At Rumble, we’re fans of working remotely, whether it’s from our homes or elsewhere. After reading 37signal’s most recent publication, Remote, we’ve been discussing how we do this and have been trying to formalise the unspoken practices we’ve been using all along.
Rumble appreciates that everyone has a way of working that works best for them. Often, this is outside of the usual 9 to 5 grind and it may be in a local cafe as opposed to the office environment. It makes sense to harness this, so to get the best out of everyone.
Routine has a tendency to numb creativity, so a change of scenery is great. Rumblers often work from home, from the local library or even in another country.
A message echoed throughout the book is that we should make the most of our time. Not only does working remotely mean we can be more productive and commit more time to work by avoiding the daily commute to the office, but it also gives us a chance to see more of our families (and our dogs cats) and have more time to ourselves.
More time at home, to do the gardening.
To make it work well for us, we follow some guidelines - we maintain constant communication via our internal Hipchat chatroom, as well as ensuring everyone meets face-to-face at least once a week when we get together for Friday lunch. As long as we’re still available when needed for meetings or for discussing projects with our teams, there’s no issue with working out of the office.
Taking inspiration from 37signals, we’ve started an internal Basecamp thread called “What are you doing today?” where we’ll post a quick summary of what we’ll be working on that day. It’s a great passive way to let everyone know what everyone is working on, it also helps you really think about what you’re doing and plan your day with goals in mind.
Another core message highlighted by the authors of Remote is that our productivity should not be measured by our hours spent in the office, but by the quality of our work. Therefore, I should be able to work where I can do my best work. Personally, I like to switch up my weekly routine, so if I have a list of things to get through without distraction, I may work at home that day. If I need to collaborate with a team member on a given day, I’m likely to work at the office, although tools like Google Hangouts make it easy to collaborate remotely too.
Remote working has been a part of the Rumble way since the beginning, though the way we do it has evolved over time as the team has grown. Reaffirmed by the thoughts expressed in Remote, our principles have stayed largely the same.
If you’re interested in remote working, we definitely recommend that you check out Remote by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson yourself. We think remote working has countless benefits, maybe it could work for you too?