Working at Alan from anywhere
I have been working remotely for the last six years and saw how different companies make it possible. This is a delicate balancing exercise on both sides. Alan’s unique work culture made it smoother for me than anywhere else. Both for day to day operations and for social interactions. We’ll dive into each. But first, let’s clarify Alan’s setup for remote work.
Work From Anywhere
Alan is a “work from anywhere” company, not a fully remote company. We have a big office in Paris. And we rent private rooms in coworking spaces in every city where more than a couple of Alaners live: Barcelona, Brussels, Madrid, Nantes, Lille, Lyon, Strasbourg, etc. We can also work remotely, from wherever we want. For example, I live in a village at the border of the French Alps.
As I work from home, Alan provided the equipment I need to have my perfect setup: a laptop stand and a comfortable chair. Others prefer to have an additional screen. When it comes to equipment, Alan strives to provide many options to choose from to best meet the needs of each Alaner.
Everyone is welcome to come and say “Hello” at any office, but it is not mandatory to go every so often. In the last year, I visited the Paris office only once and I still feel integrated in the team.
Actually, there are only two constraints on where you work from:
- Your Internet connection should be good enough for smooth day to day operations, like video chat.
- Your local timezone should be less than three hours away from Paris time.
Alan is even flexible on time differences, for short periods of time. We have several engineers from North America. When they go back home for a few weeks, we trust them to find the right balance for shifting their days with limited impact on their team.
Communicating effectively
Remotely or not, Alan has a strong culture of writing and working asynchronously. Every decision is taken in writing and is public. Even while working remotely, everyone can access the discussion that leads to each decision. More importantly, everyone can participate in these discussions without fear of missing out on side channels: there are none. This has been a great change for me: I don’t need to fish for information, like in my previous companies. My days are slightly shifted compared to most Alaners (I like to start early and disconnect early), but that never gets in the way of collaborating effectively.
Having everything accessible doesn’t necessarily make it easy to grow a global awareness of what is going on in the company: there are over 400 Alaners today, reading about everything would be a full time job. That’s why we make a conscious effort to make information flow across teams. Every week, the CEO compiles a Weekly Update with the main highlights and lowlights from all parts of the company. It is a great way to get the big picture and pointers for digging if you are interested.
Although we default to written asynchronous communication, we encourage live discussions when they bring value. Often, a quick chat with a coworker is much more efficient than doing it in writing. No problem: launch a video call, figure things out and share a small recap on Slack so that others can benefit from the discussion. On average, I probably have one call like this every day. It is just enough to not feel isolated. But rare enough to not be a source of distraction.
Some of us find pair sessions useful. They are a great way to share knowledge and help junior engineers grow. I like quick rubber-duck sessions and discussing design choices, with Excalidraw for whiteboard-style interactions. Others prefer fully-fledged pair programming sessions, supported by IDE plugins like Code with Me or Live Share. Adequate tooling makes it really smooth.
Company life
Being efficient is not everything. We all enjoy getting to know each other a little better and having fun together. Interaction via a screen makes it a little less easy but there are still many things we can do. Compared to my past experiences, I feel a lot more integrated in the team even though I work remotely.
Every two weeks, we have a “Community time” event, open to all engineers and driven by our CTO. This is a time to discuss openly about what is working well and less well. A time to ask questions and get clarity. Such discussions can also happen in asynchronous writing in a dedicated Slack channel.
At the company level, we have an automated Donut scheduler. Every week, each Alaner is randomly paired with another employee. I love this opportunity to take 15–20 minutes every week to get to know a new colleague. These interactions provide me with an opportunity to learn what it is like to work in Sales or Marketing at Alan. I have set up something similar in my team. Every week we take a moment to chat with a teammate about anything except work. This is working very well to bring the team closer together.
For more open conversations, we have a virtual chill room: a Slack channel where engineers talk about everything and anything not work related. We also have remote events every now and then, like remote blind tests or remote escape games. We had weekly Among Us sessions for a few months.
Finding a good balance
Working at Alan has been by far my smoothest remote work experience. It took some effort, but the culture of openness and candid feedback makes it easy to start discussions with my coach (see this previous post for how the role differs from a traditional manager) and get help. Alan recognizes that employees are most efficient and motivated when they are happy. I feel fully supported to find my own sweet spot. What helped you find yours?
