Remote Work — How To Do It Well
I’ve been working with people all over the world, almost entirely remotely (from Lagos, Nigeria), as a software developer, project manager, CTO & CEO for more than 6 years now.
Working from home (or anywhere, really) is something that comes naturally to me but I find that a lot of people struggle with it especially in these times. Millions of people have essentially been forced to work from home (WFH) and if my Twitter timeline is anything to go by: it sucks.
I recently did a remote (ha!) presentation about how to do good, healthy remote work, hosted by Tix. It was quite difficult to fit every thing I had to say into presentation slides, so I decided to write this article.
Let’s talk about regular work first.
Remote work isn’t going to automatically solve the problems we have with how we work today. Contrary to what you might think, remote work isn’t actually THAT different from regular on-site work.
There are things that are fundamentally wrong with how we currently view work today that are counter-productive (the opposite of what we want) and unhealthy.
What’s wrong with work today?
There are three major problems I see with how most work is done today (especially in Nigeria).
1. Micromanaging
The meaning of the word “micromanage”, according to Oxford is: to control every part, however small of (an enterprise or activity).
With (collaborative) work, it’s common to find managers attempting to control or drive every little aspect of their teammates’ work. There are understandable reasons for the urge to micromanage; one might legitimately fear that no (quality) work will be done if they don’t catalyse every part of it.
However, micromanaging has a good amount of drawbacks.
It inspires bare minimum work. Micromanaging can get some easy, repeatable tasks done but it’s not what you want because your teammates might evolve into just doing enough to get you off their back.
Basically, it’s a monumental pain in the ass. It’s difficult to feel motivated when you’re being badgered. You just want the badgering to stop.
It’s an inefficient waste of time. Micromanaging is very difficult to scale. The point of being a manager is to efficiently lead a number of people to a common goal. The time and effort you expend in doing this shouldn’t increase significantly for every single person that’s added to your team.
Also, there are likely other more (high level) things that a manager could spend their time doing. Chasing people down to do their work can get in the way of that.
2. The myth that quality work only happens in long, forced stretches of time.
- Not many people actually work this way. No matter how it may appear to you, it’s highly unlikely that your teammate is working at optimal capacity 100% of the time they’re at their desk. I assure you, a Twitter or WhatsApp for Web tab is open and it’s getting some action.
- Furthermore, people need breaks to actually do work. Attempting to force work can be pretty frustrating and can lead to slower and lower quality productivity.
- It doesn’t matter when people work. I do a lot of my best work at night (probably because there’s less human activity to be distracted by). My co-founder likes to wake up early in the morning to demolish a significant percentage of her tasks before lunch time. People are very different.
3. Synchronous Work
In software development, the word “Synchronous” is used to refer to a kind of execution where each command must be completed in a strict series — the computer will not move to the next command until the previous one is done.
In Synchronous Work:
Whenever Teammate A initiates interaction with Teammate B, neither will move on until a response is given to A.
This can be anything from asking a question (in person or on Slack) to dragging them into a quick meeting or call. Whatever it is, it always means that you have to:
- stop what you’re doing.
- respond — this could take a varying amount of time because it often requires that some work be done.
- and then attempt getting back into what you’re doing till the next interruption.
Synchronous work is quite counterproductive because:
- It is interruptive. You always have to stop what you’re currently doing, even if it’s just for a minute.
- It wastes more time than the interaction takes. Context switching isn’t easy or fast. One does not resume work (after an interruption) immediately they’re back at their computer.
A lot of the work we do today is Synchronous. One thing has to be addressed before anybody can move on to something else. If yet another thing finds its way to the queue, everybody involved has to stop what they’re doing to address it, before continuing with what they were doing.
How can we fix these?
The broad solutions for these issues are threefold. They’re all connected in that they share common themes and are prerequisites for each other.
- Trust
- Communication
- Asynchronous Work
1. Trust
Trust is probably the most important element of all collaborative work.
Unfortunately, trust isn’t easy. It’s probably the hardest thing to find & cultivate in any kind of relationship — and work relationships are not exempt. It can also accumulate and can be depleted.
There are at least two aspects of this (of course, because there’s always at least two people involved).
As a manager:
There are a good number of opportunities to detect whether someone you manage or someone you’re about to manage is trustworthy or not. Even during the hiring process.
At BuyCoins, we do a 3-day paid trial as the last stage in our hiring process. Immediately this commences, we give the candidate work to do. If the candidate gets hired, we have a 3 month confirmation period after which they can now elect to work remotely (on “remote work days”).
This may not be a perfect system (for everyone). What’s more important is the overarching goal of those steps.
We’re trying to make sure that we hire people who want to work. This process is designed to help us assess whether whoever we are hiring actually desires to do work. If we have to badger them to work, then it’s not a good fit.
You can’t trust them to work.
This however, isn’t where it ends. You have to do your best to create an environment they’ll want to work in thereby building their trust in you.
- No one who actually wants to do their job likes being micromanaged.
- No one likes being forced to work more than the hours they agreed to per their contract.
- No one wants a manager they can’t communicate honestly and openly with about anything — from reasonable delays to struggling (mentally) & needing a break.
As an employee or teammate:
You should actually want to get work done. For whatever reason — money, passion, both… it doesn’t matter. If you need someone to badger you, then you do not truly desire to work (and the reason for that need not be malicious or bad). In that case however, the rest of the team cannot trust you to work.
On the flip side, if your teammates/manager do not display the core attributes that signal collaborative trustworthiness, it won’t be a good fit. You cannot do healthy, efficient work in that relationship.
What are these core attributes you speak of?
- Ability — skill, willingness to do the work, be it as a manager or an employee. This is relatively easy to detect and measure. The teammate will consistently do the work required.
- The second one is communication.
2. Communication
Communication is very important in collaborative work and this isn’t just because you have to talk about the goal.
It is also very important to communicate with regards everything concerning reaching that goal. Whether they’re plans, setbacks or justifications.
- If there’s going to be a delay with the report you planned to finish on x day, communicate it. Explain why, before you’re asked.
- If you think it’ll take 5 weeks, instead of 3. Communicate, the instant you feel that way. If you think it’ll take 1 week, as opposed to 3, also communicate.
- As a manager, explaining decisions & expectations is necessary. Employees should be trusted to understand requirements beyond “She just wants me to do it.” They should also trust that they can safely push back on some of your thinking if they genuinely think it doesn’t make sense.
Communication has to be proactive. But even more importantly, it needs to not be interruptive (i.e it should not distract the focus of the person that is being communicated to). How we communicate today is very disruptive and very Synchronous. How do we communicate & work in an Asynchronous way?
3. Asynchronous Work
In software development, the word “Asynchronous” is used to refer to a kind of execution where multiple things happen simultaneously in different queues. If a command is to be executed, it can be added to a queue to be processed whenever the machine is free to do so.
In Asynchronous Work:
Whenever Teammate A initiates interaction with Teammate B, it does not disrupt B’s work. B can ingest and respond to that interaction whenever they’re free to. Whenever B responds, it doesn’t disrupt A’s work… and so on.
This is in stark contrast with Synchronous Work. Teammates can add new items to their colleagues’ queues without interrupting what they’re doing now and be certain that they’ll process it when they have time.
Asynchronous Work is a product of:
- Trust: You trust that your teammate/manager wants to work. You trust their ability to work. As such, you know what they’ll get to what you want them to when they can, you can move on to other things with peace of mind.
- Communication: You have been as detailed as possible with your communication. That way you know that your teammate will have as much information as they need to proceed (to a large extent). Your teammate should trust your ability to communicate in this manner.
Asynchronous work may likely not come naturally to a lot of us, as it’s not how we tend do things in other contexts. Most of our (non work) conversations and processes are Synchronous, it takes a lot of conscious work to resist the urge to do that with work.
We can finally now talk about Remote Work.
Remote Work
Remote work, at its core, isn’t that much different from healthy regular, on-site work. Combine the above solutions & attitudes with internet software and you’ll stop tweeting about how much you hate WFH.
Remote Work & Technology
It doesn’t really matter which of the many, many tools you use to manage remote work. Use whatever combination of tools manage tasks, depending on whatever constraints and preferences you might have.
However, it’s important to be very careful. Some tools, in their default configuration still carry a lot of unwanted elements from synchronous work and this can be counterproductive in the quest to do good remote (, asynchronous) work.
Here are some of the things to look out for:
Instant Messaging is (mostly) bad
- Tools like Slack, by design, encourage interruptive, synchronous “instant” communication. While they can still be used to do remote work (a lot of people do), there’ll likely be a lot of time wasted context-switching. You answer a question quickly and have to reorient your brain to focus on your current task (until the next message comes in).
- Instant Messaging is often not sticky. It’s often difficult to find a specific message at a later time (thereby increasing pressure to deal with it immediately it gets in).
- Instant Messaging discourages very detailed, thoroughly written communication. The UX of instant messaging often does not cater for well written posts that give context and guidance for when you’re not present to explain.
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use these tools. Every single tool has places where they shine (e.g Slack is amazing with integrations) and places where they fall short (e.g the stickiness of messages).
There are always solutions to still get the kind of remote work environment you want. You may use Slack AND Notion to get a bit of the best of both worlds (with regards to integrations and stickiness). The important thing is to be aware of these in-built “flaws” and avoid their manifestation where possible.
There are occasions where instant messaging is useful, such as emergencies, but it’s better to use it as sparingly as possible.
If you’re working in a role like support, where you need to respond as fast as possible to user issues, this doesn’t apply.
What is the alternative to Instant Messaging?
Tools like Notion & Basecamp are great for avoiding disruptive communication.
- Both are designed for well thought out, detailed written communication. Be it a post on a message board or a task you’re assigning to a teammate, you’re always greeted with the UX to write and format your text to your heart’s content.
- They’re also designed for sticky communication. You can easily find what was written or assigned to you because it’s saved in a logical “project” or “folder” that pertains to that subject matter.
Notifications are (mostly) bad
Notifications are bad for pretty much the same reasons instant messaging is bad. They’re disruptive and will distract from what’s currently being worked on.
More often than not, it is much better to “pull” information when you’re ready to. As opposed to it being “pushed” to via an instant notification that takes your attention away from your work.
Most tools have granular notification settings (that are unfortunately enabled by default) but it is generally better to get less notifications. As long as your teammates communicate properly and can trust that you’ll eventually get to it. All is well.
Turn off as many notifications as you can… yes, including email.
That (Zoom) meeting is a waste of time
Meetings are the Thanos of Synchronous Work. They’re interruptive and more often than not, unnecessary. Most meetings can be supplanted well written communication and asynchronous responses.
A lot of the time, meetings still need to be transcribed into writing so as to be able to refer to what was said at a later time. This may happen proactively in the form of minutes or in bits and pieces as the information is dispersed, broken down into smaller tasks & communications. It’s almost always better to forgo the meeting itself and just write.
This isn’t to say that all meetings are unnecessary. It is sometimes useful to get members of the team talking. It’s useful for exchanging ideas and solving a problem in real time.
However, one should strive to keep these at a minimum, especially when they’re unplanned as those give everybody too little time to factor it into their work day.
If meetings must be held, then they should be scheduled at a time that’s designed to not disrupt the work a teammate is trying to do.
At BuyCoins, everybody sets out time on their calendar that they’re able to meet. These are called office hours. No meetings are booked outside of this “office hours” window.
My favourite tools
- Basecamp: This is built with asynchronous, healthy remote work as the priority. Basecamp deprioritises instant, synchronous communication and pushes users towards adding detailed tasks & writing detailed posts.
- Notion: Notion has more tools to format detailed written communication (e.g Basecamp doesn’t have tables). A lot of the time, we write things in Notion and then post on Basecamp so that teammates can easily find those posts when they’re looking at the activity that concerns them.
These are just my current personal favourites. It doesn’t mean you should just use them right away. Companies are always different, especially on the inside. Yours might have certain characteristics and constraints that other tools might be better suited to.
A Note about Remote Work in Nigeria
Nigeria is not exactly overflowing with reliable access to internet and power. There are definitely instances where remote work is close to impossible because nobody can count on this very important infrastructure to exist at home.
However, wherever there’s some reasonable amount of access to power and internet, Nigeria (Lagos, especially) is a very good case for more asynchronous remote work:
- For one, teammates work when they can. There’s less pressure to do things when your ISP has some service disruption. You can finish up when it’s back up and running, or when you turn on the generator or whenever. It’s no problem, your team trusts that you want to and will work.
- Commuting in Nigeria, especially Lagos, can be hell. Traffic is insane and our entire transportation infrastructure is so bad that it’s extremely shocking that people go to work every. single. day. Those are potentially productive hours that we never get back. The entire experience also affects the mental capability and eagerness to do good work. Eliminating commuting as much as possible is good.
At BuyCoins, prior to the COVID lockdown, we weren’t a completely remote team. There are many reasons for it not being 100% remote, some of which have been mentioned above.
- We have 2 days where people mostly have to come to work. Partly because we have “all hands meetings” on Mondays (every two weeks) & Game Nights on Fridays.
- Confirmed employees (3 months of being hired) get to choose any two days between Tuesday and Thursday, every week, to work remotely.
- Employees can work remotely if they have a reason to be at home. It could be anything from having a plumber coming over to fix a broken pipe to just not having energy for today’s crazy traffic.
- Sometimes, people need to just go somewhere that isn’t the office to work. That’s fine too. Even if it’s not a preselected remote day.
However, asynchronous, trustful, communicative work is part of our DNA and transitioning to a full remote workforce came naturally.
We didn’t have to change much. Except Game Nights and even that, we’ve done fantastically.
As a final note
Again, companies are very different on the inside and as such, a lot of the above has to be applied with context. The important thing is to keep those important axioms (trust, ability & desire to work, async work and comms) in mind and to aspire to them.
Remote work doesn’t have to be something that everybody in an organisation does.
Neither does it have to be done all at once.
However, it is something that should be seriously considered and likely implemented in some capacity. Failing to do so is failing to take an opportunity to increase efficiency and overall team morale.
