Working remotely has many benefits but also some obvious and non-obvious challenges. Discussions about remote work also often tend to be generic, however each discipline require its own kind of variations, and design isn’t different. A lot of the tools available to designers are meant to be used in person, but what if we happen to work remotely, or we want to switch a product team to being remote? How to build trust, gather feedback and craft a unified vision? This talk takes inspiration from some of the practices of Automattic’s teams to overcome some of the unique challenges of remote working. These solutions will also be beneficial to any designer who desires to engage with open source projects, as they are by definition remote. This talk was done the first time at WordCamp Brighton 2017.

1. REMOTE DESIGN
THE ASYNC ADVANTAGE
Davide ‘Folletto’ Casali

2. NIGHT.EU
Manifesto Ibridi
F E L L O W
DESIGN DIRECTOR ADVISOR

3. @Folletto

4. FOUNDATION
PART I

5. “
”
S. Graber for Harvard Business Review
Many companies
focus too much on technology
and not enough on process.
S. Graber (2015) Why Remote Work Thrives in Some Companies and Fails in Others

6. Product
type work
Consulting
type work
}Different approaches
to remote work.

7. THE REMOTENESS CONTINUUM
Distributed
100%
Local
100%
Remote
anywhere in between
concept one

8. Stable
Speed
Realtime
Speed
Async
Speed
THE THREE SPEEDS OF COLLABORATION
concept two

9. THE ASYNC ADVANTAGE
Remote work relies more on the async part

10. Calm
Candor
Challenging
Chaos
Collaborative
Communication
Different
Difficult
Empowering
Enabling
Engaging
Exciting
Flexibility
Freedom
Future
Independent
Inspiring
New
Rewarding
Transparency
Automattic Internal Survey with Designers (2017)

11. Calm
Candor
Challenging
Chaos
Collaborative
CommunicationDifferentDifficult
Empowering
Enabling
Engaging
Exciting
Flexibility
FreedomFuture
Independent
Inspiring
New
Rewarding
Transparency
Future CalmTransparent
Challenging EmpoweringCollaborative

12. GENERAL CHALLENGES
PART II

13. TIMEZONES

14. Does it have to happen in realtime?

15. Master work handover

16. MISUNDERSTANDING

17. Tone of voice is an issue…

18. …but what about time to reflect and calm?

19. Walk away before answering
It’s text: have someone else read it
Use private messages
Increase bandwidth

20. “Sorry”

21. COMMUNICATION

22. Communication is oxygen.

23. “Communication Issues”
is too generic.
Pinpoint what
you really mean with it.

24. AVOID EFFICIENCY THEATRE
Do
Give space
to personal
and work alike
Do not
Split too early
conversations
in multiple channels

25. Make yourself feel present to others

26. Daily
text
standups
EXAMPLE

27. LONELINESS

28. Some people need to be around people

29. Co-working spaces

30. Virtual watercooler

31. Automattic
internal
watercoolers
EXAMPLE
123
TEAMS
249
PROJECTS
78
COOLERS
17%
1 OUT OF 6

32. TIMEZONES
MISUNDERSTANDING
COMMUNICATION
LONELINESS
Advantage?

33. DESIGN CHALLENGES
PART III

34. QUICK FEEDBACK

35. Realtime
exchanges

36. Reach
anyone

37. Sketch
Slack
loop
EXAMPLE

38. BRAINSTORMING

39. “
”
A. Furnham
Research shows unequivocally that
brainstorming groups produce fewer and
poorer quality ideas than the same number
of individuals working alone.

40. groupthink
/ˈɡruːpθɪŋk/
the practice of
thinking or making
decisions as a
group, resulting
typically in
unchallenged,
poor-quality
decision-making.

41. “
”
A. Osborn, the person that formalized brainstorms
The fact is that group brainstorming is
recommended solely as a supplement to
individual ideation.

42. The generalized idea of brainstorms
must include alone time to work.

43. Design
challenge
EXAMPLE

44. ALIGNMENT

45. Decisions are always
written somewhere.
// ////////// ////////////// ////
///// ////// //// //////// //////
/// ////////// ////// // ////////
/////// //// ////// / ////// ////
/// ///// ///////////// /////////
////////// ////////// //////////
/// ////////// //// /////
// ////////// ////////// ////// /
//////// //////// //// ////// /
///// //////// ///// ////////////
////////// ////////// //////////
///////////// ////////// ////// /

46. Manage Signal / Noise Ratio

47. Write things that
“everyone knows”
and
“have already been said”

48. {Improve
Copywriting
Naming things
Identifying audience
WRITING IS AN IMPORTANT SKILL

49. WORKSHOPS

50. THE BLANK STARE EFFECT
In a video chat, that emotionless expression
everyone does when others speak.

51. Surveys as questioning
Discussion threads
Iterations and explorations

52. KJ Remote
workshop
EXAMPLE
intenseminimalism.com/2017/fully-remote-kj-technique-workshop/

53. WORKSHOPS
ALIGNMENT
BRAINSTORMING
QUICK FEEDBACK
Advantage?

54. Meet
in
person
EXAMPLE

55. PURE ADVANTAGES
PART IV

56. MEETINGS

57. Discussion Threads
99% of the time better than meetings.

58. NOISE

59. Better focus
Create the space and quiet that works for you.

60. INTERRUPTIONS

61. Manage interruptions
Answer when is best for your work

62. TIME MANAGEMENT

63. Organize your day, work when works best.
Flexible Time

64. MEETINGS
NOISE
INTERRUPTIONS
TIME MANAGEMENT
Advantage?

65. THE ASYNC ADVANTAGE
Time to think
Time to calm
Focus
Everything written
Interruption management
Flexible time

66. “
”
Bruno Munari
To complicate is easy, to simplify is hard.
To complicate, just add,
everyone is able to complicate.
Few are able to simplify.

67. Thanks.
@Folletto
INTENSEMINIMALISM.COM