As I've mentioned in other posts, I've worked for several fully/partially distributed companies ranging in size from three people (an early stage startup) to over one-hundred-and-fifty employees (an established company).
I've spent a ton of time leading and being a part of a distributed team. I've also spent many hours researching and writing on the topic of working remotely. I've seen the best of remote work and I've seen the not-so-great of distributed work arrangements. As I've built Friday, I've had the chance to learn and hear stories from customers who have embraced distributed work inside their organization.
Long story short, I've been collecting a ton of data points over the years about how to make remote work....work.
After surveying the current state of blog posts and books, I've come to the realization that there's a need in the market for a book that covers foundational principles of distributed work in an unbiased way.
I've become bored of the posts. It's the same thing repeated in a different way.
A pet peeve of mine in the remote community is that people offer advice like, "you should have a company onsite", but they don't dive into why you should have a company onsite. From my perspective, this is a bit of a cargo cult and while the advice may be good, it doesn't provide a framework for thinking and applying the principles to your team/company.
These principles may make sense for you...they may not!
I enjoy living outside of a major city while still having the freedom to pursue meaningful work; I'm very interested in making remote work a bit more popular. I don't believe we will get there by sugarcoating reality and making it seem like distributed work is working on a beach while sipping a piña colada.
Working remotely is tough and challenging at times, but worth it. At least for me. It may not be your cup of tea and that's okay. This book we are writing on distributed work will give you clarity so you can make a better decision.
There are too many people who believe that everyone should work remotely. I disagree with this notion and will outline why in the book.
This is a very good question.
I clearly have opinions about remote work, but I will do my best to present them in an unbiased way. I want to help you make a better decision about remote work by laying the cards on the table.
Unlike other writers, I'm not trying to convince you to work remotely.
I started writing about remote work several years ago. This has been a topic of interest of mine for many years.
Here's some samples of my writing:
While some of the examples above are old and outdated, I've been writing and thinking about this for a long time and I want to share everything I know.
Title: The Anywhere Operating System
We've created a hands-on user manual on how to run your business from anywhere. If you read this book, we promise you will save years of trial and error.
If you'd like to get early access, feel free to drop me your email and visit the landing page where we share more information.