HACKER Q&A
📣 nicolasbistolfi

What are the key processes for a remote-first company?


Any company needs processes, they are clearly more necessary for a remote-first company.

It's important to be pragmatic and don't over-design processes. I believe some companies take advantage of being remote to micro-manage or add extra layers of control over their employee's work-life.

Besides that, there's no point on generating extra information that no one will ever review or use to take action.

For me, key processes should focus on: - Team communication - Simple day to day reporting - Self-management tools and goal-oriented thinking

I've learned a lot from Zapier's guide but I think some stuff might be an overkill https://zapier.com/learn/remote-work/

Here is a draft we are working on at my company https://www.notion.so/piio/The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Work-at-Piio-fb3b341e30be454cba6cc760aee4103e

  👤 mrwzy Accepted Answer ✓
> Hire people who are ok without a social workplace

>>> Local support system: If the only support system someone has is their work one, then being in a remote environment will likely make them go crazy. You need people who have outside support systems so they have people they can interact with on a daily/weekly basis.

I found this really interesting. We've been a "remote first" company for about 2 years now, after being a non-remote company for the prior 3 years to this. Initially, the feedback on remote was great from employees. However, more recently the feedback from 1 on 1s is that "It's not as fun anymore", "I miss the with colleagues ", from certain people. I think these people fall into this category of not having a strong social life / support group outside of workmates.

👤 PopeDotNinja
A friend of mine said their engineering processes came from pooling their knowledge about what sucked at other places. So maybe focus more on what not to do?
👤 octokatt
I would also go for having people post office hours -- hours when they can be easily interrupted and answer questions.

This allows people to manage their energy and use their best time for deep work, and allows people who need an answer to know when a good time will be to virtually drop in and get an answer.

👤 sharma_pradeep
Like the buddy part. I can contribute to the list.