Any company needs processes, they are clearly more necessary for a remote-first company.<p>It's important to be pragmatic and don't over-design processes. I believe some companies take advantage of being remote to micro-manage or add extra layers of control over their employee's work-life.<p>Besides that, there's no point on generating extra information that no one will ever review or use to take action.<p>For me, key processes should focus on:
- Team communication
- Simple day to day reporting
- Self-management tools and goal-oriented thinking<p>I've learned a lot from Zapier's guide but I think some stuff might be an overkill https://zapier.com/learn/remote-work/<p>Here is a draft we are working on at my company
https://www.notion.so/piio/The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Work-at-Piio-fb3b341e30be454cba6cc760aee4103e
> Hire people who are ok without a social workplace<p>>>> Local support system: If the only support system someone has is their work one, then being in a remote environment will likely make them go crazy. You need people who have outside support systems so they have people they can interact with on a daily/weekly basis.<p>I found this really interesting. We've been a "remote first" company for about 2 years now, after being a non-remote company for the prior 3 years to this. Initially, the feedback on remote was great from employees.
However, more recently the feedback from 1 on 1s is that "It's not as fun anymore", "I miss the <buzz about the office> <going out for lunch> <random nights out> with colleagues ", from certain people. I think these people fall into this category of not having a strong social life / support group outside of workmates.
A friend of mine said their engineering processes came from pooling their knowledge about what sucked at other places. So maybe focus more on what not to do?
I would also go for having people post office hours -- hours when they can be easily interrupted and answer questions.<p>This allows people to manage their energy and use their best time for deep work, and allows people who need an answer to know when a good time will be to virtually drop in and get an answer.