Remote work is good, but make it great.
During Arc’s Remote Career Summit 2020, we invited speakers from three of these fully-remote companies — Automattic, Buffer, and GitLab — to join Distribute Consulting CEO Laurel Farrer for a conversation about how they make remote work work.
Automattic’s Zandy Ring (Director of Happiness Experience), Buffer’s Kevan Lee (VP of Marketing), and GitLab’s Darren Murph (Head of Remote) shared:
- What they look for in a job applicant
- How their companies communicate
- How their teams build and maintain culture
- Hiring and onboarding processes
- Why you should “bring your whole self to work”
…and a whole lot more!
If you have time, we encourage you to watch the full conversation, but we’ve also summarized a number of the key takeaways below. We learned some amazing best practices for remote work, and want to thank the panelists for their time.https://www.youtube.com/embed/vmfEfbA8vhw
Curious about what they said? Read on!
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What Are The Keys To Successful Remote Operations?
During the course of the conversation, certain words recurred again and again from all three panelists:
- Trust
- Transparency
- Discipline
- Accountability, and
- Respect
These core features of successful remote work organizations are common to Automattic, Buffer, and GitLab, according to the panel participants. The panelists spoke about how staff at remote companies are given both higher levels of trust and accountability than many co-located organizations. Performance is everything — and the reward is flexibility.
Read More: How to Transition to a Remote Engineering Team: The CTO’s Cheat Sheet
How Do Automattic, Buffer, and GitLab Communicate Remotely?
Text-First Communication
How many organizations have completely killed off email? Not many. Automattic, however, is one of them — there is zero use of email at the company. Instead, Automattic is primarily driven by text-based communication (and the occasional Zoom meeting).
For synchronous text communication, the team relies on Slack. For anything more substantial than a quick chat, the team uses their internally-developed tool, P2. All major discussions and decisions are archived in P2, and these are open to, and accessible by, everyone in the company. At Automattic, the rule of thumb is: “P2 or it didn’t happen.”
GitLab is also stringent about encouraging people to work to text-based, remote-first principles. Although they use Slack within the company, all messages automatically delete after 90 days. Instead, anything beyond social chatter needs to be written into the GitLab Handbook, or started off with a merge request on GitLab.
Although they do still have meetings, according to GitLab’s Darren there’s a “really high burden” placed on them, as the company has a bias towards asynchronous work and believes it’s a more inclusive way to communicate. Meetings at GitLab require a Google document agenda to be shared in advance, and the meeting organizer is responsible for documenting discussions/decisions and updating the Handbook. This way, the entire company can benefit from the meeting discussion points.
For Buffer’s Kevan, relying on asynchronous, text-based communication is a must. His team is based globally, and there isn’t a timeslot in the day where the entire team can get together. Instead, his team has a weekly standup using the tool Threads. This standup isn’t just a check-in on task progress, but also has a social function — the chance to learn about each others’ daily lives.
Give A Little Grace
Another key theme around remote company communications was the need to give a little grace. At Buffer, they recognize that a lot of written communication can be tone-deaf, and easily misinterpreted. Kevan recommends that writers spend time to ensure that they’re not only communicating clearly, but also taking into account how the tone of the words might be interpreted by the other person.
Kevan’s other tips for great written communication include:
- Practicing active empathy
- Removing lingo
- Minimizing acronym use
As Kevan told us, communicating clearly is a powerful way to stay efficient. It’s worth the up-front time investment!
At Automattic, according to Zandy, the rule of thumb with written communications is “assume best intent.” Additionally, large amounts of the company’s feedback is around improving communications, particularly how to communicate for the right impact. One common question is:
What do you want to accomplish with this post?
Read More: How to Conduct a Remote Technical Interview Successfully: 7+ Tools & Tips
Open Communication Fosters Innovation
How many companies let every staff member have access to the CEO? At Automattic, they believe that anybody can have a great idea — so anybody is able to ping their CEO Matt Mullenweg.
A couple of times a year, Automattic also circulates an anonymous survey to try to give their team members a chance to share their ideas. Feedback forms also exist, and team leads are coached on how to help their team members “manage up”.
You can also try Arc, your shortcut to the world’s best remote talent:
⚡️ Access 350,000 top developers, designers, and marketers
⚡️ Vetted and ready to interview
⚡️ Freelance or full-time
Try Arc and hire top talent now →
Best Practice Remote Operations: Interviewing and Onboarding Remotely
Wanting a Remote Job Isn’t Enough
These days, everyone wants a remote job. But that’s not enough of a reason to apply for one, at least not at GitLab. Instead, the company is looking for candidates who are passionate about the work itself and aligned to the company’s values.
As Darren told us:
If you join a remote company and you aren’t aligned with the values, you won’t have a commute but it can still be miserable. So don’t think that remote is going to solve everything.
Storytellers, Self-Managers, and Standing Out
At GitLab, Darren told us, they try to hire “managers of one.” What does this mean? It’s someone who can manage their:
- Personal life,
- Workflow, and
- Work/life boundaries
Successful candidates are also self-seekers in terms of finding answers to questions in the GitLab Handbook.
Storytelling is a crucial aspect of the GitLab hiring process. One of the key interview questions is asking people to tell stories, e.g. explaining a time that they didn’t have information/faced a blocker, and how they found a solution to keep the project moving forward.
A great communicator, according to Darren, is someone who thinks three steps prior, and three steps forward. This means a person with a natural story-telling ability who is able to provide context and meaningful information.
Likewise at Automattic, they look for people who communicate really well. As Zandy told us, Automattic “don’t ever lower the bar on this.” Additional key attributes candidates have to have are:
- Cultural alignment
- Not just meeting the qualifications, but also high potential
- People who are force multipliers/can have high impact
- Can work autonomously but also as part of a group
Finishing out the key candidate attributes, Buffer’s Kevan also added that responsibility and responsiveness are critical. When given a task, is the candidate filling it out completely, following the instructions, and turning it in in a timely manner?
On top of this, the candidate should be communicating timing and expectations. At no point should the company be wondering where a staff member went or what they’re doing!
Read More: How to Build and Maintain a Distributed Software Engineering Team
Onboarding Starts During Hiring
The panelists all agree that the hiring process is the first chance to get a feel for how the job candidate works and communicates, and is critical. In fact, most of the panelists mentioned that onboarding effectively starts during the hiring stage, right from giving candidates a sense of the company through e.g. blog posts and job descriptions. Job candidates should have a strong sense of the company and its culture before even starting the interview process.
At Buffer, according to Kevan, part of the interview stage is asynchronous written communication. They also have the candidate produce Loom videos, to get a better sense of how the candidate communicates, as well as a better idea of cultural fit.
Likewise at Automattic, part of the hiring process is doing actual collaboration with the existing team. Every candidate who advances through the interview process will do a job trial of up to four weeks. Not only does it give the candidate and company insight into each other, it’s also a chance to test for cultural fit (and the chance to give tips and feedback).
Once onboarding continues, everyone at Automattic completes two weeks in the Customer Support (Happiness) team talking to customers and learning the product. As Zandy told us, it’s a chance for the new hire to dive into the company’s culture with both feet… but still with some floaties on!
Access to Information
Buffer treats onboarding as a balancing act between giving the new hire access to large amounts of information, but also ensuring they don’t get overwhelmed (in Kevan’s words, they “don’t want that [information] firehose feeling”!).
No Stupid Questions
At Automattic, each new team member is given a mentor from outside their work area. The idea of this is to ensure the new-starter feels comfortable asking the (not-)”stupid” questions. Finally, Zandy shared that anonymous feedback channels are an important aspect of Automattic’s open feedback culture. Everyone is both empowered to, and comfortable with, sharing feedback.
Read More: Managing a Distributed Software Development Team: 5 Lessons Learned
How Do Automattic, Buffer, and GitLab Build Culture Remotely?
Company Values Are Everything
When you’re not co-located, you can’t leave company culture to chance. Instead, you have to commit to purposefully building it. According to GitLab’s Darren Murph:
In a remote setting, your culture equals your values.
For GitLab, this means that they write their culture down. Their culture exists in how the team treats each other, how they treat external parties, and how the values are lived out. Additionally, GitLab seeks to only hire people who resonate with those particular values.
Be Your Authentic Self
Another major feature of being a superstar remote worker is being able to share your genuine personality through remote channels. As chat host Laurel said:
If you can’t talk about puppies, you can’t talk about profits.
What does this mean? Remote companies are more successful when their team members connect with — and trust — each other on a personal level and in meaningful ways. As Buffer’s Kevan mentioned, the key is bringing your whole self to work, and having permission to be yourself. Successful team members at Buffer are comfortable with sharing their lives beyond work.
For Automattic, the talking about puppies part is established deliberately. Not only do Automatticians (team members of Automattic) have chat channels for crafting, babies, pets, etc, knowledge of these channels is pushed to new starters the moment they start onboarding.
The company also has P2s for non-work-related topics, including things like home maintenance (an example given by Zandy was changing a faucet for the first time!). Sharing these social channels is done deliberately, rather than hoping that people find them themselves.
Catching Up In-Person Still Counts
One thing that all the panelists agreed on was that in-person catch-ups are really special for remote teams. All three companies have retreats for their team. In the words of Automattic’s Zandy:
The grand meeting that we have every year is the one week a year that makes the other fifty-one work.
Read More: Hiring In-House vs Remote Developers: Cost & Competitive Advantages
Remote Operations at Automattic, Buffer, and GitLab
Career Performance and Progression
When it comes to measuring performance, at remote companies, the metric isn’t time in seats. Instead, it’s what’s actually produced.
At Buffer, performance is measured via a number of different tools, and the approach is constantly evolving. The team currently uses OKRs. However, these are considered a tool for learning, not judging: the team can see what’s happened, learn from it, and improve for next time.
A couple of questions from the Remote Career Summit audience also touched on continuing education and career progression. At Automattic, team leads are expected to be talking to everyone about opportunities that fit their growth and personal career goals/trajectory. It’s an ongoing conversation, and care is paid to ensuring that even quieter team members get opportunities.
At GitLab, one perk offered to staff is tuition reimbursement. Additionally, the company offers a series of live learning sessions.
Wellness in Remote Companies
Kevan gave us some great insights into Buffer’s focus on employee wellness. One of Buffer’s perks for their remote employees, that they are still iterating to improve, is paid sessions for mental health/wellness.
Another measure of wellness within Buffer is team health. For measuring this, Buffer uses Culture Amp surveys (as do Automattic), and focuses on topics such as personal happiness and job satisfaction. According to Kevan, this gives Buffer a holistic view of the business and how they’re doing for its people.
Balancing Time Demands
Fully remote companies generally tend to limit meetings. What does this mean in terms of a workweek? At Buffer, a team member will generally have approximately 2-3 hours of meetings, with the rest of the week dedicated to heads-down work time. (Managers like Kevan, on the other hand, can spend up to 80% of their week in meetings.)
Buffer is also currently experimenting with a four-day workweek for a six-month period.
Kevan also noted how important it is for managers to set a good cultural example. It’s important to log out/turn off notifications at a certain time. Keep conversations about working hours both aware and open.
GitLab’s Darren also touched on the topic of “remoter guilt” in hybrid companies. This is the situation where remote team members work longer hours than their co-located colleagues, due to feeling more pressure to perform at a high standard. The main solution to this: an all-remote company! Once everyone is on an even playing field, the issue of “remoter guilt” gets solved naturally.
Read More: How to Create a Remote Work Culture That’s Supportive, Positive & Fun
Wrapping Up
A huge thanks to our panelists Zandy, Kevan, and Darren for sharing their thoughts and experiences working at Automattic, Buffer, and GitLab! Also a huge thanks to our session host, Laurel.
Do you have any experiences with, or tips about, working remotely? Let us know in the comments below.
You can also try Arc, your shortcut to the world’s best remote talent:
⚡️ Access 350,000 top developers, designers, and marketers
⚡️ Vetted and ready to interview
⚡️ Freelance or full-time
