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Building Remote Teams for Startups

vadimkravcenko.com

1–10 of 91 posts

Re: Building Remote Teams for Startups

#2
> In my opinion, a decentralized, remote workforce is the future of the digital economy.

This is based on the wonky assumption that this:

> There will always be people who abuse the system, abuse your trust and try to game the mechanics for their benefit. […] A remote gig is not a good fit for these kinds of people.

are just some extreme outliers.

However, we were just yesterday having a discussion on HN about „how to work two or more remote jobs at the same time and game the system“

Is a remote-first economy perhaps a system fundamentally at odds with human instincts?

Re: Building Remote Teams for Startups

#3
I wrote Emergency Remote[0], and in my experience there are companies which tried to work the same way remotely and got the wrong impression by doing that.

I'm not as confident as the author that so many companies are onboard with remote because of their past couple of years. It's more likely they go the remote way because of employee pressure.

[0] https://www.emergencyremote.com

Re: Building Remote Teams for Startups

#4

> In my opinion, a decentralized, remote workforce is the future of the digital economy. This is based on the wonky assumption that this: > There will always be people who abuse the system, abuse your trust and try to game the mechanics for their benefit. […] A remote gig is not a good fit for these kinds of people. are just some extreme outliers. However, we were just yesterday having a discussion on HN about „how t…

Also, remote just doesn't work for some people. This should be decided on a per-company basis

Re: Building Remote Teams for Startups

#6
post #4

> In my opinion, a decentralized, remote workforce is the future of the digital economy. This is based on the wonky assumption that this: > There will always be people who abuse the system, abuse your trust and try to game the mechanics for their benefit. […] A remote gig is not a good fit for these kinds of people. are just some extreme outliers. However, we were just yesterday having a discussion on HN about „how t…

Also, remote just doesn't work for some people. This should be decided on a per-company basis

And being in the office doesn't work well for others. Those people have had (practically) no choice in the matter for all of time.

Perhaps it's okay to try a little of the opposite scenario and see how it plays out.

Re: Building Remote Teams for Startups

#7
post #4

> In my opinion, a decentralized, remote workforce is the future of the digital economy. This is based on the wonky assumption that this: > There will always be people who abuse the system, abuse your trust and try to game the mechanics for their benefit. […] A remote gig is not a good fit for these kinds of people. are just some extreme outliers. However, we were just yesterday having a discussion on HN about „how t…

Also, remote just doesn't work for some people. This should be decided on a per-company basis

All but the smallest companies were already remote by having multiple offices.

Companies that had problems to grow out of that early phase struggled in the past and will struggle with that in times of remote work. The only thing that remote work changes is to move that problem more to the beginning of a companies lifecycle. This should be seen as a chance and not a problem.

Re: Building Remote Teams for Startups

#8

The point around transparency is so important. I see so many issues that could be solved by just having discussions 'in public' on open Slack channels, with thought processes and outcomes available for all (or more) to see and potentially be a part of.

Public and asynchronous.

If you have more than two chatty people in Slack, nobody finds anything anymore.

Re: Building Remote Teams for Startups

#9
When I’ve asked friends and coworkers how they like remote work, the answer depends on how comfortable they feel being candid with me. Publicly everyone says they’re more productive being remote. Privately, people admit that their productivity has cratered, being home is very distracting, and the lack of separation between work and home life makes both realms more difficult.

I definitely empathize with the answers I’ve heard. I like convenience of not having to spend hours commuting back and the forth, and being home so I can help my wife take care of our five month old baby. But if I’m being totally honest, my productivity is pretty poor compared to what it was when everybody worked in person from the same office.

Re: Building Remote Teams for Startups

#10

When I’ve asked friends and coworkers how they like remote work, the answer depends on how comfortable they feel being candid with me. Publicly everyone says they’re more productive being remote. Privately, people admit that their productivity has cratered, being home is very distracting, and the lack of separation between work and home life makes both realms more difficult. I definitely empathize with the answers I’…

The key factor is what your home environment is like. If you have kids, then very possibly you can be a lot more productive at an office. Likewise if you live in a small place and don't have a comfortable, dedicated space to work in.
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