Remote: Office Not Required
Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson
37 Signals, 2013
After writing Getting Real and Rework (see my blogpost), Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson wrote Remote. This book is all about working (ta-da) remote. A topic they know all about as they founded Basecamp (formerly known as 37 Signals) while living and working in respectively the US and Danmark. Nowadays their employees work at different locations all around the globe.
First of all, the authors explain why one should work remotely. At the office people get distracted by their managers and meetings. The M&M's as they call it. Also commuting takes lots of valuable time. However there's a lof of resistance. Many people, especially managers, oppose to telecommuting as they fear to lose control.
In the following chapters Fried and Heinemeier Hansson explain how to organise the work, the cooperation and the social aspects. They emphasize the importance of human interaction. Therefore they synchronise at least some working hours. People should interact directly even if they use technology like (video) chat. Another important aspect is the provision of services to customers, software support in their case. At last, the book contains some useful resources and tools.
Remote is well written. It's not a novel but it contains tons of useful information about the modern workplace. It's interesting both for companies and employees. It's clearly structured and provides practical advice. Both for dealing with resistance and how to effectively organise the work.
Do you work remote?