20 Insightful Sources of Remote-Work Inspiration
Black Pixel has successfully operated as a distributed company since its formation nearly a decade ago. Managing a growing distributed company and finding ways to make working remotely easier is an ever-evolving process. Fortunately, with remote work on the rise, there is no shortage of insights being shared by others.
If you’re considering remote-work policies for your company or seeking inspiration as a remote worker, these resources from our archives, bookshelves, and around the web are well worth a read.
Resources for Employers
Building Culture with a Distributed Team
Maintaining a strong company culture may seem elusive when your company is scattered around the world, but it’s not impossible. In this article, we’ll show you ways to support culture when team members are miles apart.
Basecamp Employee Handbook
The folks at Basecamp have mastered the art of managing remote workers. They recently open sourced the details of how they make their distributed company work and invite others to browse and adopt their policies.
How to Run a Remote Team
As part of Zapier’s extensive guide to remote work, the team shares some ideas on how to hire the right people, find the best tools, and implement a process for great work to happen from anywhere.
The Joys and Benefits of Working as a Distributed Team
Buffer CEO Joel Gascoigne focuses on the fun aspects of having team members working from offices around the world and sprinkles in some tips that other distributed companies may find helpful.
Scaling a Distributed Team to 50+ Employees
UpLabs chats with Doist Product Designer Alex Muench about everything from Doist’s remote culture to preferred online collaboration tools.
Cultivating Great Distributed Teams
Productive meetings can happen anywhere with the right tools in place. Liza Daly and Keith Fahlgren wrote about driving meetings with Google Docs several years ago. In this latest article, Daly discusses how they’ve refined the process along with some important takeaways.
Keeping Your Remote Team Connected
How do you create closeness and camaraderie on a distributed team? Help Scout sets out to answer this question with an inside look at what keeps its mostly distributed team tethered.
On Working Remotely
Stack Overflow Co-founder Jeff Atwood lays out some basic ground rules for remote development and how to scale it without bringing in too much process. Be sure to check out this follow-up article that outlines what worked best for them in the long run.
The Year Without Pants: Wordpress.com and the Future of Work
Automattic Inc., the company at the helm of Wordpress.com, has over 100 employees working from locales around the world. This book uncovers how Automattic found success and some lessons learned along the way.
Remote: Office Not Required
Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson of Basecamp make a case for widespread adoption of remote-work policies and show companies how to set up distributed teams to thrive.
Resources for Remote Workers
Remote Pixel
Black Pixel Director of Engineering Janene Pappas shares how our engineers collaborate on projects and what she loves about working from her home office tucked away in the Colorado mountains.
How to Succeed on a Distributed Team
Working remotely comes with some unique challenges. Check out our advice on tackling five of the toughest issues.
Working Alone, Together
Remote work isn’t for everyone. But if you’re new to working remotely and find yourself craving daily office interactions, there’s still hope. This article from The New York Times reveals the benefits of coworking spaces.
The Villains of Remote Work
Mak Arnautovic of DNSimple introduces the villains of remote work, so you can thwart their best efforts to derail your success as a distributed team member.
How to Suggest Improvements Remotely
Suggesting improvements — and knowing how to accept suggestions––requires excellent communication skills, empathy, and understanding when you work on a distributed team. The distributed employees of X-Team offer their best advice on how to handle these interactions.
Working Remotely for Extroverts
Check out these tips from Steph Yiu on how to avoid loneliness when working remotely. Her advice is meant for people who thrive on social interaction, but introverts can benefit from these tips too.
Fog Creek’s Ad Hoc Remote Work Policy, or, Working From Grandma’s House
Fog Creek’s requirements and suggestions for its team members who wish to work remotely are laced with handy tips and advice that apply to all remote workers.
10 Lessons from 4 Years Working Remotely at Automattic
Sara Rosso shares her wisdom as veteran of remote work. From being your own boss to embracing emoticons, this article is filled with valuable lessons.
The Perfect Workspace (According to Science)
Did you know that curved furniture fosters creativity or that the color blue improves performance? 99U takes the guesswork out of setting up your perfect workspace with some help from science.
Working Geek: How Black Pixel Design Director Tom Carmony Manages a Team Across 5,000 Miles
Our own Tom Carmony gives a behind-the-scenes look at how he leads our fully distributed design team while also creating a healthy work/life balance for himself.
We’re always interested in learning how others approach remote work, manage distributed teams, and evolve their process. If you’re among the millions who work from home, coffee shops, and coworking spaces around the globe, let us know which resources you’ve found most helpful in the comments or on Twitter.
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Black Pixel is a creative digital products agency. Learn more at blackpixel.com.
