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Interview, Working Remotely

Interview with a Remote Developer: Brian Cobb

Hi Brian, thanks for taking some time to chat with Remote Nation. Tell us a little about yourself and your remote working situation.

I develop software for a living working out of San Francisco, California (specifically, my living room). I work here just about every day though I have worked in some co-working spaces in the city. Occasionally I work out of a coffee shop down the street, Bernie’s.

How long have you been working remotely?

Since June of 2011. Well, let me clarify: I’ve been working at Fullstack since June 2011, but when I started I worked out of the main office in Iowa City. The first time that I truly worked remotely was right around Thanksgiving 2011. I worked out of Clarksville, Missouri because we were visiting family in Louisiana, Missouri, and Clarksville had the closest cafe with Internet.

Tell us about your typical work day.

I get up at 6:00 PST every day and get to work by 7:00, which is a change from my time schedule when I worked out of Iowa [when I got into the office around 8:00]. It’s nice to be on by 7:00 because I know that I will get at least an hour or two in before the East coast heads to lunch. The most constant thing in my morning ritual is coffee, but I also try to take 10 minutes at the beginning of the day to just write some code for fun or just write in general. It’s like the first pancake: I burn something that doesn’t matter to kind of get the juices flowing.

Why did you choose to work remotely?

It was a combination of just wanting to work at Fullstack, regardless of the fact that it was a completely remote company, and also at the time I knew that I wasn’t planning on staying in Iowa for more than another year or two. At my previous job, they had bad experiences with people working remotely which I think was more a comment on the job than remote work in general.

Other than your home/office, where else have you worked from?

Co-working spaces have been the best experience since they tend to be more reliable than your average coffee shop. Sometimes [cafe wireless] just cuts out, and then it’s not a conducive place for work.

What is the biggest benefit to working remotely? Biggest challenge?

I think the biggest benefit is that I feel extremely comfortable in my work environment. I don’t work in the nude or anything: I still try to treat it like a ‘job’, otherwise I don’t think I would take my job seriously. I know exactly what is around me—it’s hard to describe the feeling. I know that if I need to focus, I can. I can be very intentional about my environment.

As for challenges, there is nothing like a water cooler, so you don’t just happen to see someone and ask them how their weekend was. You have to be a little more deliberate about [getting to know people]. It’s not an obvious thing to do, especially when you first start working remotely. Communicating effectively in general is just a little more difficult when you have to either write something or speak but you can’t demonstrate or read body language.

When you are sitting with somebody in a meeting, you can look at them and most of the time you can tell if they’re frustrated, but when you’re on a call there could just be silence on the wire and you have no idea that they are sitting behind the screen steaming mad.

How do you minimize distractions while working from home/office?

There are two ways that I can get distracted. One of them is environmental factors. Right now the maintenance people are sawing stuff right outside of my apartment. It’s a little distracting and there’s not much I can do about that, but then there are other distractions which I might divide into two categories:

Skype conversations which are potentially relevant to what I am doing, but sometimes I don’t want to have my attention taken. So I’ll be sensitive to that and twiddle with notification settings. Maybe I want a half hour of complete silence over Skype unless somebody talks to me directly. I’ll basically tell Skype to not pop up in my dock.
If I find myself distracted by Twitter or my feeds, I try to use that distraction as a feedback mechanism. “Why am I tempted to look at this stuff?” Usually it’s because I either don’t want to do what I am currently doing or it’s just that I don’t know enough about what I am doing and I need to ask someone for guidance or clarification.

Which app could you not live without for remote working?

Google Docs. I use it in two ways that I find indispensable:

As a really quick whiteboard that I can use on calls. I know there are probably actual apps that can act as whiteboards between several parties, but Google Docs is the lowest barrier to entry out of anything that I have seen. You can send anybody a link and they can edit it.
As my own personal place to dump ideas—I just find it a good environment for writing. When I use it as a dumping ground, then I won’t necessarily share the document with anybody else. But if I do, there is no friction to sharing.

What do you wear to work?

Usually jeans and a sweater. I do wear slippers to work– ‘Slipper Driven Development.’–my feet might as well be comfortable. If I wore, like, PJs I don’t think that I would take my job very seriously.

Silence or music? Rdio or Spotify?

It really depends on the day. There are some days where I need to have music. I use Spotify.

Any pets that work with you?

I have a cat sleeping on my desk right now, his name is Cashmere.

Any advice you would give to others who are considering working remotely?

You’re not going to enjoy working remotely if you don’t already enjoy what you do in the office. Be aware of the additional work you’re going to have to put in to communicate effectively with all of your coworkers. That said, if you have the opportunity to try it out, I would really recommend doing it because there is not a great way to approximate it without actually doing it.

Thanks Brian!

It was nice catching up with Brian and getting some insights into his remote working story. I work with Brian pretty regularly, but it was nice to hear how he runs things out in San Francisco.
Keep tabs on Brian and follow him at twitter.com/bcobb

March 7, 2015 by remotenation

Designers, Interview, Working Remotely

How to manage a remote agency: an interview with a Remote Working Guru, Josh Cramer

Remote Nation conducted an exclusive interview with Josh Cramer of Fullstack, a high-end design and development agency that’s 100% remote. Be sure to read how Josh is able to manage a large team effectively, while building great products.

Remote Nation: What was your first traditional workplace environment like? Looking back, do you see any elements there that began to push you into favoring remote working?  

Josh Cramer: I worked as an engineer in a photovoltaics manufacturing company. I designed and built the machines that made the solar cells. The facility that I worked in was a 15 minute commute each way. That’s 30 minutes of driving per day in traffic (and one hour if I came home for lunch). The work environment was fine and I just accepted the commute time as normal.However, once I started working in a situation without the commute, I realized just how much stress that time in the car caused each day. I’ve gone long periods without driving a car and would find myself getting very stressed when having to drive anywhere. Although I think we can get conditioned to better deal with the stress of a commute, I think we’d all be a lot happier if we didn’t have to do it. Slate and The Economist have reported on the scientifically proven correlation between happiness and the length of your commute.  I love the flexibility to be able to commute to a co-working space if I want or to work out of the home office if I feel like it.

RN: Building on this point, what are some the factors that lead you to embrace remote working for your recent businesses?Cramer: I think there is value to being in the same place together in a centralized office, but that doesn’t mean we have to be together every day all day in order to do our best work. I think cutting out commute time and being closer to your family are benefits that should not be overlooked just because of our non-remote work traditions.Beyond that, I think many talented people want to live in parts of the country that may not have work opportunities that best match their specific talents. Building a remote working opportunity can unlock potential for these people and for the business that is willing to hire them. I’ve definitely recognized that and have taken advantage of it over the years. It benefits both sides.RN: Remote working gained substantial media attention a few years ago when Yahoo! and other companies decided to no longer allow people to work from home. What are some suggestions you’d offer to employers who are considering taking similar action?  Cramer: If people are taking advantage of a remote working situation for their own gain at the expense of the company, that is a good indicator that you don’t have the right people on your team. The right people will respect the company that is employing them and give their best effort to make that company successful regardless of whether they work from home or the office. With Yahoo!, that clearly wasn’t happening and something needed to be done. I think we’ve seen that the problems ran much deeper for Yahoo! than the remote work situation. Just getting people in the same office is not enough to make your company successful.  The lesson here is to get the right people on the team and the wrong people off the team. Create an environment in which remote team members can participate with everyone else on a completely level playing field. Make a commitment to help team members whether they work from the central office or from their home offices.

RN: It is easy to argue that a geographically centric office can more effectively build a stronger work culture than a remote/distributed work environment. What are some steps you think businesses with remote workers can do to also build a strong work environment?

Cramer: I tend to agree that it is easier to build a stronger work culture in a geographically centric office as compared to a remote scenario. However, I think it is possible to build a positive culture in a remote team if you have the right people on the team.  I think the answer is to facilitate structure for the team. If there is no structure, it is so easy for remote workers to drift off into their own caves and not interact with others on the team. However, if good structure is in place, each remote team member has an opportunity to interact with others on the team in positive ways. Creating the right structures and contexts for interaction is the fabric of culture. In a centralized office, some of these structures and contexts happen naturally, but in a remote setting, it is necessary to be more intentional about these things.

RN: Being able to successfully work remotely is a skill set that takes time to develop. What steps do you take as an employer to make sure someone is ready for a distributed work environment?

  Cramer: The easiest way to deal with this is to hire people who have had prior experience working as part of a remote team. If that is not the case, you really need to look for evidence that the individual is self directed and can operate autonomously for the most part. I do think in most cases that if an individual can be successful in a self directed capacity working in an centralized office setting, there will be no trouble translating this to a remote setting.  Other things you can do are to set up regular status meetings with people to monitor progress. We’ve used short daily standup meetings with remote team members to create a regular daily opportunity for managers to interact with team members. One of the items on the agenda is, “What roadblocks are you facing today?” Forcing everyone to answer this question exposes any problems that may be impeding progress. It also creates an opportunity to solve any problems at a regular known time so that everyone can get back to work. This is arguably more efficient than the interruption style of roadblock removal that is more present in centralized offices.

RN: The idea of being able to work from home, a favorite coffee shop, or wherever one wants sounds ideal, but what are some obstacles you think unprepared remote workers might experience?

Cramer: I’ve seen some people try to work remotely without establishing proper boundaries. This can create a lot of problems for remote workers. If you are working from a home office or a coffee shop or the beach, you are still working. It is important to make sure that the environment that you are working in is conducive to productivity. This means that you should not have any other responsibilities that may distract you, like watching the kids, waiting for the plumber to show up, etc. Also, I think a quiet place to work is essential if you ever have to talk to other people you work with.  We’ve had team members try to work 100% out of various coffee shops in the past. Between the bad WiFi, loud background noise, and variable conditions at coffee shops, it really starts to take a toll on productivity. In my view, this is not professional or acceptable.  This may mean that you have to talk with your spouse or roommate to make sure they understand your commitment. It also means that you’ll need to create a dedicated workspace that is distraction free. We present our team members with the concept of a minimum viable office that defines these conditions for them.

RN: Tracking progress and meeting milestones is paramount to the success of every business, what are some programs that you rely on to make sure everyone is on track?

Cramer: We are heavy users of Trello, Harvest, Pivotal Tracker, Slack, and Google Apps. There are a large variety of excellent tools out there than can help remote teams keep on track even better than centralized teams using a whiteboard. I think this is really a matter of each team figuring out which system is best for them.

RN: Overall, how do you think you have professionally and personally benefitted from having a business that allows for remote working?

Cramer:   I’ve been able to be closer to my family. Interacting with them at lunch every day is great. I’ve also been able to travel more. I have regularly gone on more extended trips than I otherwise would have been able to, because I’m able to work at full capacity while on the road.  I think building and managing a remote team has also forced me to build a more organized and efficient system behind the company. I believe we’ve benefited from better documentation and systems. A geographically centric team that I’ve been a part of in the past was more apt to rely on ad-hoc communication to make things work. While this isn’t bad, having everything be part of a clearly documented and universally accessible system has benefits that cannot be overstated. A remote team needs to do this in order to survive.

RN: Finally, for companies considering remote working, what are some books and sources you’d recommend they read?

  Cramer: The books Remote and Rework [both by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson] are good introductory books on the topic. Also, the RemoteNation.co website is a great source to keep an eye on 😉

March 4, 2015 by remotenation

Designers, Working Remotely

A Day in the Life of a Remote Designer

When I chat with friends about work they often wonder what it is like to work remotely on a day-to-day basis, so I thought I would give a quick rundown of my typical day.

Setting the Stage

I work on the design team for Fullstack, which employs a full staff of remote workers. We create sites and apps that range from WordPress to Rails and iOS.

At the time, there are 14 members of the team whose titles include Project Manager, Product Manager, Software Developer, Office Manager and Product Designer. I work alongside three other Product Designers from my home in Iowa City, Iowa (soon to be Kansas City!).

How It Goes Down

Once I punch the clock, time flies. Our agile workflow is fast paced and the next thing I know I will have spent 8-plus hours in a chair.

Knowing this, I like to get up a little before 7:00, head downstairs to my desk (without waking everybody up) and put in some ‘Ryan’ time. I typically spend 30-45 minutes either sketching, painting, reading RSS feeds or working on a Dribbble shot. Prior to working here, this little bit of free time would have been consumed commuting downtown and circling the streets for a parking spot.

After this mental cleansing is through, I make my presence known on Skype where we interact through a variety of group chats–one for each project I’m on, a designer chat, an entire Fullstack team chat and other miscellaneous topical workgroups (UX, writing, agile, etc.).

We are not a large team, yet we span the U.S. from coast to coast with people representing three of the four time zones. This means there is occasionally some activity after I sign off in the evening, but nothing that a quick five minute scan can’t absorb.

Getting Down to Business

At that point I turn on my Harvest timer and begin working on my assignments (aka stories) in Pivotal Tracker. This makes up the bulk of my day and its really no different than if I were working in an office. Same tools, same meetings, occasional chats with coworkers… pretty routine stuff less the unwanted office chatter about your favorite style of cottage cheese.

I typically peek upstairs at some point during the morning, spending just enough time to say ‘hi’ to the family and inhale a piece of peanut butter and jelly toast. Then I’m right back at it.

After a few hours of grinding in Coda, Xcode or Photoshop its time to grab a quick bite with the family (homecooking #ftw!). Lunch for me used to be an escape from a dreadful cubicle, taking the long way to lunch and eating too much in order to relieve the environmental stress. Now I get to see my family and eat real food, what a concept!

The afternoon moves quick. I’ll share progress shots with my teammates via Skype, process feedback and push code to our company github account. If I need more info or get stuck, help is only a quick chat or call away.

Feeling like I need a change of pace, I may bounce to a coffee shop or simply stand and work at a taller surface in the house… better yet, if the weather is nice I can grab a seat on the porch!

Between 4:30 and 5:00 I let everybody know I’m signing off, scratch down a few notes, walk upstairs and catch up with the family.

The Payoff

After writing this post, it is even more apparent to me where exactly remote working is paying off. Time spent driving and parking is now spent with my family and on personal projects.

It’s also more apparent to me that there are some aspects I could improve upon. For starters, I should get out of the house (or chair*) more–work in a regular run, poach wireless from a local coffee joint, or attend a Meetup.

From a career perspective, I’m happier than ever largely because I work remotely with a great group of people. Communication is more efficient, I am more productive and my quality of life has improved. How can you argue with that?

My advice: Just say ‘no’ to cubicle life.

* Do you sit all day too? You should stop that–Sitting Down Infographic

December 18, 2014 by Ryan Kearins