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I've always dreamed of having a company (that was making money) where I could relocate my team once a month every month to a different place on the planet. Lon

I've always dreamed of having a company (that was making money) where I could relocate my team once a month every month to a different place on the planet. London, Tokyo, Singapore, China, San Francisco, Iceland, France, Germany, Russia, Australia, India, Canada... We could be a travelling startup. That would be so cool!

normloman 12y ago
Yeah but then you'd need a team who'd travel with you. And few people can just pack up and move every month. If you have kids, you'll want to keep them in the same school. Or you might be tied down to care for a family member. I would never leave my area for long because it's where all my friends live. It's simpler to have a remote company. Then you can take all the trips you want, and your team can work from wherever they want.
- iolothebard 12y ago
  Bah, everyone's in their 20 with no family!
  - normloman 12y ago
    The more time I spend here, the more I suspect that HN is populated with single 20 year olds with no friends or family. Thus, they create a "work family" to fill their social needs. The result is insular teams with mandatory beer pong tournaments.
    - znq 12y ago
      Many of us working at Mobile Jazz actually have family and we care a lot about integrating them in whatever we do: http://blog.mobilejazz.com/work-life-balance-at-mobile-jazz/ http://blog.mobilejazz.com/work-life-balance-at-mobile-jazz/ It's not always perfectly possible, but at least we try :-)
      - normloman 12y ago
        When you did your Thailand experiment, did any employees take their families with them? Also, I presume from the article that not every employee was in Thailand, and some chose to remain at home, correct? Did the remote team ever feel left out of the conversation as most of the team was speaking in person in Thailand? Thank you, and nice article.
        znq 12y ago
        For the Thai experiment it was exclusively those who didn't have family. Some with family considered it, but as most of their kids are still very young they didn't do it in the end. Regarding the remote work, even when we're at home, that means we're in different cities and even different countries, so our whole company is set up as a remote company, although many chose to work from the main office in Barcelona. To answer your question, no one felt left out, because we simply continued to work as usual (chat, video calls, etc.), it just happened that some of us were at the different location.
    - 72deluxe 12y ago
      I am not in my 20s and I do have a family, but that's a feeling I get here too! There also appears to be a strong dislike of older proven languages (don't ever mention the word C++) and a faddish obsession with newer younger languages. Perhaps it goes with the crowd? Or are my conclusions inaccurate?
      - Svenstaro 12y ago
        Eh frankly I think we all pretty much like modern C++ here judging by the posts that get upvoted.
        72deluxe 12y ago
        Must be my inaccurate conclusions then! I must just be seeing the hatred for C++, typically with 1998 examples attached to illustrate how "dangerous" the language is.
    - mseebach 12y ago
      My experience here is that the community is somewhat schizophrenic on work - anything that smell of old school hierarchical structures, fixed hours, clear preference for onsite over remote work etc are evil - but at the same time, if you work a single minute more than 40 hours a week without overtime pay, you're being exploited. If you have a work laptop or cell-phone, it's a trick to make you work more, for free - not blatantly obvious tools to enable remote work which further enables flexibility. If there's free food or showers, it's a trick to make you work more, for free. If there are social events or people otherwise claim to "enjoy work", it's a trick - they've obviously drunk the Kool-aid. Mandatory beer pong! I think a lot of people here are very keen on experimenting quite radically with what work itself looks like. Like all experiments, they are not for everyone, and nobody expects any single radical experiment to just stumble upon the final answer to work, but they may learn a thing or two that the rest of us can benefit from.
- SyneRyder 12y ago
  Also, add some budget to allow your remote team members to fly to meet each other. I mostly work remote, but one of my clients had funds to fly me over every few months and meet their team for a week each time. It's a fantastic way for the team to get to know each other, far better than just Skype interactions.
iagooar 12y ago
Count me in!
ryannevius 12y ago
Good luck being productive and forming important/lasting relationships (i.e. networking) while doing this. I've been working remotely from different countries over the past couple of years, and while it's a great life experience, it's just not practical for work. The wife and I are now looking for a home base.
- znq 12y ago
  We actually met a couple of people from HN on Koh Samui ;-) And yes, I agree it doesn't make sense to be there permanently, but traveling once in a while to the big business hubs in the world and spending a month here and there helps. What I personally don't want to do though is to permanently live in a city that is crowded with people. So doing those time-limited remote experiments is a nice change of perspective and a very good way to recharge your batteries while still staying productive.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

normloman 12y ago

Yeah but then you'd need a team who'd travel with you. And few people can just pack up and move every month. If you have kids, you'll want to keep them in the same school. Or you might be tied down to care for a family member. I would never leave my area for long because it's where all my friends live. It's simpler to have a remote company. Then you can take all the trips you want, and your team can work from wherever they want.

iolothebard 12y ago
Bah, everyone's in their 20 with no family!
- normloman 12y ago
  The more time I spend here, the more I suspect that HN is populated with single 20 year olds with no friends or family. Thus, they create a "work family" to fill their social needs. The result is insular teams with mandatory beer pong tournaments.
  - znq 12y ago
    Many of us working at Mobile Jazz actually have family and we care a lot about integrating them in whatever we do: http://blog.mobilejazz.com/work-life-balance-at-mobile-jazz/ http://blog.mobilejazz.com/work-life-balance-at-mobile-jazz/ It's not always perfectly possible, but at least we try :-)
    - normloman 12y ago
      When you did your Thailand experiment, did any employees take their families with them? Also, I presume from the article that not every employee was in Thailand, and some chose to remain at home, correct? Did the remote team ever feel left out of the conversation as most of the team was speaking in person in Thailand? Thank you, and nice article.
      - znq 12y ago
        For the Thai experiment it was exclusively those who didn't have family. Some with family considered it, but as most of their kids are still very young they didn't do it in the end. Regarding the remote work, even when we're at home, that means we're in different cities and even different countries, so our whole company is set up as a remote company, although many chose to work from the main office in Barcelona. To answer your question, no one felt left out, because we simply continued to work as usual (chat, video calls, etc.), it just happened that some of us were at the different location.
  - 72deluxe 12y ago
    I am not in my 20s and I do have a family, but that's a feeling I get here too! There also appears to be a strong dislike of older proven languages (don't ever mention the word C++) and a faddish obsession with newer younger languages. Perhaps it goes with the crowd? Or are my conclusions inaccurate?
    - Svenstaro 12y ago
      Eh frankly I think we all pretty much like modern C++ here judging by the posts that get upvoted.
      - 72deluxe 12y ago
        Must be my inaccurate conclusions then! I must just be seeing the hatred for C++, typically with 1998 examples attached to illustrate how "dangerous" the language is.
  - mseebach 12y ago
    My experience here is that the community is somewhat schizophrenic on work - anything that smell of old school hierarchical structures, fixed hours, clear preference for onsite over remote work etc are evil - but at the same time, if you work a single minute more than 40 hours a week without overtime pay, you're being exploited. If you have a work laptop or cell-phone, it's a trick to make you work more, for free - not blatantly obvious tools to enable remote work which further enables flexibility. If there's free food or showers, it's a trick to make you work more, for free. If there are social events or people otherwise claim to "enjoy work", it's a trick - they've obviously drunk the Kool-aid. Mandatory beer pong! I think a lot of people here are very keen on experimenting quite radically with what work itself looks like. Like all experiments, they are not for everyone, and nobody expects any single radical experiment to just stumble upon the final answer to work, but they may learn a thing or two that the rest of us can benefit from.
SyneRyder 12y ago
Also, add some budget to allow your remote team members to fly to meet each other. I mostly work remote, but one of my clients had funds to fly me over every few months and meet their team for a week each time. It's a fantastic way for the team to get to know each other, far better than just Skype interactions.

iagooar 12y ago

Count me in!

ryannevius 12y ago

Good luck being productive and forming important/lasting relationships (i.e. networking) while doing this. I've been working remotely from different countries over the past couple of years, and while it's a great life experience, it's just not practical for work. The wife and I are now looking for a home base.

znq 12y ago
We actually met a couple of people from HN on Koh Samui ;-) And yes, I agree it doesn't make sense to be there permanently, but traveling once in a while to the big business hubs in the world and spending a month here and there helps. What I personally don't want to do though is to permanently live in a city that is crowded with people. So doing those time-limited remote experiments is a nice change of perspective and a very good way to recharge your batteries while still staying productive.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]