Remote: Office Not Required
I’m a fan of 37 signals.com. They provide software that really makes your working life a lot easier.
I enjoyed their other book, Rework, and I enjoyed Remote, as it shows managers the importance of remote workers (the people not clogged up all the time in the office) and that not being sat in a cubicle a few meters away does not mean good work can’t be done.
A few years ago I attended a course at the excellent Ashridge business school on managing remote teams. I wish I had this book at the time. The course taught me a lot. This book provides some excellent tips.
It gives good advice on managing – whether team members are sat next to you or a few thousand miles away – and excellent tips on how to measure performance (it is not measured by being at your desk 9am-9pm), and recruiting new colleagues.
The remote toolbox
I liked the final chapter where it provides some tips on making this all happen.
37 signals recommendations
– Basecamp. This is a piece of software allows you to manage all your projects in one place. I like it a lot.
– I also like Evernote that allows you to manage projects in one place and some other things on top. This is basecamp’s competition in my eyes.
– WebEx. They described this as the go to tool for sharing screen. I liked working with it in the past.
– Know your company. They describe this as a piece of software to understand where the culture of the company is.
– Skype. This allows you to call in videoconference your colleagues clients and friends. It also allows you to share the screen. I am a big fan. Good quality phone calls at little to no price. I just did a videoconference and the quality was good.
– To share files they recommend dropbox.
– I also like toggl, it makes recording billable hours very easy.
Useful Lessons from Chicago
It’s a good book, which describes the journey of a successful midwestern firm from start up to one today that helps make the lives of countless firms and people a lot easier.
It helps you understand that you can expand as a company and have access to the very best people, but not be crammed in an airless room. It shows you that growth does not come at the price of soulless commuting and sacrificing your family life.
If you thought this was all possible but thought this technology was only available to the few, then think again. The means are now available that enables you, your colleagues, and your clients run successful and dynamic companies all from their home, beach front cabin or coffee lounge. The office of today is available to anyone who needs oxygen to think of new ideas to solve problems for clients and think of new ways to deliver better products at lower prices.