Work Together Anywhere

CHAPTER 5Transitioning Toward the Remote Option

“A successful remote working environment is a two-way street: the company must prepare for it just as much as the employee does.”

—KA WAI CHEUNG, The DoneDone Blog¹

For those readers who are unsure about whether to try out the remote option, the straight-up advice comes down to just a few points. Even separate from the benefits of staying competitive and attracting top-notch talent, a company would be wise to develop into a remote-first operation for two reasons. (As noted in chapter 2, “remote-first” indicates that, at minimum, an organization is prepared for employees to occasionally work off-site if the need arose, especially for emergency reasons.) First, with a remote-first setup, your company’s productivity need not be lessened by even one day, regardless of what illness or traffic or weather or worse affects your workforce. And second, the unanimous opinion is that a remote-first operation is stronger and more viable. In short, the work you’d need to do to prepare for the remote option will greatly benefit your operation, whether or not anyone actually goes remote.

The term “remote-first” derives from the earlier term “mobile-first.” As Ka Wai Cheung describes in a blog post, Luke Wroblewski first presented the concept of mobile-first in 2009 in response to web design at the time when mobile internet use, via tablets and especially smartphones, was proving to be more than just a minor concern—and one that rendered ...