What We’ve Learned Over Ten Years About Making Remote Work Really Work

Now that most businesses have closed down their offices and more people than ever before in the country are working from home, it’s no surprise that there’s a flood of opinions out there about how to sustainably run teams this way. (Just Google News Search for “remote work”).
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After building much of our business with remote workers, we wanted to share some constructive tips that we hope can help you and your team.

Standups need to be more than just about updates and blockers. Now more than ever, it’s an opportunity for people to share what they are going through in their lives and local neighborhoods. In effect we are becoming more than just teams, we are becoming virtual communities. — Jen DiGiacomo, Senior Product Manager

Find the right tools

Chances are that your team already has a set of tools for text-based communication (e.g. Slack, Microsoft teams, etc) and video chat (e.g. Google Meet, Zoom). If not, they range in price from free to reasonable, depending on the tier you need. Figuring out what the ‘right’ tool is — email, Slack, a video call–may take some dialog. For us, we like having standing video calls to address things, and depending on urgency or formality may use email or Slack. (Slack chats may end up as calls if it turns into a discussion.)
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One of our clients, Jon Davis of Architectural Designs, hadn’t needed these tools previously. His team works in the same office in Connecticut. After closing that office last Friday, he set up Zoom (with full-team touchbases twice a day) and Slack, and the team is adjusting.

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Set the right tone

On any project — be it in-person or remote — setting an inclusive, collaborative tone is key. This is even more true when working with remote teams. It can be harder to capture nuance or emotion through choppy or low-res video. (Oh, and by the way, cameras on is almost always better.) Fostering a positive team spirit can help overcome hiccups more quickly and painlessly, and help the team be more open to deal with problems when they arise. A great way to stay in that positive mindset is by setting a healthy routine.

Build routines

For those of us working remotely, a day working at home starts the same as one would going into the office. We might exercise, walk the dog, and, when ready to start the day, get dressed as one would coming into the office. Since Brooklyn is the focal point of our business, Western Hemisphere remote workers follow a typical Eastern Timezone day. For those with greater time zone differences, the ‘overlap’ hours are carefully planned.
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Regular check-ins, run respectfully of people’s time and in a positive spirit, are the backbone of our remote work days. We tend to do daily standups at the same time each day, and weekly or bi-weekly planning meetings. This works well for our teams which are generally working in an Agile-ish fashion. Not everyone loves daily standups and there may be resistance to this. If standups are run well, we have found that teams gel and skeptics enjoy using that time to work through issues. Conversely, these check-ins may not feel sufficient for everyone to get the information or connection they need. It’s important to look out for them, too.

Take time to be people
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The name HappyFunCorp is meant to be a reminder to our people that the business works best when we take time to enjoy each other’s company and get to know one another. PMs and Account managers have a special responsibility to take moments to let people share what’s on their minds and to hear them out. Sometimes that means setting up one-on-ones if someone is going through a difficult time, whether they’re struggle is at work or not. This has been true at HFC in more normal times, but we are proactively working to level up this part of how we work remotely in response to the new circumstances. As PM Jen DiGiacomo puts it, “Standups need to be more than just about updates and blockers. Now more than ever, it’s an opportunity for people to share what they are going through in their lives and local neighborhoods. In effect we are becoming more than just teams, we are becoming virtual communities.”​

One way we’re creating space (and time) for people to connect is by creating a virtual watercooler on Google Meet. Though the videoconference link is always open, we picked two times during the day when most of our team could join and sent invites to remind people to (voluntarily) come and just check in with each other — no agenda. We’ve been making use of our #random Slack channel more, as a place for people to share funny or interesting things that may not have relevance to our daily work. We’ve even started a new Slack channel circled around cooking, since so many of us are enthusiasts who will have more opportunities than usual to hone our craft. Sharing in that is a positive way for us to just be people outside of our normal working roles.

​Iterate, Improve, Accept Failure, and Move On​

There’s a constant dialogue inside of HFC about how we do things and the tools that we use because we’re always looking to improve. What has stuck for us over the years of experimentation are the things that work. Our virtual watercooler is an experiment, and it may not be a hit — but we will gather feedback, discuss, and decide together how to move forward.
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We hope you find this useful as we all adapt to the current situation. We will share an update in the coming weeks on how our experiments are going and what we’ve heard from other folks in the community. We’d love to hear what’s working well for your team, or problems you’re trying to solve making the transition to remote work. Give a shout below or drop us a note at [email protected].