mostly thinking of the US in my post.
BrandonBradley 9y ago
> As to their actual work, as long as the eight hours get done ... If it's remote, how do you measure that eight hours? In addition, how many of that eight hours do you believe a competent developer focuses for?
- bshimmin 9y ago
  See my other answer - I'm using "eight hours" as short-hand for "a reasonable amount of work to get the task done". I accept that wasn't clear. (We usually bill by the day so I often think in 8 hour slots!)

zzalpha 9y ago

I want them to be available to say "hi" and talk about the day at the start of the day (9am) in my timezone, and to give me a status update at the end of the day (5.30pm, ish) in my timezone As a manager I gotta ask... Why both? Why not just one stand up/status update and move on? Or do they serve different functions?

bshimmin 9y ago
The latter really just to let me know if there have been any particular disasters during the day, or if there's anything of note to report. I care more about the former, to be honest - and even that, to an extent, only to reassure me that everyone is alive and actually available to do some work. Of course it varies a little day by day and task by task - some things need more careful planning and coordination. I should clarify that I mention eight hours only in the nominal sense of meaning that they get the requisite allocated work done - if they are able to work quickly and it only takes four hours, well, more power to them. I feel like I'm pretty relaxed about this stuff, but I guess from the downvotes others disagree...

4c2383f5c88e911 9y ago

I don't want to diss your way of managing remote teams, but the "in my timezone" part is incredibly absurd, except if your remote teams are very close. If you have a 5-hour offset, asking for someone to be available from 4am, or until 10pm sounds quite abusive. Now of course there should be a large enough common time window for several work interactions, but asking people in different timezones to have the exact same availability as you is wrong.

bshimmin 9y ago
The biggest timezone gap we have is 3.5 hours, and they find it supremely convenient because they do other work in their morning. My company is based in the UK and we can only really work with people who can work in a moderately convenient timezone, at least on this sort of basis. If I hired a developer in San Francisco, I'd work with them in a different way, obviously. Nobody is being abused, don't worry!
- 4c2383f5c88e911 9y ago
  So you fall in the "close enough" category (UK being especially convenient since there’s nothing close on the western side), good to know! I was mostly thinking of the US in my post.

BrandonBradley 9y ago

> As to their actual work, as long as the eight hours get done ... If it's remote, how do you measure that eight hours? In addition, how many of that eight hours do you believe a competent developer focuses for?

bshimmin 9y ago
See my other answer - I'm using "eight hours" as short-hand for "a reasonable amount of work to get the task done". I accept that wasn't clear. (We usually bill by the day so I often think in 8 hour slots!)