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Does anyone have a concrete set of requirements before going remote? My managers want to do this but I'm not convinced we have the right stuff, in terms of pro

Does anyone have a concrete set of requirements before going remote? My managers want to do this but I'm not convinced we have the right stuff, in terms of process. Stuff like: How should we/should we not set up our git repo? How should we organize our slack channels, meetings, team documentation, etc.

s1k3s 7y ago
Honest question: why would those things be different? I mean, of course meetings can't happen if everyone is in a different timezone, but everything else should be just the same as with a non-remote team.
- dnautics 7y ago
  I don't know, that's why I'm asking.
codingdave 7y ago
I have been remote for almost a decade, in a few different organizations, and your toolkits and documentation really aren't as big a factor as you would think. Slack, git repos, etc... those are already asynchronous communication, so whatever you have, if it works already, will still work remotely. Meetings, however, need to change a bit... 1) They are now your only time for socialization. Let them wander a bit more, be tolerant of personal talking and catching up as everyone gets into them. Find the right balance of focus of your agenda and letting people interact with each other. 2) Do not trash people's focused time by spreading meetings out over the entire week. Being remote, you'll learn that you have focused times, and less effective times, and will learn how to let everyone have flexible schedules to both work at their ideal times, and have some shared time online for communications. Don't wreck this process by getting into the habit of thinking that a 5-day 8-hour workweek is all equally good for meetings. It is not. Talk to the team and find common blocks of time when people are comfortable working, but not at peak efficiency (Early Tuesday afternoons, for example.) Fill those times with meetings, and leave the rest of the times open. This lets the team truly capture the focus and flexibility that is possible when working from home, and gets the meetings done at a time when people are happy to be there.

s1k3s 7y ago

Honest question: why would those things be different? I mean, of course meetings can't happen if everyone is in a different timezone, but everything else should be just the same as with a non-remote team.

dnautics 7y ago
I don't know, that's why I'm asking.

codingdave 7y ago

I have been remote for almost a decade, in a few different organizations, and your toolkits and documentation really aren't as big a factor as you would think. Slack, git repos, etc... those are already asynchronous communication, so whatever you have, if it works already, will still work remotely. Meetings, however, need to change a bit... 1) They are now your only time for socialization. Let them wander a bit more, be tolerant of personal talking and catching up as everyone gets into them. Find the right balance of focus of your agenda and letting people interact with each other. 2) Do not trash people's focused time by spreading meetings out over the entire week. Being remote, you'll learn that you have focused times, and less effective times, and will learn how to let everyone have flexible schedules to both work at their ideal times, and have some shared time online for communications. Don't wreck this process by getting into the habit of thinking that a 5-day 8-hour workweek is all equally good for meetings. It is not. Talk to the team and find common blocks of time when people are comfortable working, but not at peak efficiency (Early Tuesday afternoons, for example.) Fill those times with meetings, and leave the rest of the times open. This lets the team truly capture the focus and flexibility that is possible when working from home, and gets the meetings done at a time when people are happy to be there.