Geo-distributed Development Teams in Practice

GEO-DISTRIBUTED DEV TEAMS IN PRACTICE Luka Kladarić @allixsenos http://luka.io

GLOSSARY • Geo-distributed • Telecommuting • Remoting • Working from home (WFH) • Digital nomad

INTRO • Dabbling with computers since I was very young • At ~13 (circa 1998) I discovered you could DEVELOP for THE WEB, never looked back

EARLY REMOTE WORK • In college teamed up with a designer friend to run a web studio • A 10 year collaboration with dozens of successful projects & happy clients • Mostly worked from our homes • Met in person only for brainstorming and the occasional work session

STUMBLING INTO REMOTE • Took a “real job” • Real job turned out to be outsourcing to a foreign company • One particularly rainy morning…

• At this point I’ve been working remotely and hiring remote workers for over 10 years… • …and I can’t imagine going back.

WHY WORK REMOTELY • A completely different approach to work from the usual office paradigm • Not for everyone • However, if you can make it work... It has some amazing upsides.

• No more commuting. Ever again. • ½ hour commute every day means you spend 10 days a year commuting. • An hour long commute means you spend more time commuting to and from work than you get vacation. • No more miserable rainy days or blizzards.

• Better (and cheaper) food than in/around the office. • Don’t have to choose where you live based on proximity to work. • And many others!

FLEX TIME! • The ability to do your work outside of fixed office hours • Comes often with the territory, but not always • Not applicable to all types of jobs • Depends how the company is structured and what the workflows & processes are like • A double-edged sword • Easy to end up working non stop

SOME PEOPLE CAN’T DEAL • Need to dress for work, go to work and be at work to do… • …work. • Part of it is just what you’re used to, part of it is just how you are or aren’t.

• And that’s fine. Nobody is saying working from home is for everyone or that companies should abandon offices en masse.

WHY I WORK REMOTELY • This changed a lot over the years… • …but I’ve always loved it • It started primarily because I really hated commuting • And then…

DEVIANTART • 100 people, ~half in Hollywood office (“HQ”), ~half remote • Engineering explicitly remote • No dev @ HQ • No two devs in the same city • Some of the best and most talented people I’ve ever worked with • Regular meetups! • Opened my eyes to fully remote companies • Learned a lot about communication, organization, results-oriented work, etc.

LEAVING DEVIANTART • Cofounded a startup in New York • Immediately clear we couldn’t hire in New York • Quickly scaled up to ½ dozen people in the Balkan region • Made a kickass product J • Meetups in Amsterdam, Berlin, New York, Zagreb… • But mostly over Skype & Hangouts

GETTING A REMOTE JOB • Depends on your field • Companies usually more open to hiring remote developers and support staff than designers and product managers (no hard rules, tho) • But really the remote jobs are everywhere when you start looking for them • Job boards, meetups, word of mouth…

JOB BOARDS • Some will mark remote-OK jobs in the UI • Some will not offer that so you’ll find something like “remote OK” in the job post itself • Even the ones that say nothing could be a remote position! • But respect the ones that explicitly say “no remote”

INTERVIEWING • Fully onsite • Phone screen, then onsite • Entirely over Skype • There are no rules. A lot of the time companies are just winging it. • This is not exclusive to remote hiring • Compensation: start high, just under what it would cost locally for them

COMMUNICATION • Gotta be fluent. No going around it. • Even if it’s your native language and you’re a shy, introverted person. Confidence makes a big difference. • If it’s a foreign language, fluency and accent make a huge difference • Affects salary negotiations

WORKING REMOTELY • No one true way, but here’s how I do it

COMMUNICATION • Communication is #1 • Need to recreate all the interactions that happen spontaneously in an office through textual communication • Put in a conscious effort to be visible, to be seen. • Themed Slack channels help • Over-communicate & be reachable and responsive

WORKSPACE • Just because you don’t travel to an office doesn’t mean you don’t need an office • Especially if you don’t live alone. Something with a door that can be closed. • Call it “the office”. Makes it easier to set boundaries and curb interruptions. • Also helps with getting into working mood, and being able to walk away from work

EQUIPMENT • Invest in solid gear for your home office • You will be glad you did • Sometimes you’ll get a budget for it, often times you won’t

EQUIPMENT • A solid desk • A good chair • A big monitor or two • A good webcam & microphone

WHY COMPANIES HIRE REMOTE • 1. Cheaper labor • 2. Can’t hire locally – market near office too competitive • 3. Want the best talent, wherever they are • Stay away from #1, be cautious with #2. The good experiences are at #3. • Avoid local job boards unless you’re just starting out.

HOW TO HIRE REMOTE • If budget is #1 reason – use a local job board. Will need to invest time into grooming into high quality workers. • Local jobs offer a kind of security remote jobs can’t compete with • People with experience expect an above-average pay • Beyond that, hire as you would normally • Perceived need for higher confidence is fake

• Hiring a few – no change in hiring process. A quick phone screen and then a full interview onsite. • Hiring a bunch – invest in a better phone screen procedure. • When hiring in a different time zone, expect people to take a certain dose of flex time. This is fine. Give them goals and deadlines and demand results. Who cares when they did it.

HYBRID SETUP • Part of the company is remote while another part is in 1-2 central offices • It can work, but the entire company needs to be on board • Committed to using written communication and scheduling phone/video calls instead of a bunch of impromptu in-person discussions • Implementation can be slow and painful, but it pays for itself immediately

HYBRID SETUP • Onsite employees will appreciate a WFH policy • A team where you can’t WFH is a team that’s working sub-optimally. • Situations in which you can’t be productive at today’s jobs have shrunk in number • Small fraction of people remote can be disconcerting and annoying • But it can also work, if people choose so

GOING ALL REMOTE • Can you have a successful company that doesn't have an office at all?

IN CONCLUSION • Working remotely is awesome • Remote workers are awesome • Give it a shot, it might just change your life

QUESTIONS?

THANK YOU Luka Kladarić @allixsenos http://luka.io