As I'm writing this, the vaccine is currently being distributed and it seems like life should start going back to normal by the summer. But for some companies, like Twitter, working from home will become the new normal. This post is for those companies that have embraced distributed work as the new normal.

The current way most companies are working is anything but normal.

Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic, created “Distributed Work: Five Stages of Autonomy”

I have simplified and modified it to:

0 Not possible. E.g. Fire fighting

1 Co-located first, with a distributed capability

2 Distributed but synchronous (The chasm)

3 From co-located first to distributed-first

4 Fully Asynchronous

5 Outperforming

Most companies are stuck in the second stage, what I referred to as remote purgatory. Covid has forced us to stay at home, contending for space, and quiet with our family. We are still experiencing Zoom fatigue from all day calls. We have basically ported what we do in the office at home. We are constantly yelling, “Shushhh, I’m on an important call." Companies are measuring the wrong thing(code commits) in the hopes of measuring productivity.

Rather than adopt what we did at work to how we need to rethink how work is done at home from first principles. Here are some ideas Ideas for going from level 2 to 3 and start reaping the benefits of distributed work:

Create space for long periods of deep work
Meetings are the exception rather than the rule
Replace output measures and oversight with trust and transparency
Invest in the work from home experience
Increase empathy and compassion

Create space for long periods of deep work.

Cal Newport describes deep work as:

“Professional activity performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that pushes your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.”

The goal should be that 50 to 80 percent of your time should be reserved for deep work and the rest should be meetings. It should give you pause if you find yourself questing what you will do with the free time?

Meetings are the exception rather than the rule

Meetings are on the default communication mechanism. Consider the opposite and create rules:

The Automattic rule: Meetings are only held if a similar outcome cannot be achieved over call, message, or email.
Formal agenda must be posted ahead of time.
Meetings recorded to avoid FOMO.
Real-time documentation so that people can read the output.

Replace output measure and oversight with trust and transparency

Measure what matters: Outcomes(e.g. Features delivered to customers) over output measures(number of commits). Many companies are tracking code commits to ensure the productivity of their workforces or hours logged into the system.

People should not have to start at 9 am and 5. They should own their time so long as they are achieving the desired outcomes.

Invest in the work from home experience

Companies are viewing allowing their staff to work from home as a cost-savings exercise. While there will be significant costs savings, be prepared to spend some of those savings on:

Increase our travel budget so teams can get together twice at least twice a year
Better setup: tools, desk, seat, audio, and video

Increase empathy and compassion

It's hard to separate work and personal life when the home is also the office. Consider employees holistically, not just in their work roles. Avoid sending communications outside “official business hours”. If your new working time happens to be later, consider scheduling your emails to send during normal business hours to remove the expectation of working all the time

Write at the right time. Simply ‘getting it off your chest’ can seriously affect someone else’s schedule. There may not be a perfect time, but there's always a wrong time.