How do we operate 100% remotely
First of all, I hope you are keeping healthy and save. My prayers are for those already impacted by the COVID-19 - I wish them a speedy recovery. Also, my deepest thanks to those medical professionals who are fighting on the battlefront to make this crisis less damaging.
Secondly, I wanted to share our story of how we became a 100% remote software company back in 2014; and, the tools that we use to operate on a daily basis. Perhaps this information will help you operate remotely in times of self-isolation.
To start, we convinced ourselves that we were capable by noticing that much larger and more complex organizations than we were, were remote too, including Mozilla, Wikipedia, and even Knack. Also, the boom in cloud platforms like Google G Suite and AWS, allowed us to think that being 100% remote was possible.
Every Monday we have a company wide meeting that lasts an hour and thirty minutes sharp. With the whole of the team present, the purpose is to review what was done the previous week, check our goals, and define the agenda for the week that begins. This meeting is held via Google Meet.
Daily, the project manager does a 5-minute follow up meeting with the team on each of the active projects to find out about any blockage or updates, in the execution of tasks. Communication within the team is via Slack.
In the course of the week several sporadic meetings are held, planned or unplanned, but essential for the continuity of the projects. If a meeting need to be recorded, we use Zoom.
Our mostly used collaboration tools are:
Zoom / Hangouts - For virtual conferences
Google G Suite - As a corporate application platform
Slack / Email - For internal or external communications
Additionally, we require the entire team to have a minimum internet speed at home of 20 Mbps, and we provide noise reducing headsets to all.
Our experience has been extremely positive. Since we started as a remote agency, we have experienced our greatest growth. We went from being a small agency of 4 people back in 2014, to 13 people in 2020.
Not to mention other collateral benefits of being remote, such as lower operational costs, greater accessibility to human talent who works in cities other than our headquarters, and more time with our loved ones.
Finally, we complement our remote life with personal meetings every 2 months. These meetings are not only for work, but for leisure, including summer walks to nearby beaches. All with the purpose of humanizing a company that is 100% remote.
Keep healthy, keep save.
Alejandro Zakzuk
Chief Executive Officer.
Soluntech, Inc.
Alejandro Zakzuk, CEO at Soluntech