Ever dreamt about working remotely? It’s not all sunshine and rainbows – there’s a lot of things people don’t see that go into making a remote team operate successfully. In this episode, Thanh and Brooks go in-depth on the inner workings of Asian Efficiency’s remote team setup and how you can run an effective remote team as well. We share several lessons we’ve learned over the years of running a remote team, and we discuss the differences between office work and remote companies. We reveal 8 of AE’s best strategies and systems for running a highly effective remote team so that you can learn from our mistakes instead of repeating them yourself. If you’ve ever thought about hiring a remote team or going remote yourself, this episode is for you.
Cheat Sheet
- How and why Asian Efficiency was founded as a remote team [1:24]
- Lessons learned from Brooks’ journey of having an office job to owning a company to working for a remote company [3:49]
- The misconceptions people have with working remote (why the stock image paradise stigma isn’t reality) [6:14]
- Why working remotely can’t fix a job you aren’t right for [8:11]
- Some of the unseen negatives that come from running a remote team [9:14]
- Why it can be very lonely working remotely (and how to overcome this) [11:27]
- Why allowing team members to choose how present they want to be can be beneficial for a remote team [15:00]
- The advantages and disadvantages of a flexible schedule [18:30]
- Why working remote allows you to work how you work best [25:58]
- Why it’s important to hire the right people for a remote team (and what to look for) [30:39]
- How to create decision-making guidelines for your remote team [35:34]
- Why it is important to have communication guidelines in place for team members when working across different timezones [46:41]
- The importance of showing team members what you are working on [50:43]
- Why checking in with your employees is essential as a manager of a remote team [55:13]
- How to create a project management philosophy for effective remote work [59:41]
- Why it’s important to have good technology infrastructure when working with a remote team [1:03:51]
- Why switching tech platforms can be very expensive for a remote team [1:09:15]
- How traveling can complicate the work of a remote team [1:10:30]
- The advantages that come with have a predictable meeting rhythm in your remote company [1:14:33]
- How to create better systems so your remote team can scale effectively [1:18:32]
- Why getting in-person with your remote team is critical to long-term success [1:22:09]
Links
- Kolbe test
- Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less
- TPS28: Working the System w/ Sam Carpenter
- Video Interview with Sam Carpenter of Work the System
- 5 Ways to Apply the 80/20 Rule To Free Up 2+ Hours A Week (TPS118)
- 3 Keys to Using the 80/20 Rule in Your Business for Exponential Growth (TPS119)
- How we run a productive remote team at Asian Efficiency
- The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
- JIRA
- The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work
- Scrum
- Extreme programming (XP)
- Kanban
- HipChat
- Clarity.fm
- Upwork
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