
Remote Work: Introduction and Tips - igor_marques
https://medium.com/magnetis-backstage/remote-work-c70021b5d7c6
======
jaffoneh
Having worked remotely for the past few years, my experience has been that
working remotely depends on the team itself as much as it depends on the
individual's ability to work from home/remote.

The #1 factor that made the difference for me is how many others in the same
team are remote. For Clarity (a team I lead), we decided early on to have a
completely remote team. Few members of the team do work in HQ but most of them
are remote. We wrote something about it here:
[https://medium.com/claritydesignsystem/working-remote-how-
we...](https://medium.com/claritydesignsystem/working-remote-how-we-
successfully-run-clarity-as-a-completely-remote-team-273e5880896b)

Not to repeat the same post again but having the whole team remote with the
option to gather every few months made a huge difference for us.

I've also worked remotely previously with a team that was mostly centered in
one location, that wasn't a pleasant experience. Most of the decisions were
still discussed outside of scheduled meetings and I constantly felt like an
inconvenience to the team especially when having to setup communication and
video conferencing tools at the beginning of each meeting just for me.

~~~
notacoward
> working remotely depends on the team itself as much as it depends on the
> individual

Very true both in my experience and according to everything I've read. Being
the only remote member of a team, and especially a team that has never had a
remote member before, can really suck. Gotta break 'em in a bit. ;) Even with
the best of intentions on all sides, it can be tough. Add in the possibility
that people in another timezone are _deliberately_ deciding stuff in hallway
conversations or merging controversial patches while you're asleep, and it can
be much worse. My last team was (and is) terrible this way. If you find this
happening to you, your best bet is probably to get out like I did. My new
team's much better, despite less experience and a company generally less
friendly to remote work.

Another thing I rarely see mentioned is that you really need to stay on top of
your internet connection and videoconferencing setup. Everything can seem fine
during regular work, but it can rapidly become frustrating if your VC sessions
are awkward or lossy. Get a _good_ camera and microphone (headset if you
prefer). Ensure good lighting and position the camera so people don't have to
see up your nostrils. Consider upgrading to a faster internet connection. If
you have other family members, also consider getting a router with good QoS
capabilities in case they're binging on YouTube or Netflix while you're trying
to talk to your colleagues.

Both of these bring up my real point: little bits of friction add up. Pay
attention to every little thing that annoys you or might annoy your coworkers
about the arrangement, and make a positive effort to improve it. Remote work
can be awesome, but it's rarely that way by itself.

------
fairpx
We at [http://fairpixels.pro](http://fairpixels.pro) also work 100% remotely.
Personally, I found that, just like with office workers, there are particular
types of people that naturally work better in a remote environment. There are
people that HAVE to be in an office. Don't hire those. The folks that can only
function remotely, will have less problems with the cons of the article. I
read the similar cons pretty much on every remote working article, but really
it's about hiring the right people.

------
choward
Can we stop putting huge pointless pictures at the top of blog posts? I had to
scroll with my finger 6 times before I even got to any content. If you're
going to inconvenience me that much it might as well be with ads.

------
spraak
All these remote working tips are like the same points just reworded and
shuffled around.

