Remote: Office Not Required

by Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson

Overview

The classic guide to working from home and why we should embrace a virtual office, from the bestselling authors of Rework  
 
“A paradigm-smashing, compulsively readable case for a radically remote workplace.”—Susan Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Quiet
 
Does working from home—or anywhere else but the office—make sense? In Remote, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the founders of Basecamp, bring new insight to the hotly debated argument. While providing a complete overview of remote work’s challenges, Jason and David persuasively argue that, often, the advantages of working “off-site” far outweigh the drawbacks.
 
In the past decade, the “under one roof” model of conducting work has been steadily declining, owing to technology that is rapidly creating virtual workspaces. Today the new paradigm is “move work to the workers, rather than workers to the workplace.” Companies see advantages in the way remote work increases their talent pool, reduces turnover, lessens their real estate footprint, and improves their ability to conduct business across multiple time zones. But what about the workers? Jason and David point out that remote work means working at the best job (not just one that is nearby) and achieving a harmonious work-life balance while increasing productivity.
 
And those are just some of the perks to be gained from leaving the office behind. Remote reveals a multitude of other benefits, along with in-the-trenches tips for easing your way out of the office door where you control how your workday will unfold.
 
Whether you’re a manager fretting over how to manage workers who “want out” or a worker who wants to achieve a lifestyle upgrade while still being a top performer professionally, this book is your indispensable guide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804137508
Publisher:	Crown Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/29/2013
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	391,455
Product dimensions:	5.84(w) x 8.46(h) x 0.93(d)

About the Author

Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson are the founders of Basecamp (previously 37signals), a trailblazing software company. They have been profiled in such publications as Time, Newsweek, and Wired. They're also contributors to Signals v. Noise, one of the Web's most popular blogs.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1
(Continues…)

---

Excerpted from "Remote"
by .
Copyright © 2013 Jason Fried.
Excerpted by permission of The Crown Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Authors' Note 7

Introduction 9

The Time is Right for Remote Work 11

Why work doesn't happen at work 13

Stop commuting your life away 16

It's the technology, stupid 19

Escaping 9am-5pm 22

End of city monopoly 25

The new luxury 28

Talent isn't bound by the hubs 31

It's not about the money 34

But saving is always nice 37

Not all or nothing 40

Still a trade-off 43

You're probably already doing it 46

Dealing with Excuses 49

Magic only happens when we're all in a room 51

If I can't see them, how do I know they're working? 54

People's homes are full of distractions 58

Only the office can be secure 61

Who will answer the phone? 65

Big business doesn't do it, so why should we? 68

Others would get jealous 71

What about culture? 74

I need an answer now! 77

But I'll lose control 80

We paid a lot of money for this office 83

That wouldn't work for our size or industry 85

How to Collaborate Remotely 89

Thou shalt overlap 91

Seeing is believing 94

All out in the open 97

The virtual water cooler 100

Forward motion 103

The work is what matters 106

Not just for people who are out of town 108

Disaster ready 111

Easy on the M&Ms 114

Beware the Dragons 117

Cabin fever 119

Check-in, check-out 122

Ergonomic basics 125

Mind the gut 128

The lone outpost 131

Working with clients 134

Taxes, accounting, laws, oh my! 138

Hiring and Keeping the Best 141

It's a big world 143

Life moves on 147

Keep the good times going 150

Seeking a human 154

No parlor tricks 157

The cost of thriving 161

Great remote workers are simply great workers 164

On writing well 167

Test project 170

Meeting them in person 173

Contractors know the drill 176

Managing Remote Workers 177

When's the right time to go remote? 179

Stop managing the chairs 182

Meetups and sprints 185

Lessons from open source 188

Level the playing field 192

One-on-ones 195

Remove the roadblocks 198

Be on the lookout for overwork, not underwork 202

Using scarcity to your advantage 205

Life as a Remote Worker 207

Building a routine 209

Morning remote, afternoon local 213

Compute different 215

Working alone in a crowd 218

Staying motivated 221

Nomadic freedom 225

A change of scenery 228

Family time 231

No extra space at home 234

Making sure you're not ignored 237

Conclusion 239

The quaint old office 241

The Remote Toolbox 245

Acknowledgments 249

Editorial Reviews

08/26/2013
As cofounders of software company 37Signals, which provides tech architecture for telecommuters, Hansson and Fried (authors of Rework) are great believers in working remotely. Eager to proselytize, they offer a short volume extolling the virtues of telecommuting, detailing the benefits to both employer and employee, and explaining how to introduce the concept into a company. In seven sections and a conclusion, the authors attempt to provide guideposts on some of the major issues, such as how to convince management to allow employees to work outside of the office. While the book’s overall organization is reasonable, the individual chapters are so brief that they give the impression that Hansson and Fried have extremely short attention spans. Although 37Signals clearly prospers under the management strategy extolled here, the authors appear unaware of the difficulties of telecommuting in some sectors (for instance, in the service industry). Hansson and Fried’s amateurish and haphazard case fails to convince, not because it lacks merit, but because the authors seem to be phoning it in. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

The authors review the pros and cons of telecommuting, suggest ideas to enhance efficiency, and tools to optimize output and build a collaborative spirit. . . . Easy to digest [and] useful ideas that are worth checking out.” —Success Magazine

“Presents powerful arguments . . . the book is an eye opener to the endless benefits that come with remote work. . . . A worthwhile investment of your times and money.”—Tech Vibes

“Remote is the book that twenty-first century business leaders have been waiting for: a paradigm-smashing, compulsively readable case for a radically remote workplace. If you're intrigued by extreme teleworking, but have your doubts, Remote is the place to address them. Not a day goes by that I don't think about, talk about, and actually apply the insights in this game-changing book."—Susan Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Quiet

"What you'll find in Remote is profound advice from guys who've succeeded in the virtual workforce arena. This is a manifesto for discarding stifling location- and time-based organizational habits in favor of best work practices for our brave new virtual and global world. If your organization entrusts you with the responsibility to get things done, this is a must-read.”—David Allen, internationally bestselling author of Getting Things Done

“Remote is the way I work and live.  Now I know why.  If you work in an office, you need to read this remarkable book, and change your life.”—Richard Florida, author of the national bestseller The Rise of the Creative Class

“In the near future, everyone will work remotely, including those sitting across from you. You'll need this farsighted book to prepare for this inversion.”—Kevin Kelly, Senior Maverick for Wired Magazine and author of What Technology Wants

“Leave your office at the office. Lose the soul-sapping commutes. Jettison the workplace veal chambers and banish cookie-cutter corporate culture. Smart, convincing and prescriptive, Remote offers a radically more productive and satisfying office-less future, better for all (well, except commercial landlords).”—Adam L. Penenberg, author of Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today’s Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves

“Fried and Hansson show how remote working sets people free—free from drudgery and free to unleash unprecedented creativity and productivity. This workday disruption is necessary if we want to use our new digital tools to full effect. The first gift copy I buy will be for my boss!”
—James McQuivey, PhD, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, and author of Digital Disruption

“Just like we couldn't imagine a cell phone smaller than a toaster in the 1970’s, some companies still believe that they can't get great performance from their employees unless they show up at an office. Virtual work is the wave of the future, and Jason and David do a brilliant job of teaching best practices for both employees and employers."—Pamela Slim, author of Escape from Cubicle Nation

“Jason and David convincingly argue the merits of remote work, both from the perspective of manager and of worker.  For the former, working remotely means more productive teams.  For the latter, there is the ultimate luxury: control over one’s environment. Remote work gives you the power to craft your own life, and this book is a roadmap to get that.”—Penelope Trunk, author of Brazen Careerist

“The decentralization of the workplace is no longer fodder for futurists, it's an everyday reality. Remote is an insight-packed playbook for thriving in the coming decade and beyond."—Todd Henry, author of The Accidental Creative

“Remote shows you how to remove the final barrier to doing the work you were meant to do, with the people you were meant to do it with, in the most rewarding and profitable way possible—this book is your ticket to real freedom!”—John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide

From the Publisher

2013-09-30
As founders of web-based collaboration software company 37signals, Fried and Hansson (Rework, 2010) are aggressive promoters of the work-from-home employment model, a subject they feel is responsible for a "heated global conversation." Drawing on their experience as technologically savvy trailblazers, the authors outline the problematic nature of the hyperactive corporate office environment ("interruption factories") versus productive, home-based aloneness. Using their software company as a prime example, the authors detail the many ways a "distributed workforce" is becoming the true future of the 9-to-5 office and hardly the "outsourcing" movement many compare it to. Still, the at-home environment has its own set of obvious distractions, from "cabin fever" to immobility and social deprivation. The authors assume that the responsible, professional telecommuting workforce will surely avoid these hazards by taking full advantage of newer innovations like file-sharing software and real-time communication tools and use a graduating scale of urgency and importance with regard to pending tasks. They also recommend interactive, company-specific chat rooms for telecommuters who miss the interpersonal "mindless breaks" enjoyed by those in the physical office. Obviously not applicable to every work environment, the book applies strategies and guidance to corporate sectors where telecommuting would have the most positive effect on employees and company overhead. Fried and Hansson stand firm in their assertion that working remotely increases productivity for business operations, but their book, while congenial and galvanizing in tone, unevenly favors the positive aspects of the telecommuting experience. The brevity of their take on the subject and the cartoonish graphics also tend to vitiate its credibility. Overall, however, Fried and Hansson present a convincing, if imbalanced, argument in favor of remote production, provided those embarking on it carefully skirt the pitfalls of a lifestyle that is technologically dependent and at the mercy of daily personal distraction. A somewhat diluted discourse on how modern technology continues to reshape and revolutionize the contemporary workplace.

Kirkus Reviews