21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team
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Re: 21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team
#2Lack of trust and an abundance of paranoia are big obstacles lurking beneath the surface with remote work. Experience leads me to believe most 'managers' or founders aren't able to handle it. However, when you have a good one that gives you the space and trust you need to get things done. It's marvelous.
Re: 21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team
#3Maybe I use these tools differently than Zapier does, but using Trello AND Github issues AND iDoneThis seems a bit redundant. There's nothing worse than keeping up with different tools to do basically the same thing.
Re: 21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team
#4I setup a recurring monthly event with each team member where we both jump on Skype or Google Hangout to chat about three things: what's one thing I can do better to help him with his job, what's one thing he can do better to improve at his job, and what's one thing the company can do better to make everyone's lives easier.
I was just talking with a friend of mine about this very topic -- it's critically important for any company, remote or otherwise, to have this kind of meaningful, open dialogue periodically, and yet so few companies actually do this. I'd love to see some statistics on what kind of effect a half hour per employee per month does for overall happiness and employee retention.
Re: 21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team
#5Maybe I use these tools differently than Zapier does, but using Trello AND Github issues AND iDoneThis seems a bit redundant. There's nothing worse than keeping up with different tools to do basically the same thing.
Ah, we find the complete opposite.
One serendipitous thing we've discovered while using and working on Zapier is that the tool itself allows you to use whatever your best in class application is for the task at hand, regardless of what else you'll need to shoehorn into it. Zapier can help you connect up the different tools that are the best at what they do.
Multiple tools also help us silo stuff, for example:
* Trello covers product roadmap.
* Github covers bugs.
* iDoneThis covers everything else we're working on.
Re: 21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team
#6I setup a recurring monthly event with each team member where we both jump on Skype or Google Hangout to chat about three things: what's one thing I can do better to help him with his job, what's one thing he can do better to improve at his job, and what's one thing the company can do better to make everyone's lives easier. I was just talking with a friend of mine about this very topic -- it's critically important fo…
I know that company Y does something similar with their artists as part of their yearly reviews, and their artists don't know of anything they could be doing better. As one of them said to me "If I knew what I could be doing better, I'd be doing it."
Feedback can be useful, but I'd be hesitant around structuring requirements for it.
Re: 21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team
#7Maybe I use these tools differently than Zapier does, but using Trello AND Github issues AND iDoneThis seems a bit redundant. There's nothing worse than keeping up with different tools to do basically the same thing.
Ah, we find the complete opposite. One serendipitous thing we've discovered while using and working on Zapier is that the tool itself allows you to use whatever your best in class application is for the task at hand, regardless of what else you'll need to shoehorn into it. Zapier can help you connect up the different tools that are the best at what they do. Multiple tools also help us silo stuff, for example: * Trell…
I think it depends on the size and scope of your project. As devs, we all start with simple text files + email for everything, and then add more specialized tools from there.
Complexity is endless, and depending on the scope of your project, it may not make as much sense to add more tools. I have met many people who just skip the entire bug tracking system and dump the whole thing in trello or somewhere else. But I couldn't imagine doing that on a huge project with thousands of issues and customers.
Re: 21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team
#8I setup a recurring monthly event with each team member where we both jump on Skype or Google Hangout to chat about three things: what's one thing I can do better to help him with his job, what's one thing he can do better to improve at his job, and what's one thing the company can do better to make everyone's lives easier. I was just talking with a friend of mine about this very topic -- it's critically important fo…
I know that company Y does something similar with their artists as part of their yearly reviews, and their artists don't know of anything they could be doing better. As one of them said to me "If I knew what I could be doing better, I'd be doing it." Feedback can be useful, but I'd be hesitant around structuring requirements for it.
It's less to get and act on a concrete answer to the question, but rather that asking the question unambiguously signals openness and desire to improve. As long as the recipient of the question believes it's being asked earnestly, it doesn't ever need to be directly answered.
Re: 21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team
#9Lack of trust and an abundance of paranoia are big obstacles lurking beneath the surface with remote work. Experience leads me to believe most 'managers' or founders aren't able to handle it. However, when you have a good one that gives you the space and trust you need to get things done. It's marvelous.
That makes sense from my experience. When looking for front-end jobs it seems like there are very few remote positions available. If there is a position available, they usually fall into two different categories. One, the position is for a senior level front-end wizard or the position is remote but only to the extent of the city limits. For example, "remote but must live in San Francisco".
Re: 21 Months In: How to Manage a Remote Team
#10Lack of trust and an abundance of paranoia are big obstacles lurking beneath the surface with remote work. Experience leads me to believe most 'managers' or founders aren't able to handle it. However, when you have a good one that gives you the space and trust you need to get things done. It's marvelous.
That makes sense from my experience. When looking for front-end jobs it seems like there are very few remote positions available. If there is a position available, they usually fall into two different categories. One, the position is for a senior level front-end wizard or the position is remote but only to the extent of the city limits. For example, "remote but must live in San Francisco".
I don't get that. Is there an actual reason why employers care about where you live when you work remotely? Beyond, I suppose, time zone concerns?