Industry professionals, work trip conference, multiple speakers, I want my audience to feel that I am knowledgable. Organization. Think about reading the room. They will likely be pretty hyped. What is the room going to be like? If people are in a really great mood, match that mood. Talking about something to break the ice in the room. I don't know about you guys I nerd out about and I'm here to teach you guys about SVGs. 30-35 mins You're not their favorite band, they don't know all your songs. How can you bridge the gap between rock star and being a teacher?
Remote: Hacking the
World's Genius
@robyn_larsen | r@robynlarsen.ca
Slides: robynlarsen.ca/speaking/remote/
Good Morning everyone, thank you so much for joining today, I am so excited to be here. CAMP continues to be a source of incredible inspiration for me. Today, I hope to give you another source of reference for integrating remote working/living. For both managers and employees who want there organization to shift to a remote model. For the sake of time, today's talk is only a snippet of the thesis I have about Hacking the World's Genius. It's a huge topic I'd love to discuss further so feel free to reach out afterwards if you're interested.
former nuclear engineer turned front end developer
aka major nerd and amateur gnar schredder
Former nuclear engineer turned front end developer. The nerdiest thing I've ever done, is work on reactors in the Hanain region of China. Career transitions are one of my favorite topics so if you want to know more, again feel free to reach out. If you're ever in Revelstoke, hit me up on twitter, that's usually where I can be found in my down time each winter.
On a daily basis you will find me working on Zona Fitness Academy
phuse.ca
as a front end developer with Phuse. We partner with clients to craft forward-thinking web and mobile experiences that increase conversion, productivity, and customer satisfaction.
So before I dive into the secret sauce bits I need to talk about the catalyst that lead to this point. The Story: Gridlock
How many of you have experienced this daily grind?
The Catalyst - Problem
Commuting Life Away
3:20 hrs - 5 days a week
Two years ago this is where I found myself. Living in the Greater Toronto Area, commuting at minimum 1:40 each way. I was exhausted, was unable to take care of my health, my relationoship. I felt under valued and under appreciated. It became a catalyst that forced me to start asking questions. Was this going to be my everyday? Did it have to be? Can we redefine the way we are working and interacting with our teams to have a healthier lifestyle?
The Dream:
For me, the ultimate dream is to be in complete control of my time. Time is a finite resource. We never get back. The dream. Finding a way to work on meaningful projects where I want, when I am most productive, alongside incredibly passionate people I admire and respect.
For a moment, let's go back to the gridlock.
- Why do we work 9 to 5? The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 institutionalized the 40-hour workweek and for a time it was seen as an improvement over the harsh days and long hours that many could still recall. The 9 to 5 Day Workday as Liberation - almost 80 years later and we're still following this model? Hacking Productivity
Let's apply hacking to our daily routine. Now that we know where 9 to 5 came from we can realize that maybe it doesn't apply any longer? Maybe, we should be redefining the rules.
Let's go back to the optimal daily routine. Why do we work 9 to 5? Where did that come from?
- This is what I did and what worked for me
- Not many people that would take
- Give them the tips and tricks along the way, maybe they're just not sitting in traffic
- Building strong human connection by getting out of that ridiculous shell we built around us and realizing we are all just humans.
- You can always make conesssions and changes.
This is one of the ways indivduals look at hacking. Some dude breaking into coporations, government's infastructure to steal information and sell it to the higest bidder.
Add a hacker in the basement
hacking
v. the act of engaging in activities (such as programming or other medium) in a spirit of playfulness and exploration. *Wikipedia
Hacking has evolved into a concept of consistent iteration. Experimentation in effort to achieve a certain outcome. Wikipedia: The hacker culture is a subculture of individuals who enjoy the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming limitations of software systems to achieve novel and clever outcomes. And I dont' believe this is limited to software systems. Let's simplify that. It simply means trying and learning fast, and taking the most effective path forward. Be brave enough to iterate, again, and again The Integrated State
For me, the dream is living within the integrated state, living a life full of purpose and meaning. That's where the magic happens. The integrated state allows us to live in a world where reaching flow with work and play is consistent and easy. This is where we can take back control of the way we are spending our time. Be intentional about the way we are spending our time. Ideal Year
6 weeks in Alberta
5 weeks in Toronto
5 weeks scattered between Chicago, SF, Victoria and Vancouver
4 weeks surfing in Nicaragua
Daily Routine
6:00am wakeup, coffee/eggs
6:30 - 11am coding
11 - 1pm gym, shower, lunch, nap
1 - 4 pm coding & meetings
There's a few things about this schedule that will strike most people as odd. How many programmers do you know that, by choice, code at 630am? The next thing you'll see is a nap because I prefer to skip the post lunch food coma where you can barely keep your eyes open. In this schedule you see a 6 hour working day, and meetings in the afternoon. My day is heavily based on Paul Graham's makers schedule. A concept I read about a few years ago. All of this is done with intent to ensure the most productive day. This understanding came about through hacking my productivity for about 8 months. It's about the continued deep understanding of self in order to be our most productive and happiest versions of ourselves.
But Robyn,
You don't need to be a developer to redefine the way you live, work, and play. Continue the iteration, accessing the good parts of your day to day. If companies like Invision, BaseCamp, Amazon, IBM, JPMorgan can be fully or have some form of hybrid remote working? why can't we all find some version of a system like this to work?
Integrating Remote Life
Redefining the way you live work and play.
The Case For and Against Remote Working
Notes from Dave:
You should list the target as that:
I think your claim is already that it is good, which puts the onus on you to prove that and sell to both managers and employees why they should go through the process of testing it Ground Rules
So let's get into the meat of what we're hear to talk about today. I'll point out that remote working is not not for every company, and it certainly might not work for every individual. Ground Rules
for managers & employees who want their organization to shift to a remote model
Ground Rules
for managers & employees who want their organization to shift to a remote model
remote working might not work for you as an individual
Ground Rules
for managers & employees who want their organization to shift to a remote model
remote working might not work for you as an individual
it might not work for every company and the culture
Ground Rules
for managers & employees who want their organization to shift to a remote model
remote working might not work for you as an individual
it might not work for every company and the culture
it is not about the good vs bad it is about how you can start testing if it will work for your org.
Fun Facts
About 25% of all US employees work remotely all or most of the time *Gallup
Case Studies: IRL
Alright so where's the proof. I'm not saying we need to be 100% for or against this. I'm saying there are ways you can test to see if this is right for you. First experience with integrating a remote working policy
- Partial policy
- Part of my contract negotiation
- WFH Every Wednesday
- 6 weeks in Alberta
- From a junior developer standpoint it was challenging
- Pair Programming (ScreenHero) made this super easy
- Really supportive Senior Developers
If I can't see them how do I know they're working?
People have an amazing ability to live down to low expectations. *Remote
To overcome this, (if possible), as an employee, it's important that you remain visible and are shipping actual deliverables.
Case Study #2
Similar but different
Experimentation Mindset
Started with 1 day per week for one person (3 months)
Then 2 days per month for all employees (9 months)
Current: Now 1 day per week for everyone and 8 fully remote employess
Case Study #2
Lead to multiple fully remote employees
1 day/week remote working and 8 fully remote employees
100 person team
Designers, developers, business development, project manager and QA1 day every week for every employee, flexibility, tested what worked and what didn't, moved slowly and tested
Case Study #3
Integrate remote working trials into your current team environment
How to start converting your team into a distributed workforce
Policies and process to start experimenting with remote working in traditional working environments
Enable your team to optimize for productivity
Create career flexibility to pursue new experiences through modern technology Fully Distributed Team
13 full time employees
30 hour work weeks
Multple time zones from Africa to Seattle
Standardizing the way we communicate
This is the number one item. At Phuse we are incredibly transparent with all our client communication through Slack. Communication
Out in the open.
Communication
Overcommunication - with team and clients
Key: A Culture of Good Communication
Did you get the point yet? Being apart of something larger
A lot of companies do town halls, quarterly meetings. Everything for us as phuse is out in the open. We know what the company is strivig for and The virtual water cooler
You are in control of your social interactions
For introverts, Slack as a Medium of communication unlocked amazing potential. It allowed those who would naturally shy away from conversation engage. Cultivating
Spontaneous Interaction
Rationing in-person meetings, their stature is evelvated to a rare treat.
~ Remote, Basecamp
Magic vs Work
From Mayer: "people are more productive when they're alone, but they're more collaborative and innovative when they're together."
Yahoo Killed Working From Home
At Phuse we meet once a year for a hackathon style week. The mornings are generally used for client work and the afternoons are used for putting together a project. This year we built our project manager a dashboard for overall viewing of all the projects she manages. It's been a huge success. Experimenting with Remote Life
Alright so your boss isn't totally convinced this is going to work with the entire team. Where does the happy medium lay? How can we test a hypothesis? It starts with one person. Then it goes into Discpline & Personal Commitment
Setting boundaries.
It's not always easy to set boundaires. Kids will be kids, demanding your attention right now and yoru spouse, just like a coworker, might not realize that an interuption to show you the Internet's latest hit meme is not what the productivity doctor ordered. Non-Discpline
What about when I just can't get into working?
At Phuse, we are not against going for a walk? If you come back and still are not feeling inpsired to work then take the day off and come back. We work a 30 hour weeks, which gives flexibility to play. It also opens up a lot of room for creativity. Personal Challenges
Because everything has trade-offs.
Losing that imposed structure might requires a new level of personal commitment to come up witha nd stick with an alternative work frame. That's more responsbility than may be apparent at first, especially for natural procrastinators. Talent
Building a global community and accessing the best talent
We live in a really interesting world where your self worth is heavily defined by the job title you hold. By transactional relationships. How can we move beyond that in order to build an integrated community? One that foster's new ideas through collaboration and spontaenous interaction. Talent
Personal and Professional Growth
Hiring
Getting the RIGHT people on the bus
At Phuse, we are slow to hire. Everybody on the team has a say when bringing someone on.
Don't ask for resumes - interviews are conversations. Set the expectation about how our interview process is.
1 hour projects
1 actual project
- Slack - alot happens organically in slack
- Donut (Slack Integration) to connect randomly
- ScreenHero for pair programming
- Trello
- Dropbox
- Sketch
- Zeplin
- InVision
- GitHub
- Harvest
- Jell
- Google Drive
- Forecast The Integrated State
For me, the dream is living within the integrated state, living a life full of purpose and meaning. That's where the magic happens. The integrated state allows us to live in a world where reaching flow with work and play is consistent and easy. This is where we can take back control of the way we are spending our time. Be intentional about the way we are spending our time. Non-Traditional Approaches
What does non-traditional look like? Let's take an example. Everybody hates email. It takes hours to read and hours to answer. Email is and continues to be my least favorite tool for communication. When I was changing careers this meant sending a cold message via LinkedIn asking people that worked in companies I wanted to work for about the good bad and ugly. It meant finding a way to connect with them on a personal level so it didn't feel transactional or needy. It meant, meeting with 3-4 people a day for 7 straight weeks, to see if the opportunity was there to work together. To go to the next person. This meant volunteering my time to emcee at conferences and being brave enough not to shit my pants while I was standing on stage. All of these steps have lead to fostering relationships within a global community. These are all very untraditional ways of approaching a pretty common problem.
Connect with the world's genius. Redefine the way you
Make a plan. Plan to fail. But continue the iteration.
Thank You
Questions?
Slides: robynlarsen.ca/speaking/remote/
#teamRemote || @robyn_larsen
Industry professionals, work trip conference, multiple speakers, I want my audience to feel that I am knowledgable. Organization. Think about reading the room. They will likely be pretty hyped. What is the room going to be like? If people are in a really great mood, match that mood. Talking about something to break the ice in the room. I don't know about you guys I nerd out about and I'm here to teach you guys about SVGs. 30-35 mins You're not their favorite band, they don't know all your songs. How can you bridge the gap between rock star and being a teacher?
