Remote: Office Not Required

I have the Kindle version. Well written with short segments on different aspects of remote working or telecommuting. I read it in an afternoon. I got the book because COVID-19 has driven me and my co-workers to social distancing by working from home. I'm finding telecommuting to be easier to implement than I expected. Trust is a central theme in the book. A second theme is culture or what I characterize as knowing what's expected. A good remote worker or telecommuters must produce good work. The authors also argue that half-hearted efforts at remote work will likely fail. Who ought to read this book? If social distancing impacts your workplace, then, whether you are a manager or worker, this book has useful lessons for you. Currently, I can see where remote working may become much more common than it has been. I strongly recommend the book. One head's up, the authors head the company that created the base camp software and base camp is mentioned frequently. I simply viewed this as establishing the authors' credentials and I wasn't bothered by this. I don't use basecamp myself.

I love the books from these two gentleman. Always succinct and to the point. There is a lot to like about about this book and much of it had matched my experience working remotely and some of it has given me some new ideas to help work remotely even more. One of the things that I think the authors have always done particularly well is talk about what has worked well for them. They have picked paths/products that gives them the life that they want to lead. And this is to be commended as it shows how to execute a strategy that works for a great life doing good work. I love it and try to live like this to. Will it work for everyone? Not really. A surgeon cannot work remotely. A company that has 24x7 service levels may not be in a position to schedule customer support staff in a way that works for everyone customer. Not everyone can be 37sjgnals but you need to be pragmatic about what you can do. I do like this book a lot. 4.5 is what I really want to give it.

Great book. I'm a fan of Rework which is the other Jason Fried book on making the work-world more efficient and this one meets the bar. If you liked Rework you'll like this book too. Contrary to some of the reviews, I found that there were plenty of suggestions for how to implement what he suggests. There are in fact full sections where he mentions tips. If you currently work remotely this book might seem basic but for the vast majority of office workers that either do not work work remotely or do so poorly, this book is a great help. It's also short enough that it makes for a quick read (I suggest the eBook). If you're already sold on the idea of working remotely, move straight to section 3, "How to Collaborate Remotely" and read from then on. Only suggestion for the author/editor is that some of the chapters should be a bit larger. In particular, "Beware the Dragons" could use more concrete examples and/or references to content outside the book.

Like many others, I liked Rework and I like 37signals, not only for what they do but also how they do it. They're just a cool bunch of people doing really great things, contributing to the world of IT - and to regular people and businesses every day. So I was really, really looking forward to Remote as a sequel to Rework that would be at the forefront of the remote work revolution. Unfortunately, the book falls short of expectations - at least mine. Don't get me wrong - it's a good read and it can be of value to many people. But I think the suggestions and solutions don't go nearly as far as they could go. And, as mentioned by others, it does lack in practical advice on how to set up things in your remote business. Essentially, it's promoting remote work concepts that could be implemented in existing businesses. However, in many areas the structure described in the book is still very rigid. People have fairly fixed working hours allotted per week and it is expected that they do put in about 40 hours. Why? What for? How is 40 hours better than 30 hours or 50 hours? I can't shake off a feeling that it's written for somebody who wants to loosen up existing corporations - but just a bit. I speak from a position of somebody who has been completely remote for the last 3 years, working with clients and a team of my partners on several continents. With most of them I've never even met face to face. Yet, we do complex marketing, design and web projects, we liaise with manufacturers in other countries (if need be) and designers 10,000km away from them. The concept of hourly work is, to me, completely out-dated, unless you're doing very time-bound activities, like customer support. For others there is simply one requirement - requirement of quality delivered by a specific dead line. How many hours of work you put in is irrelevant - it's the result that matters. And this approach creates completely new opportunities for remote work, because once you put stress on deliverables, not time, you don't have to supervise anybody. It's their job to do it within a time frame agreed. You don't pay per time spent, but per value delivered. That's the gateway to productivity increase - and growth in worker's happiness, because they are free to do whatever they want, wherever and whenever they want it, as long as they get things done. Remote doesn't even touch on these, focusing instead of making your existing enterprise a little bit more bearable for people. But many people are already way ahead of that.

The office was a response to a need. To get work done we needed groups of people in the same place at the same time. To be at work at the same time, 8:30 to 4:30, people needed to live close to their workplaces. Towns grew into cities and housing grew upward. Those who could not or would not live close to their workplaces spend more time in traffic. This book raises the issues of whether we all need offices. Why don’t we work from the place most convenient to us that day, at a time most convenient to us that day. The issue of remote and asynchonomous work could not be realistically raised ten years ago, but can certainly be today. We now have all the enabling technology to allow many types of work to be performed remotely. This includes the obvious call centre staff, but also the specialist repairman who can perform his work from afar. “Office not required,” the subtitle of this book, is not the future, the authors argue, it is the present. Why would anyone want to work remotely? There a many compelling reasons not least the wasted time spent on your daily commute. Stop and calculate the number of hours each week you spend getting to work. You could also add in the time it takes to get to clients for meetings. Then ask yourself what you would do with the time saved by not travelling. So, why do we not work remotely? Some types of office work cannot be done remotely, and that is not at issue. The issue is that much work can be done remotely. Before I pursue the argument for remote work further, let me answer the question of why large, thoughtful companies, are not doing it. The answer is they are. IBM, for example, has had their staff telecommuting since 1995 with a saving on office space of 7.2 million square metres. The authors offer various reasons for the resistance to remote work. A common argument is that innovation only happens through the magic of face to face contact. Let us presume for a moment that it is true and that creativity requires a group of people to be in the same place at the same time. How much time is spent creativity solving big problems? Very little, most of our time at work is spent executing the “big problems” and that can be done in so many cases, remotely. Even if there is a need for people to be together to work on issues, only a few moments on Skype or FaceTime is enough to establish who is present. Thereafter most of the work will be conducted on a shared computer screen where designs, text, or numbers are formulated and manipulated. These modes of collaboration are relatively low tech and inexpensive to use. Many are afraid that people cannot be trusted to be productive at home. The fact is that people can come to work and not be productive either. The real difference between coming to work and staying at home to work is little more than whether you wear a T-shirt or a dress shirt. As the authors point out: “If you can’t let your employees work from home out of fear they’ll slack off without your supervision, you’re a babysitter, not a manager. Remote work is very likely the least of your problems.” An argument against remote work is the effect it would have on the company culture which would wither away. Remote work is not an “all or nothing” type choice. Staff can be brought together a few times a week or a month to connect and preserve the culture. It is also worth noting that “culture” is not embodied in the company events, but in the manner in which the company works. It manifests in the behaviour of staff to one another, in the manner of treating customers, in the quality of work accepted, and so on. None of these culture building blocks are absent if people work remotely. The real question any discussion on remote work would need to address is why bother with the question of staff working remotely at all? I have already mentioned the time wasted on your daily commute to the office, but there also many work related issues. Where do you go when you want to do serious work? Very few people answer to the office without the qualification – very early in the morning, before anyone gets in, or after everyone leaves, or on weekends. Offices have become “interruption factories,” observe the authors. When a colleague is only a step away why not ask for information or an opinion or a document, now. If you were working remotely, would you send an email or a sms, or if it is really urgent, make phone for the same request. Of course, there are interruptions at home or in a coffee shop, but these are interruptions you can control more easily than a manager or colleague. Remote work allows, in many cases, for better quality work. “Squeezing slightly more words per hour out of a copywriter is not going to make anyone rich. Writing the best ad just very well might,” the authors note. Not having to live in Johannesburg to work for a firm in Johannesburg could be a huge incentive for someone who enjoys the more gentle life in the Paarl. For the firm it allows the search for talent to extend much wider than the immediate surroundings of the office. There is talent scattered all around the country and the world. Provided the type of work you do does not require you to be present at the office, there is no longer any compelling reason for being there all the time. The most difficult challenge many only be the mental shift – you are still working even if you don’t have an office. Readability Light --+-- Serious Insights High -+--- Low Practical High -+--- Low Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy

Fantastic book from Jason Fried on the exciting life of Remote working. Our typical preconceived ideas regarding remote working is "out of sight, out of mind" or "if I can't see them, they must not be working". This book debunks those myths and share successes from their own company 37Signals. This book highlights: * Success is how productive you are, not location * You can work from anywhere, anytime * Measure success on project / task completion rather than how visible you are at the workplace. * Have crossover times when all / most employees can attend meetings regardless of time zone. * Work and Life are both important - not one or the other. * Certain groups are more pre-disposed to success in working remotely - not every job can do this. * Start small and build the program. Experiment. * Don't let geographic location restrict you from getting the best talent possible. * Much more. I love this book. The world's workplaces are exploring this concept more and more to support environmental sustainability as well as procuring and maintaining the best talent possible. It is a quick read or listen and it is full of simple advice.

The guys from 37signals hit the nail on the head again. If you've read their blog, followed Jason or David on Twitter, or just familiar with "Getting Real" or "Rework" then some of what you'll read here isn't totally new. That being said, there's lots of goodies here. As technology has progressed, it's never been easier to work from anywhere, as long as the work you're doing lends itself to doing so. This is an argument I've had with many bosses, managers, and co-workers over the years. Jason and David do a fantastic job of explaining why the old ideas are outdated and why working remotely can, quite simply, work. While much of the book has been covered in smaller bits in their other works (including blog posts or Jason's TED talk), this book is hyperfocused on the idea of being a remote worker and a company/manager of remote workers. If you're looking to to convince your boss to let you start working remotely, this is a must read book. <b>This book isn't for companies already doing this like 37signals, Github, or even Intel (mentioned in the book), but rather those companies that aren't utilizing a remote working strategy or those that refuse to even consider one</b>. There will be lots of people who dismiss this book saying things like "it won't work for my team/company/employees" and those people may be right, but that doesn't mean it won't work for others. There's more than one way to work, and these guys aren't just talking about it, they're doing it.

I only recently became aware of Jason Fried's writing and his company 37Signals.com, but instantly fell in love with his clear, concise, no-bull, crystal-clear communication style. After reading some of his articles in Inc. magazine, I found the 37Signals blog and instantly bought the book REWORK and felt invigorated by it. Finally, here is someone who understands that securing venture capital funding is not necessarily the key to success nor to a happy, fulfilling life. He simply makes products (the online software Basecamp, Highrise, etc.) that are amazingly simple to use, and therefore valuable and in demand because they save people time and money. The previous book, REWORK basically throws everything you were taught about business out the door and gets back to basics focused on what will work today, in today's world that changes daily. Ridiculous concepts such as five-year business plans are ridiculed and dismissed, and Jason restores sanity to business ideas and concepts. With REMOTE, he applies the real-world experience of running a distributed company and explains the biggest advantages to hiring remote teams. My two favorite facts about remote working that the book explains: Reason #1: Hiring remote employees allows companies to hire the best talent in the world instead of being handcuffed to only the best talent living in a tiny geographical area. Reason #2: Offices are what the authors call "interruption factories" in which anyone can walk into your cubicle or office uninvited and interrupt your work many times throughout the day. Working remotely allows you to get into the zone and focus on the things that make you productive without the productivity-killing environments of the interruption factories. REMOTE lists the most common excuses that bosses often use to dismiss the idea of remote work, and then the authors proceed to blow every one of those excuses right out of the water with common-sense-filled nuclear missiles. The book refutes those common misperceptions about remote work humorously sometimes, but with factual, common-sense reasons why visionary leaders will actually choose to embrace remote work in the very near future if they want to keep up with their more innovative competitors who keep hiring the most talented people in the world right out from under their noses. The remote revolution has already begun. The visionaries were the first to jump on board. This book will sway anyone on the fence toward the huge benefits of remote teams, and those who refuse to read this book will simply get left behind in the dust of their smarter competitors. If you've never worked remotely and have been trapped commuting to an office, this book will set you free. Also, if you have not already read Scott Berkun's book The Year Without Pants, you should read that too. It's a perfect companion piece to REMOTE, and tells the story of Scott's year working as a member of a distributed team at Automattic, the distributed company behind Wordpress.com.

If you're interested in remote working you should not miss this one. After reading you will believe that remote working is not so difficult as it's made out to be. This book concentrates on all the relavant stuff including the main tools required for remote working, importance of communication and the importance of trusting the employee to get work done remotely. A short book, but with so much of value, packed in it.

I've worked remotely in the past, and in-house more recently, as an employee and manager, so I certainly didn't need convincing that remote work offers a lot of positives for employees and businesses willing to let go of some traditional staples. What I enjoyed most about Remote was how inspired I felt while reading it, I kept thinking "Yes, they GET it." It's not an in-depth instruction manual, nor an overly analytic case study. Rather, I found it a relatively and refreshingly easy read with some solid examples covering key areas of consideration. I went away feeling hopeful, not just about the state of remote working, because as the authors mention, it's not a new fad and it's not going away. No, I went away feeling hopeful about how 37signals talk about their team and talent, how they view the business value of employees being able to live how and where they want, while still contributing to a driven team. Want to travel? No problem, grab your laptop and go. Want to work in the office, sure thing. Afternoons with your children, easy. You don't/shouldn't have to give up what you love in life just to make a living. It's an ethos I really believe in, and I think this book serves as a great positive introduction.

I am a big fan of Jason’s work philosophy in general. In this book he explain what remote work is (it is not necessarily WFH neither offshores). He builds a good argument on why it can be a good thing for your company and specially how you can be a good remote worker. Although it is claimed from a tech/office work perspective, one can draw a good connection for other jobs.

Ottimo. Illuminante, soprattutto nella decostruzione di falsi miti e nel suggerire un nuovo modello lavorativo, spesso anche più efficace del tradizionale, i cui benefici sono innegabili.

37 Signals is an amazing company that offers a really fresh perspective on business. They really understand the importance of hiring top notch talent and striving to strike the work/life balance that keeps a team most creative and productive. Both their books Rework and Remote --- are worth checking out. They're hardcore, progressive and cut right through the old-school BS that can hold a company back.