This article is the first of a series. I respond to questions from a colleague or friend by writing a post.
Let’s ignore the technology stack for now and look at remote work.
The employee.
For which employee does remote work make sense? Three reasons:
The work is better done outside the office
For me, these are things like reading contracts, doing deeper thinking and strategy and sometimes writing. Other tasks, like going through the pipeline, following up and handling
The worker is not where the work is
Sometimes a company does not have an office close to an employee it wants to work with. Than, remote work is the only way out.
Same amount of labor but different sequencing of tasks makes life better
Sometimes private tasks require little time but presence at home. Example, letting in a technician into the home and maybe pointing out what the problem is. This does not require much time, but it does require the presence.
The company
For a company remote work makes sense if
The labor force demands it
Companies need employees. If critical employees demand the ability to do remote work, than ultimately a company is forced to provide remote work.
The employees are more productive
If the employees are more productive by remote work, a company must adopt it to survive.
The owners / management demands it
If the owners of the company (which sometimes = the management) wants remote work. Well, then they just decide to do it.
Workflows and other issues for remote work
On the right, the issues. The sum of what we discussed before. A small explanation next to it. On the right, the alternative design or process.
What is the best software stack for remote work?
Well, what do we need?
Certainly a way to communicate ad-hoc, the options here are obvious: Email, Zoom, WhatsApp, Slack, Wherby, whatever.
A way to manage information and set goals, and manage task - tools like Asana, Notion, Code, Google Docs, Office, Airtable are of great use. A variety of OKR and goal management software complements this.
A way to have space to work in - WeWork, tax deductions for home offices under German law, Co-Working spaces.
The technology is there, what is missing?
Strategy. It is very difficult to design goals good enough to make work delegatable so that remote work is feasible. The lack of well designed goals derives from a lack strategy.
Trust. Management does need to trust into a) the goals it set and b) the employees doing them. That is very difficult and needs to be learned.
