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All Remote Management

At Hyletic, we embrace an all-remote work culture, where our employees have the freedom and flexibility to work from Global offices in the world. On this page, we're detailing what it takes to effectively and efficiently manage an all-remote company. The pillars of managing an all-remote company are similar to managing any company, but there are certain areas where all-remote leaders should pay particular attention to.

How do you manage a 100% remote team?​

"How do you manage when everyone is remote?" is a common question for those leading or managing within an all-remote company.

In truth, managing an all-remote company is much like managing any other company. It comes down to trust, communication, and company-wide support of shared goals, all of which aid in avoiding dysfunction.

Remote forces you to do the things you should be doing way earlier and better. It forces discipline that sustains culture and efficiency at scale, particularly in areas which are easily deprioritized in small colocated companies.

It's important to not assume that team members understand good remote work practices. Hyletic managers are expected to coach their reports to utilize asynchronous communication, be handbook-first, design an optimal workspace, and understand the importance of self-learning/self-service.

Leaders should ensure that new remote hires read a getting started guide, and make themselves available to answer questions throughout one's journey with the company.

Tomasz Tunguz describes it as such in an article entitled "The early discipline of remote startups."

As company scale, they need to develop infrastructure to successfully manage and coordinate large numbers of people. But in the early days, by virtue of being close to each other physically, it’s easier to delay some of these investments.

A quick hallway meeting of a few key stakeholders might be all it takes to commit to a strategic change. A last-minute all hands roused through word-of-mouth may be the prelude to a fundraising announcement.

For a business that exists somewhere on the distributed-to-remote continuum these options don’t exist, or at least they are significantly harder. These kind of communications are just as necessary within remote or distributed teams, but they require more planning, more foresight in order to be successful.

Some very early stage companies are bringing in these disciplines from the outset, because of the demands of remote work. And this is a wonderful thing, because this investment will compound over the life of the business. - Tomasz Tunguz, venture capitalist at Redpoint Ventures

Embracing total transparency​

Transparency is a term that is often tossed around as a value within most companies. In all-remote environments, it is vital that transparency be more than a buzzword, but something that is embraced and allowed to guide every decision.

This will often feel unnatural and uncomfortable — a sign that your organization truly is living out the value of transparency.

It helps to recognize all-remote organizations not as a collection of rigidly structured machines, but as a living, evolving organism. Leaders must trust their colleagues to operate with empathy, kindness, and concern for the well-being of one another, seeing the free flow of information as universally beneficial.

Handbook and goals​

Remote work is what led to the development of our publicly viewable handbook, which captures everything you'd need to know about the company. If you can't tell, we like efficiency and don't like having to explain things twice.

Each department and team's quarterly goals, or "objectives and key results" (OKRs), are also clearly documented in our handbook for visibility across the company. We check in on these goals monthly, so there's as much transparency as possible around what each team is accomplishing.

Docs instead of water coolers​

Documentation also helps with transparency, which is critical to remote work. While decisions made around office water coolers may be familiar in traditional workplaces, input is limited to those present. Those who are not present feel left out, and you're missing an opportunity to hear different perspectives.

The Hyletic way of working is more inclusive. By documenting everything, no one is left out of the conversation and a diverse set of perspectives can be heard, not only from Hyletic team members but also from customers and community contributors.

Scaling by documenting​

This is one of the harder things to apply on a daily basis. Taking the time to document a solution isn't very satisfying in the moment, and is easy to deprioritize when other seemingly urgent tasks are vying for your attention.

To relieve tension, empower DRIs to make decisions, and create a more productive future for a team, it's vital to place a high degree of value on pausing to document. This requires leadership to praise and reward the act of documenting, measuring these contributions as diligently as one would measure sales or conversions.

This applies to all companies, though it can produce outsized gains in all-remote organizations where there are fewer opportunities for information to be shared in a physical space.

This also requires humility, and a recognition that human memories aren't perfect. It's impossible to predict the future, but documenting a solution as soon as it is discovered guarantees that the answer will be available should it ever be needed later.

Asynchronous​

When you open your talent acquisition pipeline to the world, you create an opportunity to hire people in an array of time zones. The ability to hand projects off across time zones is a competitive advantage, but minimizing disconnects, frustrations, and awkwardly-timed meetings requires an intentional approach.

Active reinforcement​

The first step in creating an atmosphere where colleagues are comfortable working asynchronously is to avoid the default mentality as it applies to meetings. By making meetings optional, recording and documenting everything, being diligent to follow an agenda, all-remote companies are less reliant on colleagues being online at the same time.

This mentality must be actively reinforced. For example, in team social calls where dozens of people join a video chat to bond as a team, an agenda allows those who cannot make it to add shout-outs or discussion points that a fellow colleague can verbalize. This is an intentional approach to not only working asynchronously, but socializing asynchronously.

Asynchronous allows you to reorganize the company in a divisional organization more easily and embrace remote working even if you’re colocated. Everything that works in an async fashion can also work sync but not vice-versa.

Benefits for morale, wellbeing, and lowering stress​

There are considerations that go beyond productivity metrics. Companies should ask if demanding synchronous communication is impacting their team's ability to reason and process challenges in the most efficient and healthy way.

Asynchronous communication alone will not solve challenges associated with remote work, but it is a useful tool in a wider arsenal of tactics to avoid issues such as burnout.

Limits​

There are limits to asynchronous communication. When we go back and forth three times, we jump on a synchronous video call.

All-remote companies that have colleagues spread out across time zones will encounter scenarios where one has to compromise in order to be online at the same time for critical calls, meetings, or projects. However, there is great freedom in being able to disconnect from work at an appointed time with the understanding that your colleagues will communicate asynchronously rather than pressuring you to be available outside of your work hours.

Separating decision gathering from decision making​

Paralysis by analysis is something all companies should seek to avoid. In managing through this at an all-remote company, leaders should ensure that all colleagues understand that consensus doesn't scale.

Thus, there should be no goal to achieve consensus. This may feel awkward or unnatural to those coming from colocated corporate environments, but trusting decision makers and living out the value of collaboration prevents unnecessary slowdowns in your organization.

By intentionally separating the process of decision gathering and decision making, you provide ample opportunity for everyone to add input, offering up fresh angles for consideration that may well sway the mind of the DRI (directly responsible individual).

It is vital for all-remote companies to foster an atmosphere of trust and learning, such that grudges are not held against decision makers after decision gathering has occurred. At Hyletic, this is manifested in our Collaboration value, which includes kindness, sharing, short toes, no ego, and assuming positive intent.

Applying iteration to everything​

Iteration is often applied to engineering, but asking only part of the company to iterate can create discord. All-remote companies must empower every member of the team, across every function and job level, to approach their work with an iterative mindset.

By applying iteration to everything, it removes the barrier of fear and judgement. It also enables faster cycles, and it makes miscues far less damaging.

For example, don't write a large plan, only write the first step. Trust that you'll know better how to proceed after something is released. Iteration can be uncomfortable, even painful. If you're doing iteration correctly, it should be.

Instilling this in an all-remote team is difficult. Most people are naturally inclined to only showcase polished work. In turn, managing this aspect of an all-remote team requires reminders that it's preferred to share unfinished work.

Leaders should work diligently to ensure that teams have a low level of shame and believe that everything is in draft and subject to change.

Avoiding dotted lines and matrix organization​

In all-remote companies, it is easy to fall into a situation where you work with a day-to-day lead but report to someone else. There are no physical office structures to reinforce reporting structures.

Leaders in an all-remote company must work to avoid dotted lines and matrix organization. Everyone should report to exactly one person, and that person should understand your day-to-day tasks and be well-positioned to assist you in removing obstacles to thriving in your role.

Whenever there is need to work on a specific, high-level, cross functional business problem, a working group should be established for that need.

Focusing on results​

Perhaps the easiest way to avoid overanalyzing management in an all-remote company is to focus on results. Focusing on results over hours worked creates an atmosphere where colleagues direct effort on the right things — shipping great code, making a client happy, solving a teammate's problem, etc.

This enables team members to complete their work and turn their attention to non-work activities (family, exercise, reading, caregiving, philanthrophy, etc.) as quickly as possible.

By focusing on results, each team member has less of a mental burden to carry. They're aware that results are what matter as opposed to items like personal success, status, and ego.

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)​

All-remote companies should go beyond striving for results. They should add as much detail and clarity as possible to what those results are, and what is measured along the way.

This can be achieved by implementing Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), a widely used framework for setting strategy and removing ambiguity over what matters.

Work from anywhere​

At Hyletic, when we say our people can work from anywhere, we really mean it. We care about the results of their work, not where it's getting done.

This flexibility often means something different for each person at Hyletic. We have team members who are completely location independent and travel full time.

There are others who join and travel the world with remote coworking and coliving organizations. Many of our team members appreciate the ability to still be able to work while visiting friends or family away from home.

Even for those who typically work in their home office, this flexibility means they can do things like run errands on a weekday, take their child to school, spend more time with family, or walk their dog during the day.

Time away from work​

It's important to clarify that being able to work from anywhere does not replace the need to take time off of work.

Dedicate time for health and fitness​

It's sometimes hard to remember to stay active when you work from home. If you're an employer, it's important to be intentional about voicing support for self-care and overall wellness. Here are some tips that might help:

  1. Try to step away from your computer and stretch your body every hour.
  2. If possible, choose a workspace that's exposed to natural light.
  3. Avoid "Digital Eye Strain" by following the 20-20-20 Rule. Every 20 minutes look into the distance (at least 20 feet/6 meters) for 20 seconds.
  4. Use an app - there are some that will remind you to take a break or help you with your computer posture:
  1. Move every day
  • Go for a walk or do a short excersise for at least 15 minutes a day.
  • Do something active that can be done within a short amount of time like rope jumping, lifting kettlebells, push-ups or sit-ups. It might also help to split the activity into multiple shorter sessions. You can use an app that helps you with the workout, e.g., 7 minute workout.
  1. Try to create a repeatable schedule that is consistent and try to make a habit out of it. Make sure you enjoy the activity.
  2. It can also help to create a goal or challenge for yourself, e.g. registering for a race.
  3. Eat less refined sugar and simple carbs, and eat complex carbs instead. Try to eat more vegetables. Don't go to the kitchen to eat something every 15 minutes (it’s a trap!). Keep junk food out of your house.
  4. Have a water bottle with you at your desk. You will be more inclined to drink if it's available at all times.
  5. Try to get enough sleep at night and take a nap during the day if you need one.

At Hyletic, we want to ensure each team member takes care of themselves and dedicates time to stay healthy.