Paul Hepworth USERTESTING When you have a central office, remote workers can wind up feeling uninformed, disempowered and disconnected. But they absolutely don’t have to have those experiences. Paul Hepworth, VP of Engineering at UserTesting, an 87-person company with more than a dozen remote workers, will talk about the very practical things you can do to ensure that remote team members can “see” into the office and are as connected and informed as co-located workers. In addition to interpersonal processes, he’ll also talk about cheap hardware setups that make a big difference.

1. 10 Tips to help remote workers
succeed inside the office
Paul Hepworth
VP Engineering

2. A little about
UserTesting

3. 14 of our 87 employees
are located across 12
cities in North America

4. Lets begin with the
right technology

5. Tip 1: Use dedicated
computers that allow
proactive chat

6. Use dedicated computers
that allow proactive chat…
• Remotes can “see” in the office when they want
• Allows for the proverbial “tap on the shoulder”
• Here is what is looks like at UserTesting…

9. Tip 2: Use wide-angle
webcams

10. Use wide-angle webcams…
• Remotes can see the “big picture”
• Non-verbal communication
• I would recommend….

11. Genius 120-degree Ultra Wide Angle Full HD
Conference Webcam — $42 on Amazon
http://bit.ly/best-webcam-ever

12. Genius 120-degree Ultra Wide Angle Full HD
Conference Webcam — $42 on Amazon
http://bit.ly/best-webcam-ever

13. Tip 3: Microphones are
important

14. Microphones are important…
• Hearing is crucial to good communication
• Your internal microphone is BAD!
• I would recommend…..

15. MXL AC404 USB Conference Microphone
— $67 on Amazon
http://bit.ly/best-mic-ever

16. Tip 4: Invest in good
speakers

17. Invest in good speakers…
• Good sound gives equal footing in a conversation
• Poor sound reflects poorly on the person speaking
• I would recommend….

18. JBL Duet III Premium High Performance
Speaker System — $149 on Amazon
http://bit.ly/best-speakers-ever

19. Tip 5: Use permalinks for
“virtual conference rooms”

20. Use permalinks for “virtual
conference rooms”…
• Meetings should never end
• Use bit.ly to shorten long URLs
• Give distinct names that are easy to reference in
chat, email, or in person
• Mobile device friendly

21. Howtos for creating permalinks
for “virtual conference rooms”…
• Google Hangout:
http://bit.ly/never-ending-hangout
• GoToMeeting:
http://bit.ly/never-ending-gotomeeting

22. Now, lets build the right
culture on top of the
technology

23. Tip 6: Balance teams with
co-located and remote
members

24. If possible balance teams with co-
located and remote members…
• Locals are less likely to forget remotes
• Less tempted to hold a meeting without the remotes
• Remote can compare notes & influence change

25. Tip 7: Invite remotes to
office parties and
spontaneous discussions

26. Invite remotes to office parties
and spontaneous discussions…
• Knowing you are always invited goes a long way
• Send remotes a pizza
• Record and share “offline” conversations
• Leverage mobile devices and bring them along

27. Tip 8: Provide office
context to remote workers

28. Provide office context to
remote workers…
• Remotes should know about office layout, coffee,
snacks
• Leverage your most chatty team members
• Knowing about “small things” builds confidence

29. Tip 9: Proactively invite
remote workers to visit the
office

30. Proactively invite remote
workers to visit the office…
• Inviting ensures that they feel support
• Let them book their own travel
• Webcam’s can’t replace in person relationship
building

31. Tip 10: Everyone should
work from home
sometimes

32. Everyone should work from
home sometimes…
• Locals build empathy
• People appreciate advantages of remote work
• Unfriendly processes and tools are found and fixed

33. Good luck!

34. Thank you.
Paul Hepworth
VP Engineering
paul@usertesting.com
@peppyheppy